Rare Book Monthly Articles - November - 2014 Issue

Brooke-Hitching: a collector's collector

When dealers sell at the end of their careers a few are celebrated for their knowledge, intuition and judgment.  When the sale or sales are at auction the ordinarily private process becomes a public one.  One such dealer enjoying the acclaim of his peers, is Franklin Brooke-Hitching, the private English dealer now in his early 70’s, whose material has been the subject of two successful sales at Sotheby’s in London this year and the subject of two more in 2015.  Mr. Brooke-Hitching, by all reports, sold many very good items during his career but the best examples he apparently kept for himse...

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Mystery Resolved

Recently, in a discussion with Bob Schwartz of Archives International Auctions, I mentioned that some of his upcoming material was going to be of interest to those who follow or subscribe to AE.  O...

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How Can Collectors Save $14 Million on Their Estate Taxes?

Well, for starters, you better begin with a lot of money. A recently decided appeals court case has been labeled a major victory for wealthy collectors with regards to reducing their estate tax lia...

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Bookish Brooklyn with Heather O’Donnell

A few years ago Heather O’Donnell of Honey Wax Books left her job selling rare books on Madison Avenue to launch Honey Wax Booksellers in Brooklyn. At that time she found “There was no establishe...

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Does a Bookshop Closing Really Mean Much Anymore?

A bookshop recently announced it will be closing its location in an English shopping mall after almost 40 years at the same place. It plans to continue, but most likely only online and through the ...

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The Annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair Set for Nov. 14-16

The annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair returns to the Hynes Convention Center on November 14-16 this year. This ABAA sponsored show is likely the biggest such attraction on the east ...

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Blessed Mr. TIGER, or the Pilier Littéraire

At the turn of the 19th century, when printing went through major changes, one bookseller made a name for himself by publishing dozens of popular titles. Simple, short and of lower quality, they me...

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Booksellers Speak in a Recently Released Book – A Book Review

Here is a book you will want to read if you are a bookseller, collector, or most of all, one of those in between – a collector contemplating a venture into the bookselling field. Bookseller Sheila ...

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Electronic Catalogues for the Holidays

Not so long ago the gold standard for presentation in the collectible paper field was the printed catalog.  Dealers prepared them and institutions, collectors and other dealers read them.  But time...

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Books In The News: It Was the Erebus, and More...

It's the Erebus! The recently discovered ship that disappeared in Canadian Arctic waters over a century and a half ago is the Erebus, not its sister ship the Terror. As a pair, there are few ships ...

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Christie's London in November: Cricket, Adult Material, and An Atlas of Epic Proportion

This month three auctions from Christie’s London pertain to AE’s focus on books, maps, manuscripts, and ephemera. Beginning with November 5th, Two Important Sporting Libraries will take place over ...

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Auction Preview: Sotheby's Bibliothèque Carlo de Poortere

Among Sotheby's upcoming sales in November, Sotheby's Paris is holding one that should appeal to many of AE’s monthly readers and subscribers. Taking place November 6th in Paris, Bibliothèque Carlo...

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Ah Hum-dinga in Fairfield, Maine on November 18th

Poulin Antique Company is a busy auction house that occasionally sells rare books.  Their sales are well presented with estimates that tend to be on the low side as evidenced by their total realiza...

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Michaan's Auctions, A New Addition to AE and a Sale in November

This month AE welcomes a new auction house on to the site. Going forward, Michaan’s Auctions, based out of Alameda, CA, will have their auctions with printed material included in AE’s Upcoming Auct...

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Auctions in November

For the month of November, as we enter the month, there are 124 auctions on the calendar.  Others will be added over the next few weeks.  The selections are broad and complex.  All who look will fi...

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Thirteen New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we are reviewing 13 new bookseller catalogues. Many different subjects are featured this time around. Andersons Books and Prints has issued their first catalogue, and it's about time!......

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Rare Book Monthly

  • Fonsie Mealy’s
    Summer Rare Book
    & Collectors’ Sale
    July 30-31, 2024
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: U.S. / European Shipping Archive 1800-1814. The Widow Bermingham & Sons Collection. €7,000 to €10,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Bunreacht na hÉireann. Constitution of Ireland. An important copy of the First Printing of De Valera’s new Constitution, approved in 1938. Signed by the Constitution Cabinet. €7,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: A Rare Complete Run of the Cuala Press Broadsides. €7,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s
    Summer Rare Book
    & Collectors’ Sale
    July 30-31, 2024
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Grose (Francis). The Antiquities of Ireland, 2vols. folio London (for S. Hooper) 1791. Magnificent Hand-Coloured Copy - Only 25 Copies. €3,000 to €5,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Cantillon (Richard). Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General, Traduit de l'Anglois, Sm. 8vo London (Fletcher Gyles) 1756. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Gregory, (Lady Augusta). Spreading the News: The Rising of the Moon: The Poorhouse (with Douglas Hyde). Being Vol. IX of the Abbey Theatre Series. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s
    Summer Rare Book
    & Collectors’ Sale
    July 30-31, 2024
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Lavery (Lady Hazel). A moving series of three A.L.S. and a Telegram to Gen. Eoin O'Duffy, July-August 1927, expressing her grief at the death of Kevin O'Higgins. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Dampier (Wm.) Nouveau Voyage Autour du Monde, ou l'on descrit en particulier l'Isthme de l'Amerique…, 2 vols. in one, Amsterdam, 1698. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Howell (James). Instructions for Forreine Travel Shewing by what Cours, and in what Compasse of Time…, London, 1642. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s
    Summer Rare Book
    & Collectors’ Sale
    July 30-31, 2024
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Rowling (J.K.) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 8vo, L. (Bloomsbury) 1999, First Edn., First Printing of Deluxe Collectors Edn. Signed. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: James (Wm.) A Full and Correct Account of the Military Occurrences of The Late War Between Great Britain and The United States of America. 2 vols. Lond. 1818. €650 to €900.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: The Laws of the United States, Published by Authority, 3 vols. Philadelphia (Richard Folwell) 1796. €600 to €800.

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