Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2010 Issue

A Letter from New York

A Letter from New York

By Bruce McKinney Book fairs serve many purposes. They are site, catalyst and barometer, a place for booksellers and book buyers to cross paths, find material, exchange ideas, and access the changing playing field. The recent ABAA book fair in New York was all of this and more, many of the leading dealers and collectors meeting at the storied 7th Regiment Armory at 643 Park to see old friends and old books and explore new possibilities. The world of printed material is rapidly changing but for a few days it felt like life as it has been even as it becomes life as it will be. Two...

<i>Survey Results:</i>  Should Book Fairs Offer a 20% Discount on All Items?

<i>Survey Results:</i> Should Book Fairs Offer a 20% Discount on All Items?

By Michael Stillman Last month we offered a proposal to jumpstart book fairs, in the doldrums for several years, and included a survey to see whether you liked our idea. That idea was to require...

Auction Reports: Coming of Age

Auction Reports: Coming of Age

By Bruce McKinney The weekly auction reports, introduced a year ago, have been revised. Members who have signed up for the free weekly reports will see a revised report when they receive the ne...

Sacramento's Spring Book Fair, Eugene's Spring Book Sale... and a Word About Pricing

Sacramento's Spring Book Fair, Eugene's Spring Book Sale... and a Word About Pricing

By Karen Wright This year's first annual Sacramento Spring Book Fair was quite a success, according to Jim Kay, the show's promoter. I asked Jim how the show went. "Pretty well, we actually ...

Young Blood: The Beginning of a New Collection

Young Blood: The Beginning of a New Collection

By Tom McKinney This month, I was struggling to think of topics to write about. I 'm supposed to be a tech expert, but tech isn't always on the forefront of the rare book industry. There's the ...

Gilding the Lilly Revisited: <i>New book a market-maker for US decorative bindings</i>

Gilding the Lilly Revisited: <i>New book a market-maker for US decorative bindings</i>

By Susan Halas One of the oldest wisdoms of the antiquarian trade is: "If it was considered beautiful once, it will be considered beautiful again." The problem is how long do you have to wai...

Ebay's Victory in Fraud Case Offers an Example to Booksellers and Google

Ebay's Victory in Fraud Case Offers an Example to Booksellers and Google

By Michael Stillman A case pitting online auction giant eBay against luxury jeweler Tiffany's in the Second Circuit U.S. Appeals Court has all kinds of implications for sellers and buyers in the...

Important Maps at an Important Time

Important Maps at an Important Time

By Bruce McKinney Frank Benevento did not buy his first important map ten years ago with the idea of becoming a canary in the coal mine in 2010 but circumstances make his sale of 71 important [p...

The One-and-a-Half Million-Dollar Comic Book

The One-and-a-Half Million-Dollar Comic Book

By Michael Stillman It may be a comic, but this story is no joke. If you weren't mad at your mother for throwing out your old comic books before, you may be now. A copy of an old comic sold on t...

Gold Rush Book Fair

Gold Rush Book Fair

By Bruce McKinney There's Books in Them There Hills On Saturday May 15th the Gold Rush Book Fair will reprise its long history of successful events with its annual day-long show at the Nevada...

Lethal Robots, Inflammatory Bowels, Intellectual Cannibalism Head Titles for Odd Book Award

Lethal Robots, Inflammatory Bowels, Intellectual Cannibalism Head Titles for Odd Book Award

By Michael Stillman The Bookseller, the British book magazine, has announced the winner of its annual Oddest Book Title of the Year award. The books selected for this award may be serious, but t...

iPad versus eBook Readers

iPad versus eBook Readers

By Tom McKinney Two months ago I wrote about Apple's iPad. It hadn't actually been released yet, and now it has. It's done very well, with analysts suggesting over a million have already be...

George Washington Nabbed for Overdue Library Books

George Washington Nabbed for Overdue Library Books

By Michael Stillman It seems that time trashes the memory of even our greatest heroes. First we learned that Thomas Jefferson slept with one of his slaves, had children, and allowed his own chil...

17 New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

17 New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month 17 new bookseller catalogues are reviewed in Section II of AE Monthly. The topics this month are as varied as the books themselves. Nineteenth century America is the focus of Seneca Book...

Rare Book Monthly

  • High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Ellis Smith Prints unsigned. 20” by 16”.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: United typothetae of America presidents. Pictures of 37 UTA presidents 46th annual convention United typothetae of America Cincinnati 1932.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec signed Paper Impressionism Art Prints. MayMilton 9 1/2” by 13” Reine de Joie 9 1/2” by 13”.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Aberle’ Ballet editions. 108th triumph, American season spring and summer 1944.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Puss ‘n Boots. 1994 Charles Perrult All four are signed by Andreas Deja
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Specimen book of type faces. Job composition department, Philadelphia gazette publishing company .
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: An exhibit of printed books, Bridwell library.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court By Mark Twain 1889.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 1963 Philadelphia Eagles official program.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 8 - Esquire the magazine for men 1954.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: The American printer, July 1910.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Leaves of grass 1855 by Walt Whitman.
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare.
    The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens.
    A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Golding.
    Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll.
    Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien.
    The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: John Milton.
    Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD

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