Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2013 Issue

Bookselling:  The Seismic Shift

Bookselling:  The Seismic Shift

The New York Antiquarian Book Fair is come and gone, the confetti now swept up and the wine glasses washed and back on the shelf.  This year the glass half full guys won out and the glass half empty crowd sent packing.  Not everyone did well but many did and most saw enough success to feel the ABAA-Sanford Smith show partnership was yielding substantial returns.  This year the traffic was strong and the audience ebullient.  According to Catherine Zubkow who managed the fair, “attendance was north of 5,000.”  More importantly exhibitors were happy and suggesting they’ll be back in 2014.  Lor...

A Handwritten Letter Sells for a Record $6 Million-Plus

A Handwritten Letter Sells for a Record $6 Million-Plus

On April 10, the highest price ever paid for a letter at auction was achieved at Christie's in New York. If there was any doubt about the growing interest in more ephemeral sorts of works on paper,...

Strictly Morocco!: Portrait of a reasonable collector

Strictly Morocco!: Portrait of a reasonable collector

On life's vast ocean diversely we sail, Reason the card, but passion is the gale. Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man Old books collectors are not so many, but they do exist. Mr. Wolfi is one of ...

Guernsey's:  John James Audubon . . . handsome works of nature

Guernsey's:  John James Audubon . . . handsome works of nature

In the world of books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera the line between list prices and auction realizations is being re-defined in the auction rooms with startling and regular rapidity.  The balanc...

56th Annual London Book Fair (and Six More!) Set for June

56th Annual London Book Fair (and Six More!) Set for June

The London International Antiquarian Book Fair is set to make its annual appearance Thursday-Saturday, June 13-15 this year. For the 56th year, booksellers and book collectors will be gathering in ...

Is the Field Museum Considering a $50 Million Book Sale?

Is the Field Museum Considering a $50 Million Book Sale?

In an article published last month, the Chicago Tribune reported that the Field Museum was considering selling some of its artifacts. Specifically considered was the museum's rare book collection. ...

Sotheby's in Paris:  Books and Manuscripts with the emphasis on Manuscripts

Sotheby's in Paris:  Books and Manuscripts with the emphasis on Manuscripts

If you are a serious collector of French manuscripts, Sotheby's sale of Books and Manuscripts on May 29th will likely contain some eye-catching items. And while some items come with eye-popping pri...

Kestenbaum & Company to Auction Fine Judaica on May 2nd including Holy Land and Travel – The Collection of Nathan Lewin, Esq.

Kestenbaum & Company to Auction Fine Judaica on May 2nd including Holy Land and Travel – The Collection of Nathan Lewin, Esq.

The Kestenbaum Company of New York is to sell at auction Fine Judaica:  Hebrew Books, Manuscripts and Autograph Letters from the Collection of Nathan Lewis, Esq. on May 2nd.  Jackie Insel, speakin...

Collectors Take Note: Baseball Card Sells for Over $2 Million

Collectors Take Note: Baseball Card Sells for Over $2 Million

Honus Wagner was one of the greatest baseball players to ever take the field. He was well paid for his era, peaking at $10,000 per year over the last decade of his career, which ended in 1917. In h...

15 Bookseller Catalogues Reviewed for May

15 Bookseller Catalogues Reviewed for May

This month we have 15 new bookseller catalogues to review. The William Reese Company has a selection of works pertaining to travel and voyages. Gert Jan Bestebreurtje Rare Books is focused on trips...

The Bookman's Tale:  fiction and then again not

The Bookman's Tale:  fiction and then again not

When one thinks about book theft, it may seem far-fetched, but not to the experienced bibliophile. To many, books are as powerful as a narcotic. To the larger, uninitiated community, such material ...

Auctions in May

Auctions in May

This May, as of April 28th, 106 sales with an estimated 20,000+ lots scheduled.  Dates occasionally change, others are added and a few delayed but the events as shown here are substantially what to...

Can Secondhand Dealer Legislation Ensnare Even the Collector?

Can Secondhand Dealer Legislation Ensnare Even the Collector?

The devil is in the details. California, a leader in legislating things, has long tried to regulate secondhand trade. It is not that they are looking to complicate the world for small sellers who t...

Swann Galleries – Modernist Posters on the 13th

Swann Galleries – Modernist Posters on the 13th

In the print category it was once mostly the books and their bindings and they are still essential but no longer even the unqualified leading element in the works on paper category.  These days dis...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
    Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
    Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
    Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
    Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
    Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
    Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
  • 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
  • Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000

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