Rare Book Monthly Articles - June - 2012 Issue

The Last Book Sale – Larry McMurtry to Auction 300,000 Books

The Last Book Sale – Larry McMurtry to Auction 300,000 Books

Keep your eyes open for an enormous book auction in a very small town this summer. On August 10 and 11, Addison Sarova Auctioneers will be conducting an on-site sale of inventory from Larry McMurtry's Booked Up store in Archer City, Texas. Before anyone gets disheartened over Mr. McMurtry leaving the business, he isn't. As he explains, he is “just downsizing.” At the age of 75, he believes it's time to share the stock, although even after reducing it by two-thirds, he will still have one of the larger inventories in the book trade. Currently, the Booked Up inventory is housed in four larg...

Collecting Possibilities Beyond Books

Collecting Possibilities Beyond Books

Collecting in the works on paper category has over the years become both easier and more complex.  What was for many collectors once the collecting of rare books has become the collecting of rariti...

Sendak’s Death Spurs Interest in His Works

Sendak’s Death Spurs Interest in His Works

Not many creators of books for children get a front page obituary in the New York Times; but then there aren’t many who could match Maurice Sendak, the multi-talented illustrator and writer, who di...

Trends in Book Auction Prices Updated

Trends in Book Auction Prices Updated

AE has updated its “Trends in Book Auction Prices” providing evidence the muted recovery, as measured by median lot realizations, that took hold in March 2009 continues to find traction today.   Th...

For Sale – George Washington's Personal Copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights

For Sale – George Washington's Personal Copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights

On June 22, Christie's in New York will be auctioning one of those amazing pieces of Americana one would not ever expect to see up for sale. It is George Washington's personal copy of the United St...

A Deep Collection of English Church History to sell on June 3rd

A Deep Collection of English Church History to sell on June 3rd

An intense and very defined collection of English Church Architecture books, some of them folios with plates, will be sold without reserve at Carlsen Gallery in Freehold, New York on June 3rd.  Man...

Travel in Jamaica - Exploring the National Library in Downtown Kingston, in the year 2012

Travel in Jamaica - Exploring the National Library in Downtown Kingston, in the year 2012

PART I : meeting Thomas Gage, the villain in a religious suit. Jamaica, home of Bob Marley and Usain Bolt, is a dream for many American tourists. It is also a nightmare for some of its inhabitant...

Is this any way to run an airline?

Is this any way to run an airline?

Software and site development is incremental accompanied once every two or three years with a major remake/rewrite.  During the past month we’ve been made several incremental changes worth noting. ...

Newspapers Receive a Heady Endorsement – from Warren Buffet

Newspapers Receive a Heady Endorsement – from Warren Buffet

Newspapers, the long-suffering stepchild of the printing industry, received a surprising vote of confidence from one of the most successful investors ever – Warren Buffet. Buffet, generally believe...

The AED at 3.5 Million Records

The AED at 3.5 Million Records

The Americana Exchange Database of auction, bibliographic and dealer records of books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera crossed another threshold the other day:  3.5 million records.  Comparative sea...

Fine Books & Manuscripts at Bonhams June 19th

Fine Books & Manuscripts at Bonhams June 19th

Book auctions have been for some time on an unfamiliar trajectory, arcing toward the ever-evolving nexus of old material, new tastes and evolving methodology.  This is not a world our Grandfathers ...

The War of 1812 - Observing Its 200th Anniversary

The War of 1812 - Observing Its 200th Anniversary

We saw great celebrations around the land when America observed the 200th anniversary of the Revolution. Similar events have been featured at notable anniversaries of Civil War events. This month, ...

Sixteen New Catalogues Up for Review

Sixteen New Catalogues Up for Review

For June, we have 16 new catalogues up for review. M S Rare Books has a selection of early American works. The William Reese Company focuses on American manuscripts, while David Lesser Antiquarian...

AE Monthly:  Interesting eCatalogues in Section III

AE Monthly:  Interesting eCatalogues in Section III

This month Section III of AE Monthly includes 16 presentations from dealers in North and South America, Europe and Australia.  These catalogues neatly fit between the world that was, the printed ca...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby'sSell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts Sotheby'sSell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Bonhams, Apr. 8: First report outside of the colonies of the American Revolution, from American accounts. Printed broadsheet, The London Evening-Post, May 30, 1775. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce, James. The earliest typescript pages from Finnegans Wake ever to appear at auction, annotated by Joyce, 1923. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce's Ulysses, 1923, one of only seven copies known, printed to replace copies destroyed in customs. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: ATHANASIUS KIRCHER'S COPY, INSCRIBED. Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell' Accademia del Cimento, 1667. $2,000 - $3,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi, 1713. "... first significant book on probability theory." $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Aristotle's Politica. Oeconomica. 1469. The first printed work on political economy. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: John Graunt's Natural and political observations...., 1662. The first printed work of epidemiology and demographics. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: William Playfair's Commercial and Political Atlas, 1786. The first work to pictorially represent information in graphics. $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Anson's A Voyage Round the World, 1748. THE J.R. ABBEY-LORD WARDINGTON COPY, BOUND BY JOHN BRINDLEY. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: La Perouse's Voyage de La Perouse autour du monde..., 1797. LARGE FINE COPY IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Francesca Woodman's Some Disordered Interior Geometries, 1981. Untrimmed publisher's proof sheets. $4,000 - $6,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Charles Schulz original 8-panel Peanuts Sunday comic strip, 1992, pen and ink over pencil, featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy as a psychiatrist. $20,000 - $30,000
  • Dominic Winter AuctioneersApril 9Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints Dominic Winter AuctioneersApril 9Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Johnson (C.). A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pyrates, 1724. £3,000-4,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Ordonez de Cevallos (Pedro). Viage del Mundo, 1st edition, Madrid: Luis Sanchez, 1614. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: North America. Merian (Matthaus), Virginia..., 1627 or later. £1,500-2,500
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: World. Waldseemuller (Martin), Tabula Nova Totius Orbis, Vienne: 1541. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Erasmus (Desiderius). The ... paraphrase of Erasmus... 2 volumes, 1st edition, 1549. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Bible [English]. [The Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament, 1562]. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Smith (Lucy). Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, 1st edition, 1853. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Derain (Andre). Pantagruel, signed limited edition, Albert Skira, 1943. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Austen (Jane). Pride and Prejudice, illustrated by Hugh Thomson, Large Paper edition, 1894. £1,500-2,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Ellison (Ralph). Invisible Man, 1st edition, New York: Random House, 1952. £200-300
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Taschen Collector's Edition. Annie Leibovitz, limited edition, 2014. £1,000-1,500
  • Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 1: Bob Dylan, his high school classmate's yearbook with his senior portrait, signed and inscribed to her, 1959. $10,000 to $20,000. Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 1: Bob Dylan, his high school classmate's yearbook with his senior portrait, signed and inscribed to her, 1959. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 1: Bob Dylan, his high school classmate's yearbook with his senior portrait, signed and inscribed to her, 1959. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 1: Bob Dylan, his high school classmate's yearbook with his senior portrait, signed and inscribed to her, 1959. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 4: Various entertainers, Group of 30 items, signed or inscribed, various dates. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 27: John Adams, Autograph Letter Signed to Benjamin Rush introducing Archibald Redford, Paris, 1783. $35,000 to $50,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 36: Robert Gould Shaw, Autograph Letter Signed to his father from Camp Andrew, Boston, 1861. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 53: Martin Luther King Jr., Time magazine cover, signed and inscribed "Best Wishes," 1957. $5,000 to $7,500.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 127: Paul Gauguin, Autograph Letter regarding payment for paintings, with woodcut letterhead, 1900. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 169: Suck: First European Sex Paper, complete group of eight issues, 1969-1974. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 173: Black Panthers, The Racist Dog Policemen Must Withdraw Immediately From Our Communities, poster, 1969. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 187: Marc Attali & Jacques Delfau, Les Erotiques du Regard, first edition, Paris, 1968. $300 to $500.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 213: Andy Warhol, Warhol's Index Book, first printing, New York, 1967. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 215: Cookie Mueller, Archive of 17 items, including 4 items inscribed and signed. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 249: Jamie Reid, The Ten Lessons / The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle; Sex Pistols, chromogenic print with collage, signed, circa 1980. $20,000 to $30,000.

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