Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2014 Issue

The New York Antiquarian Book Fair - success at the top

The New York Antiquarian Book Fair - success at the top

The New York Antiquarian Book Fair, at the Park Avenue Armory, has come and gone and left a scent of lingering enthusiasm among buyers and satisfaction among sellers.  The fair, a well-groomed event organized by Sanford Smith, saw more than 6,000 tickets collected.  On opening afternoon, Thursday the third, 152 individuals, mostly men, lined up in the anteroom for the chance to be early if not first into the convention hall.  The crowds come on Friday, the cognoscenti Thursday night.  The buzz was noticeable.   Inside, the fates of the 204 participating dealers were pretty much already de...

Antiquarian Bookseller Completes Successful Stock Market IPO

Antiquarian Bookseller Completes Successful Stock Market IPO

New offerings in the stock market, IPO's (initial public offering), are common these days, particularly in the high tech field. Those from well-known brands like Facebook and Twitter received enorm...

Did Someone Find Shakespeare’s Personal Dictionary on eBay?

Did Someone Find Shakespeare’s Personal Dictionary on eBay?

It would certainly be the literary find of the century if true. It would also be the greatest piece of advertising imaginable for eBay. A pair of New York booksellers see a 16th century annotated E...

“Everything Equine” at Keeneland Library in Lexington Kentucky

“Everything Equine” at Keeneland Library in Lexington Kentucky

Most horse racing enthusiasts are familiar with Keeneland, one of America’s top ranked tracks in Lexington, Kentucky. Each year the venue hosts a variety of racing meets and major sales. Less well ...

Tracking the Most Expensive Book – A Copy of Audubon's Birds of America is Sold

Tracking the Most Expensive Book – A Copy of Audubon's Birds of America is Sold

A copy of the most expensive, reasonably obtainable printed book was sold at auction at the beginning of April. The double-elephant folio first edition of John James Audubon's Birds of America was ...

A Tale of Two Thieves

A Tale of Two Thieves

Two book thefts from Asia recently made the newswires. The outcome of both is surprising to western ears. However, this really isn’t a story about the difference in treatment of book theft between ...

Of Goupils and Men, or the Bestial Condition of Man

Of Goupils and Men, or the Bestial Condition of Man

A question was recently raised in a rare books group on a social network: are fables featuring animals for kids? Yes, they are—but of course, not only. I’m French and, as such, a kid of Jean de La ...

Paintings sometimes tell a different story

Paintings sometimes tell a different story

On eBay recently I bought a painting of the Shawangunk Mountains in Ulster County, New York.  The distant scene is the Gardiner cliffs, the collision of an ancient fault of granite that formed the ...

Christies May 21st in London:  in the embrace of history

Christies May 21st in London: in the embrace of history

Christie’s has a long and storied history of formidable auctions, and the material they offer meets a very high standard. This month, Christie’s London’s Valuable Manuscripts and Printed Books cont...

Rare and Collectible Maps at Old World Auction - ending May 21st

Rare and Collectible Maps at Old World Auction - ending May 21st

As is common these days, the Upcoming Auctions calendar on AE is chock-full for May. The amount of material to browse can be overwhelming, and month to month, we try to write about several auctions...

Rose City (Portland) Book Fair Comes in June, Vancouver in October

Rose City (Portland) Book Fair Comes in June, Vancouver in October

Residents of the Pacific Northwest, both sides of the border, have a couple of book fairs to which they can look forward. The eighth annual Rose City Used Book Fair is scheduled for Friday and Satu...

Auctions in May

Auctions in May

For the month of May 105 auctions are scheduled.  A few more will be announced as the month progresses.  The flow of auctions has become so insistent that the continuum of auctions is now self-sust...

15 New Catalogues Reviewed for May

15 New Catalogues Reviewed for May

This month, we have 15 new bookseller catalogues to review. There are several that cover an undefined variety of material, while others target very specific niches. Bauman Rare Books features new a...

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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