As one door opens another closes. Chris Bready the cataloguer-book auctioneer of Towson, Maryland, one of the last of the old-style book auctioneers, conducted his final sale of Baltimore Book Auctions on January 17th. He professes no regrets. “I’ve had a very good time.”
He began his career in 1980 writing descriptions for Harris and in 1989 organized Baltimore Book Company to sell books at auction. From the outset he was and always remained a maverick. “I’ve been and remain a one man operation. I would find material and make my pitch. Those who consigned quickly understood they w...
All else being equal...
This month we look back at 2012 at auction for our annual state of the book trade review. This is not because most books are bought and sold at auction. They are not. Most ...
The pendulum of the Antiquarian Bookseller’s Association of America is swinging in its northern arc, reaching its invisible apex directly above the Concourse Convention Center in San Francisco over...
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are looking for help in locating the owners of over 1,000 stolen artifacts, ranging from books, documents, manuscripts, drawings, photographs, and paintings, to mo...
TomFolio.com may not be the best known name in the world of bookselling databases, but it is one of the most innovative and unusual. Founded back in 2000, the heady early days of on-line booksellin...
On January 1st Sharon Gee acquired PBA Galleries in San Francisco. PBA has a long history of service to the book, manuscript, map and ephemera trade, as well as to collectors and institutions. It...
Fong Sam of Los Angeles has organized Blacksparrow Auctions to sell collectibles within the categories of pop culture, posters, entertainment memorabilia, 20th century, contemporary and historical ...
AbeBooks recently released their list of the top prices paid on their site in 2012. AbeBooks is the largest of the old and used book listing sites, their total sales not revealed, but clearly in th...
The other day, passing in front of a bookshop in Paris, I noticed a lovely little book in the window. Beside a lot of gorgeous full morocco bindings, it never looked that attractive, being a small ...
A contest to promote the preservation of historic works on paper and other artifacts has begun in the state of Pennsylvania. This story may be of particular interest to residents of the Keystone St...
In late December Bonhams announced that Matthew Haley, who for the past four years has worked as a specialist in New York, has been appointed effective mid-February to the important post of Head of...
Tasha Tudor is one of a select group of twentieth century children's authors and illustrators, like Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak, to achieve widespread familiarity with generations of young people....
There is good news and bad news for those who believe that traditional print is the best form for reading books. A recent report from Pew Research revealed that print is still the most popular form...
This month we review seven new bookseller catalogues. The William Reese Company offers a selection of Western Americana. Gert Jan Bestebreurtje Rare Books presents material related to the Dutch Eas...
This past year saw a remarkable shift to electronic catalogues as the field of collectible books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera continued to migrate from the printed catalogue that had been the wo...
Gonnelli: Valli Antonio, Il canto de gl'augelli. In Roma, Nicolò Mutij, 1601.
Gonnelli: Moniglia Giovanni Andrea, Il Mondo Festeggiante. In Firenze: nella Stamperia di S.A.S., 1661.
Gonnelli: Alighieri Dante, [Divine Comedy with commentary and Life of Dante by Cristoforo Landino]. Danthe alegieri fiorentino. Venezia, Capcasa, 1493.
Gonnelli: Hieronymus (santo), Vita di sancti Padri vulgariter historiada. Venezia, Otino da Pavia, 1501.
Gonnelli: Ghisi Andrea, Laberinto dato novamente in luce. In Venetia: per Euangelista Deuchino, 1616.
Gonnelli: Gouvea Antonio (de), Innocentia victrix. [China, Canton], 1671.
Gonnelli: Napier John, Rabdologiae, seu numerationis per virgulas libri duo. Edinburgi: Andreas Hart, 1617.
Gonnelli: Ortelius Abraham, Theatrum orbis terrarum. Antverpiae: Aegid. Coppenium Diesth, xx Maii 1570.
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
Swann Printed & Manuscript African Americana March 20, 2025
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 7: Thomas Fisher, The Negro's Memorial or Abolitionist's Catechism, London, 1825. $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 78: Victor H. Green, The Negro Travelers' Green Book, New York, 1958. $20,000 to $30,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 99: Rosa Parks, Hand-written recollection of her first meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., autograph manuscript, Detroit, c. 1990s. $30,000 to $40,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 154: Frederick Douglass, Autograph statement on voting rights, signed manuscript, 1866. $20,000 to $30,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 164: W.E.B. Du Bois, What the Negro Has Done for the United States and Texas, Washington, circa 1936. $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann Printed & Manuscript African Americana March 20, 2025
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 263: Susan Paul, Memoir of James Jackson, Boston, 1835. $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 267: Langston Hughes, Gypsy Ballads, signed translation of García Lorca's poetry, Madrid, 1937. $1,500 to $2,500.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 274: Malcolm X, Collection from Alex Haley's estate, 38 items, 1963-1971. $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 367: Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, Auburn, NY, 1853. $2,500 to $3,500.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 402: Anna Julia Cooper, A Voice from the South, Xenia, OH, 1892. $2,000 to $3,000.
Koller, Mar. 26: Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
Koller, Mar. 26: Merian, Maria Sibylla. Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung, und sonderbare Blumennahrung. Nürnberg, 1679; Frankfurt a. M. und Leipzig, 1683. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
Koller, Mar. 26: GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON. Faust. Ein Fragment. Von Goethe. Ächte Ausgabe. Leipzig, G. J. Göschen, 1790. CHF 7,000 to 10,000
Koller, Mar. 26: Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
Koller, Mar. 26: BIBLIA GERMANICA - Neunte deutsche Bibel. Nürnberg, A. Koberger, 17. Feb. 1483. CHF 40,000 to 60,000
Koller, Mar. 26: HORAE B.M.V. - Stundenbuch. Lateinische Handschrift auf Pergament, Kalendarium französisch. Nordfrankreich (Rouen?). CHF 25,000 to 40,000
![Gonnelli: Alighieri Dante, [Divine Comedy with commentary and Life of Dante by Cristoforo Landino]. Danthe alegieri fiorentino. Venezia, Capcasa, 1493.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/fc9560f4-73da-4dfd-8070-2fb3b8892dd9.JPG "<b>Gonnelli:</b> Alighieri Dante, [Divine Comedy with commentary and Life of Dante by Cristoforo Landino]. Danthe alegieri fiorentino. Venezia, Capcasa, 1493.")
![Gonnelli: Gouvea Antonio (de), Innocentia victrix. [China, Canton], 1671.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/ebc18788-ba83-4c96-bbc8-fe8f2b287c31.JPG "<b>Gonnelli:</b> Gouvea Antonio (de), Innocentia victrix. [China, Canton], 1671.")
![Koller, Mar. 26: Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/2214ca86-0dc9-47be-8bc5-99d9f1c2aa1f.jpg "<b>Koller, Mar. 26:</b> Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000")
![Koller, Mar. 26: Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/b8b6a630-a01a-4220-ae77-38540d6c898d.jpg "<b>Koller, Mar. 26:</b> Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.")
