Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2011 Issue

Inflation adjusted prices

Emotionally Satisfying Investments:  Works on Paper

Arnoud Gerits, the President of ILAB, the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, was interviewed recently in the Hong Kong Economic Times and mentioned that book collecting should be understood as a passion, not an investment.  He’s quoted on book collecting:

“ILAB does not recommend buying books as a financial investment.”  “Don’t buy them as an investment: it is the wrong angle to look at books. Buy them because you love books, you love a subject..."

Is he suggesting it’s not possible to both love books and buy them as investments?  Book collectors certainly believe their book...

Read More
Privatizationbeast

Privatized Library Foes Lose Their Battle in Court

Those fighting a decision to privatize the operation of the Santa Clarita, California, libraries have suffered a series of setbacks in court. It now looks unlikely that they will be able to stop th...

Read More
Halftonedot

Hard to Fool the Fingers - Paper & Printing through the Ages

A beginner's zip tour from rag to pulp, from wood block to digital file

A basic knowledge of European and American paper and printing is useful for booksellers, collectors and those in related f...

Read More
Swann-z

Caren Material to be Sold at Swann this Fall

Eric C. Caren, the exceptional collector of newspapers, books and documents, has consigned to Swann Galleries in New York material from his collections of How History Unfolds on Paper.  The buildin...

Read More
Christies 70

Printed and Manuscript Americana at Christies on May 19th

Christie’s has put together an appealing sale of Americana that’s to be sold on May 19th in New York.  The sale includes 204 lots of which 53 relate to Benjamin Franklin, 34 to the French and India...

Read More
Tangopen

Books In The News

Statistics released by the Association of American Publishers reveals that in February, electronic books became the largest selling book format. For the first time, they surpassed paperbacks. In Ja...

Read More
Lonfair2011

54th London Antiquarian Book Fair Set for June 9-11

The 54th annual London International Antiquarian Book Fair has been scheduled for June 9-11 this year. It will again be held at the London Olympia Exhibition Centre, and this year's edition promise...

Read More
Kindle5-11

Amazon's Kindle E-Readers Will Soon Accept Library Books

Amazon.com announced a major change with regard to its Kindle electronic reader. The retailer of Kindles and electronic books (among many other things) announced that Kindle owners will at some poi...

Read More
George washington

Presidential Last Names:  Frequency of Appearance

If you ask someone familiar with American history to rank by frequency of references in the Americana Exchange Database the last names of the Presidents you create an interesting challenge.  Many, ...

Read More
Federalist 5-20

More than a year ago Sotheby’s secured the opportunity to auction the James S. Copley Library and this month the third installment comes up in their New York rooms at 1334 York Avenue in Manhattan....

Read More
Grbf

11th Annual Gold Rush Book Fair May 14th

On a Saturday in May a reunion of they whose lives revolve around books and works on paper will gather in Grass Valley, California for the 11th annual Gold Rush Book Fair.  Exhibitors will travel a...

Read More
Printcor

Course to Explore Natural History Prints at University of Florida

A course covering natural history prints will be given at the University of Florida this summer. This subdivision in the field of works on paper has become increasingly desirable, collectible, and ...

Read More
Cats05-11

15 New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Fifteen new catalogues are reviewed in the latest issue of AE Monthly. The William Reese Company is offering a selection of Californiana. David Lesser Antiquarian Books has rare Americana, while Ge...

Read More

Rare Book Monthly

  • 70c11db2-aeab-43a8-a304-6304cf316f01 0abb0286-7dc7-4bef-93bd-4623aee5d016 74a63725-65e7-42ba-9759-b7346bd81138 C2b01337-f07e-4b43-aa20-3d6f6ae61551 Edceb203-e045-4a54-8368-77b9556ef978 F8764dd0-ac6d-495a-8533-3f7457cf24e9 7590517b-f4a1-4fe6-bd60-68f539cdd948 4e258d92-fd88-452a-bd13-bb938b4a71f2
    <b>Bonhams, Oct. 23:</b> SMITH, CHRISTOPHER WEBB. 1793-1871. <i>Indian Ornithology.</i> [Patna, India]: 1828. $50,000 to $80,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Oct. 23:</b> DUPRÉ, LOUIS. 1789-1837. <i>Voyage à Athènes et à Constantinople, ou Collection de portraits, vues et costumes grecs et ottomans.</i> Paris: Dondey-Dupré, 1825. $60,000 to $90,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Oct. 23:</b> ADAMS, JOHN. Autograph Letter Signed ("J Adams"), [to Dr. Perkins?] while recovering from his small pox inoculation, [late-April, 1764]. $30,000 to $50,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Oct. 23:</b> AUSTEN, JANE. Autograph Letter Signed ("J. Austen"), to her sister Cassandra, 4 pp, "Thursday – after dinner," [September 16, 1813,] Henrietta St. $80,000 to $120,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Oct. 23:</b> AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. 1785-1851. <i>The Birds of America, from Drawings Made in the United States and Their Territories.</i> New York & Philadelphia: J.J. Audubon & J.B. Chevalier, 1840-1844. $20,000 to $30,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Oct. 23:</b> DODWELL, EDWARD. 1767-1832. <i>Views in Greece.</i> London: Rodwell and Martin, 1821. $20,000 to $30,000.
    <b>Bonhams, Oct. 23:</b> JAMES, JESSE. Autograph Letter Signed ("Jesse W. James"), to Mr. Flood demanding Flood retract spurious accusations, 3 pp, June 5, 1875. $200,000 to $300,000.
  • 8ed26c7a-3b52-49ca-a198-4736fc1036ca 8ef6f8d7-9fa4-402e-9ece-062015b72994 Edd96054-d425-4ff9-90f1-77d04f6eebc3 C1b76f0c-7ae9-4b73-94f6-daded50aef37 7da3c92f-5f9c-475a-8a70-825fb8c55078 Cae7f5a1-5be8-4e09-936b-929b068a5713 F59139ab-f0ad-48e3-90b4-5561541b0add 2a2d6dc0-8d42-45aa-a548-6890d356d9a8 F781da80-0972-4913-95ad-d7090bff5984 522c347e-228c-4ca2-b475-815db852b0d1 82cf80c4-6a9b-48f8-ab46-eb4271370d61 7a58036b-2614-402a-aef8-c70df49ef6ee 0396054a-bc67-4a59-a976-a0e3ebe1ca8c A160d63c-a2d1-4a24-8bde-d5e49c125d79 Ee422374-eb60-4a6f-b742-db6e9fcac6db
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Sep 26:</b> Textile of the Great White Fleet, with portraits of Theodore Roosevelt, Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans & successor Charles Stillman Sperry, 1908. $3,000 to $4,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Sep 26:</b> William J. Stone, <i>Declaration of Independence,</i> Force printing, 1833. $15,000 to $25,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Sep 26:</b> Shugart family papers including documentation of the Underground Railroad, 63 items, 1838-81. $30,000 to $40,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Sep 26:</b> Records of the Dickinson & Shrewsbury salt works, over 2000 items, with extensive slave labor correspondence, legal records & receipts, bulk 1820-1865. $80,000 to $120,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Sep 26:</b> Gloria Steinem, typescript for her speech <i>Living the Revolution,</i> with related letters and documents, 1941-77. $5,000 to $7,500.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Sep 26:</b> <i>Liberty Triumphant or the Downfall of Oppression,</i> depicting the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party, c. 1774. $12,000 to $18,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Sep 26:</b> Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, <i>Historia naturae, maxime peregrinae, libris XVI distincta,</i> Antwerp, 1635. $6,000 to $9,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Sep 26:</b> Antonio de Mayorga, manuscript map of Mexico City, 1779. $6,000 to $9,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Sep 26:</b> Thomas L. McKenney & James Hall, <i>History of the Indian Tribes of North America,</i> first edition, 3 volumes, Philadelphia, 1842-44. $25,000 to $35,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Sep 26:</b> Samuel Walker, diary of the entire first cruise of the USS Kineo, a gunboat on the Mississippi, 1854-69. $10,000 to $15,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Sep 26:</b> Scrapbook on early Stanford football, with letters from Walter Camp, 1893-95 & 1931. $8,000 to $12,000.
  • Fab3962a-5d1a-4f29-98bd-d17efef82ec8 Af3d094a-945e-493a-b3f6-43f3625ac084 A1e56bc6-86c1-47be-8e86-1d7331c522a5 3e965209-33e9-46ed-99e6-a158d77ac9cf 1e9ddfba-fe33-466a-bf3e-a57a34988c68 335253fb-8aa9-415a-a10f-6eff5c0345f5 Fb83a416-3cd1-488f-8aaa-24c4036b7b42 D4646ebf-fee9-4f48-8969-c35abf63c11f 202107cf-6e8a-468f-9cd4-b9a986624526 Ef42ed3b-8264-41fa-ac5b-c1b7e69906b8 494fcf73-2bf8-4780-ac71-db0a732c0237 37eab080-19c2-44d9-a28d-aff4b40f1680 D24d0314-8ddc-4016-93fe-7d94997daf7f A3d2c5cc-5550-4bad-bf6f-a71126667eb5 A96cfa86-ee4f-4a7a-8649-92c28eca31c2 9c36dfcc-b55d-4ce4-850a-a64386983e17
    <b>Lark Mason Associates, Aug 8-27:</b> Roberts, David. Twenty Lithographs of the Holy Land, 19th Century. $2,000 to $4,000.
    <b>Lark Mason Associates, Aug 8-27:</b> Declaration by the Reps. of the United Colonies of N.A. 1775. $8,000 to $12,000.
    <b>Lark Mason Associates, Aug 8-27:</b> Composer Jerome Kern personal Letters, Albums and Other. $15,000 to $25,000.
    <b>Lark Mason Associates, Aug 8-27:</b> Paine, Thomas. <i>Common Sense,</i> London 1776. $8,000 to $12,000.
    <b>Lark Mason Associates, Aug 8-27:</b> Stowe, Harriet Beecher. <i>Uncle Tom’s Cabin,</i> Cleveland 1852. $4,000 to $6,000.
    <b>Lark Mason Associates, Aug 8-27:</b> Hobbes, Thomas. <i>Leviathan,</i> 3rd edition, London 1651. $2,000 to $3,000.
    <b>Lark Mason Associates, Aug 8-27:</b> Anno Regni Georgii III. Intolerable Acts and other Bills, 1774. $15,000 to $20,000.
    <b>Lark Mason Associates, Aug 8-27:</b> Wilberforce, William. An Abstract of the Evidence, 5 Letters, and two books. $6,000 to $9,000.
    <b>Lark Mason Associates, Aug 8-27:</b> Nightingale, Florence. Notes on Nursing and Signed Letters, ca. 1860 $4,000 to $6,000.
    <b>Lark Mason Associates, Aug 8-27:</b> Tolstov, Leo. <i>War and Peace,</i> 5 volumes, 1886. $3,000 to $5,000.
    <b>Lark Mason Associates, Aug 8-27:</b> Dickinson, John. Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, 1768. $1,500 to $2,500.
    <b>Lark Mason Associates, Aug 8-27:</b> Twain, Mark. <i>Tom Sawyer,</i> 1877 [and] <i>Huckleberry Finn,</i> 1885. $4,000 to $6,000.

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions