Rare Book Monthly Articles - August - 2010 Issue

All's well that ends well

All's well that ends well

By Bruce McKinney Jeffrey Thomas, the San Francisco rare book dealer passed away in the late spring of 2007. One portion of his books was consigned to old friends John Crichton and John Windle, both ABAA dealers. Another part was consigned to Pacific Book Auctions. All books have their histories, one of them that was sent to auction, a story that would take two years to resolve. In the end it would reflect well on everyone, the experience telling us more about people than it would about the volume itself. It would confirm both Jeffrey's faith in his friends and his plan to send ma...

Great Scott! Eccentric Shakespearean Thief Convicted.

Great Scott! Eccentric Shakespearean Thief Convicted.

By Michael Stillman The career of one of the most entertaining of book thieves to be seen in recent memory came crashing to a halt in an English courtroom last month. Actually, the case of the c...

Amazon's E-Books Outsell Hardcovers for the 2nd Quarter

Amazon's E-Books Outsell Hardcovers for the 2nd Quarter

By Tom McKinney E-books are enjoying a wave of growth as new devices like Apple's iPad and its competitors provide a great platform for a potential rebirth in reading for the future. Spurred als...

Too Good to be True

Too Good to be True

By Bruce McKinney On eBay a month or so ago I ran across a Currier Ives print of West Point, an original folio print printed in 1862. The print was interesting, its size unusual. It was descr...

Sci-Fi, New Tech & the Modern Book Collector

Sci-Fi, New Tech & the Modern Book Collector

By Stephanie Howlett-West Technology and Science Fiction have always shared a symbiotic relationship - where there is one, the other will follow; so it should not be a surprise that Science Fict...

Cataloging the American Experience:  with text and video

Cataloging the American Experience: with text and video

By Bruce McKinney Bonhams has released the first of six online videos that will document, month by month, the steps leading to the December sale of a significant collection of Americana - The ...

Out of the Valley of Death

Out of the Valley of Death

By Bruce McKinney Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. We recently updated the monthly Trends in Book Auction Prices graphs and the pictures emerging are encouraging. Median lot pr...

Literary Agent Andrew Wylie Makes Exclusive E-book Deal with Amazon -  Publishers Out and Unhappy

Literary Agent Andrew Wylie Makes Exclusive E-book Deal with Amazon - Publishers Out and Unhappy

By Tom McKinney The debate over what to do about backlist titles in e-book form heated up this month as literary agent Andrew Wylie's new business, Odyssey Editions, made a two-year exclusive de...

<i>Auction News:</i>  Goodbye Roy Rogers

<i>Auction News:</i> Goodbye Roy Rogers

By Michael Stillman This is a difficult story to write. It is poignant and sad, yet strange and funny, full of meaning and insight, or maybe not so much. It has little to do with books, but much...

An Update on the AED

An Update on the AED

By Bruce McKinney Without any notice or clamor the AED, the Americana Exchange Database of material offered at auction, described in bibliographies and/or included in important dealers' catalo...

Calling Gutenberg on Your iPhone

Calling Gutenberg on Your iPhone

By Michael Stillman Technology advances at a dizzying pace, perhaps even a frightening one for those who grew up in the book world, where technology was virtually a constant for over five centur...

<i>In The News:</i>  E-Books vs. Hardcovers, Thief Sentenced, Elvis Is...

<i>In The News:</i> E-Books vs. Hardcovers, Thief Sentenced, Elvis Is...

By Michael Stillman In a stunning announcement, at least for those not expecting the transition from printed to electronic books to be quite this fast, Amazon.com announced that e-books are now ...

17 New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

17 New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

For August, we have 17 new bookseller catalogues to review. This month we have first catalogues from Better World Books, which is focused on spare parts, human ones, that is, and Sophia Rare Books,...

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

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions