Recounting my experience with rare books.
How does someone becomes a book collector? In this recounting I retrace my career with old books from the moment of my first awareness through to the present, the traditional world of books and book collecting for me a receding memory, the electronic world of dealer catalogues and offers, eBay and auctions now every day emerging. And juxtaposed against this flow a database that captures and contextualizes material permitting me to quickly understand what passes into view. This no doubt is the greatest era for book collecting and it is an extra...
Prices in the books, manuscripts, map and ephemera markets have generally been falling for some time and there is widespread agreement among dealers that their competitors' books are in trouble. T...
A long ago and virtually forgotten book theft finally has been solved. The major losses were discovered back in 1975 when a librarian at the Lambeth Palace Library realized some major items were mi...
The release of the latest film edition of The Great Gatsby was the second most important news pertaining to author F. Scott Fitzgerald to come out over the past few weeks. The more important news c...
The Lilly Library, ranked as one of America’s top university libraries, has a new director.
Joel Silver, 62, was named to the post effective April 1, 2013. He is a 30 year veteran of the Lilly st...
A “comprehensive review” of U.S. copyright law was recently announced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (he really should be Chairman of Starbucks). U.S. copyright law has been st...
RR Auctions of Amherst, New Hampshire recently sold at auction an annotated copy of the final draft of Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The winning bid was $306,000. Revisions and correcti...
Serious students of early-modern women writers surely know Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (Essex, 1623 – Welbeck Abbey, Nottingham, 1673). A prolific producer in almost all 17th century l...
Masterpiece London is scheduled for its fourth annual appearance this year from June 27 – July 3. Set on the South Grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, London, this annual fair brings in exhibito...
Monika Schiavo, Director of Marketing at Quinns Auction in Falls Church, Virginia recently confirmed that Dale Sorenson who developed Waverly Auctions and sold the firm to Quinn’s in 2004 and remai...
The Digital Public Library of America went live in April, and it provides one more online resource for those looking to do historical research. It is not the first such digital resource, nor will i...
A breach of trust has been charged by the FBI in a case of stolen historical letters from the Buffalo, New York, area. The technical charge is mail fraud, which is why the FBI is involved, but the ...
There are a Hundred Auctions in June [so far], vs. 86 in 2012. During the month others will be added.
Sat. June 1st Galerie Bassenge. Prints [101k]. 316 lots
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This month we review 12 new catalogues from booksellers. Ken Lopez Bookseller offers a selection of modern literature and some ephemeral items. Raptis Rare Books also has a selection of literature ...
