• Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    November & December
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: Tory, Geoffroy. L'Art et science de la vraye proportion des Lettres. Paris 1549. Seconde édition. In-8. Reliure de P.L. Martin. €7,000 to €9,000.
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: Gauguin, Paul. Lettre autographe signée à son ami Émile Bernard. [Le Pouldu août 1889]. Illustrée d'un croquis original. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: [Portulan — Joan Martines, attribué à]. Carte portulan de la côte atlantique de l'Amérique du Sud. [Messine, vers 1570-1591.] €15,000 to €20,000.
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: Zamora, Alonso de. Historia de la provincia de San Antonio del nuevo reyno de Granada... Barcelone, 1701. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: [Chastenet de Puységur, Antoine]. Détail sur la navigation aux côtes de Saint-Domingue... Paris, 1787. €5,000 to €7,000.
  • Freeman’s, Nov. 13: HEMINGWAY, Ernest. Three Stories and Ten Poems. First edition, inscribed to his cousin, Ruth White Lowry. $60,000-80,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: CURTIS, Edward S. The North American Indian... Portfolio and two text volumes. $20,000-30,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: A Superb Illuminated Manuscript of Tennyson’s Le Morte d'Arthur, ca. 1910, by Alberto Sangorksi and in an exceptional Riviere binding. $40,000-50,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: A Remarkable Epistle from Robert Burns to Frances Dunlop, containing all lines of the first version of "Written in Friars Carse Hermitage" and 12 lines of the first version of "First Epistle to Robert Graham Esq." $20,000-30,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: FAULKNER, William. Go Down, Moses. First edition, limited issue, one of 100 copies signed by Faulkner. $10,000-15,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: MAUGHAM, W. Somerset. Of Human Bondage. First English edition, presentation copy, inscribed by Maugham, in the rare suppressed dust-jacket. $40,000-50,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: An Excessively Rare First Issue and Previously Unrecorded Copy of Shakespeare’s Third Folio. $40,000-60,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: AUDUBON, John James. Louisiana Heron, Ardea Ludoviciana. (Plate CCXVII). $30,000-40,000
    Freeman’s, Nov. 13: HERBERT, Frank. Dune, 1965. First edition, inscribed by Herbert. $8,000-12,000
  • Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Presentation Copy of a Whitman "Holy Grail." Whitman, Walt. $10,000-$15,000.
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Endymion in Original Boards. Keats, John. $8,000-
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Association Copy of the Privately Printed Edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Potter, Beatrix. $8,000-$12,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Christina Rossetti's Own Copy of Her First Book. Rossetti, Christina G. $8,000-$12,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: The Borden Copy of The Life of Merlin in an Elaborate Binding by Riviere. Heywood, Thomas, Translator. $6,000-$8,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Arion Press. Whitman, Walt, Leaves of Grass. $4,000-$6,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Call It Sleep in the First State Jacket. Roth, Henry. $2,000-$3,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Steinbeck's Best-Known Work. Steinbeck, John. $2,000-$3,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: A Fine Jewelled Binding Signed by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Sangorski, Francis. $40,000-$60,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter: A Complete Set of First Editions. Potter, Beatrix. $2,000-$3,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Kelmscott Shelley. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. The Poetical Works. $3,000-$5,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Inscribed by Martin Luther King Jr. King, Martin Luther, Jr. $3,000-$5,000
  • Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 75. The Second Printed Map of the North American Continent - Full Contemporary Color (1593) Est. $35,000 - $40,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 37. Schedel's Ancient World Map with Fantastic Humanoid Creatures (1493) Est. $16,000 - $18,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 104. Important Revolutionary War Plan of Battle of Quebec in Contemporary Color (1776) Est. $4,000 - $4,750
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 43. Mercator's Map of the North Pole - the First Printed Map Devoted to the Arctic (1606) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 237. Rare and Striking Bird's-Eye View of Lawrence, Kansas (1880) Est. $2,000 - $2,500
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 10. Rare Map from Atlas Maior with Representations of the Seasons in Contemporary Color (1662) Est. $14,000 - $17,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 374. Bunting's Map of Europe Depicted as the Queen of the World (1589) Est. $2,000 - $2,400
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 590. Willem Blaeu's Magnificent Carte-a-Figures Map of Asia (1634) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 647. The Earliest and Most Decorative Map of the East Coast of Africa (1596) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 710. Ruscelli's Complete, Third Edition Atlas with 65 Maps (1574) Est. $9,500 - $11,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 696. Superb Hand-Colored Image of the Adoration of the Shepherds (1502) Est. $800 - $950

Rare Book Monthly Articles - July - 2016 Issue

There will forever be an England, but UK, It's not so certain

There will forever be an England, but UK, It's not so certain

Economic theories have been developed to explain future economic behavior by developing concepts that explain past behavior.  Over the past three centuries, as economies moved beyond subsistence farming a steady flow of mechanical, scientific, health and travel improvements made it possible to rely less on human resources and more on science and engineering to grow ever larger crops with ever fewer people that, increasingly unneeded on farms, gravitated to cities to find work.  Initially this was almost exclusively an English phenomenon.   This population, over time released from subsiste...

AbeBooks – 20 Years Down, the Next 20 Ready to Go

AbeBooks – 20 Years Down, the Next 20 Ready to Go

AbeBooks recently celebrated its 20th anniversary in business. That was the opening salvo in the new means of book selling that changed the trade as it had been known for over five centuries. Start...

My Once-a-Year Fix

My Once-a-Year Fix

Once a year I get a heads up from Peter Luke that he has assembled a stack of ephemera for me.  He’s an antique, book and paper dealer in the upper Hudson Valley of New York State who, about once a...

Ending July 2: $5 starts at Gibson Auction's Americana Sale a real bargain

Ending July 2: $5 starts at Gibson Auction's Americana Sale a real bargain

Gibson Auction Service is a family owned and run business operating out of central Virginia. Serving mainly the local and drivable population, they offer all sorts of items for auction: personal pr...

Case Antiques Auctions Features Outstanding Collections from Tennessee Estates, Including Slavery, Presidential, and other Antebellum Material

Case Antiques Auctions Features Outstanding Collections from Tennessee Estates, Including Slavery, Presidential, and other Antebellum Material

There will be an amazing collection of Americana sold by Case Antiques Auction Appraisals of Knoxville on July 30. Books, autographs, early photographs, maps, and other paper, including a slave ar...

An Art Find in Moscow, But Millions of Stolen Books Are Still "Lost"

An Art Find in Moscow, But Millions of Stolen Books Are Still "Lost"

A recent find in the storage area of a Moscow art museum throws renewed light on the greatest pillage of books in recorded history. The tracking down of a stolen book, such as the recent return of ...

Rare Book Hub begins coverage of Winner's Auctions in Israel with their July 19 sale

Rare Book Hub begins coverage of Winner's Auctions in Israel with their July 19 sale

Winner’s Auctions and Exhibits is a branch of Judaica Jerusalem, the first auction house in Israel to host Judaica auctions on an international level. Based in Jerusalem, Winner’s brings over thirt...

The 32nd Annual Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair - August 5 and 6

The 32nd Annual Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair - August 5 and 6

   The 32nd Annual Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair - Friday and Saturday, August 5 and 6, 2016 in the Expo Building at the Denver Mart   A chance to see much of the regional field under one r...

Book Theft Is An International Problem

Book Theft Is An International Problem

Book theft is not a problem limited to the U.S. or even the West. RAPSI, the Russian Legal Information Agency, reports that three "members of an organized gang" have been sentenced to terms of 3.5 ...

The Scarron Pamphlet, a Deadly Book

The Scarron Pamphlet, a Deadly Book

“Would you believe that an unhappy book, nowadays insignificant and pale when compared to what we can say or write against our kings; that such a small book caused the death of several people?” ask...

July 6: Ancient Papyri and Other Very Early Manuscripts and Miniatures at Bloomsbury

July 6: Ancient Papyri and Other Very Early Manuscripts and Miniatures at Bloomsbury

It doesn’t happen often that I’m tasked with previewing an auction in which I struggle to find a single lot dating from later than the 16th century. Yet this is the case for Bloomsbury Auctions’ sa...

Dirt from a Dirt Bag

Dirt from a Dirt Bag

One more for the collectors of famous cases.   Whitey Bulger is still committing crimes but buyers of his memorabilia will have the last laugh.  Whitey Bulger, the Boston criminal, now spends his...

In a Change of Plans, Gordon College Will Not Be Selling Part of its Rare Book Collection

In a Change of Plans, Gordon College Will Not Be Selling Part of its Rare Book Collection

A major controversy from last year over a library's plan to sell some of its rare books appears to have been quietly resolved in a way that will please those who support retention of the full colle...

July 13-14: Forum Auctions' First Sale, spanning six centuries of material

July 13-14: Forum Auctions' First Sale, spanning six centuries of material

Last month, my Dad Bruce wrote about a new London-based auction house called Forum Auctions, a venture by Stephan Ludwig, the founder of Bloomsbury Auctions. Forum describes themselves as London's ...

Sales Taxes on Out of State Sales – Coming to Your Bookseller Soon?

Sales Taxes on Out of State Sales – Coming to Your Bookseller Soon?

If you are an American bookseller selling your wares to out of state customers, be it online, through catalogues or the phone, one of these days you will probably have to collect all of those state...

Seven Catalogues Reviewed for July

Seven Catalogues Reviewed for July

This month we review seven new catalogues. Samuel Gedge Ltd., Forest Books, and Erasmushaus offer catalogues with a variety of mostly antiquarian works from what are, for the time being anyway, Eur...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction November 24th
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: M. Waldseemüller, Ptolemaeus auctus restitutus, 1520. Est: € 250,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: I. Newton, Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica, 1687. Est: € 100,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: L. Feininger, Collection of 33 comic strips, 1906-1907. Est: € 8,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction November 24th
    Ketterer, Nov. 24:H. Schedel, Liber chronicarum, 1493. Est: € 30,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: K. Bodmer, Personal Sketchbook with ca. 80 pencil drawings. Est: € 25,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: Collection of 18 Bauhaus postcards “Bauhaus-Ausstellung Weimar 1923.“ Est: € 40,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction November 24th
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: Latin Book of hours on vellum, 1505. Est: € 12,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: G. Shaw & F. P. Nodder, Vivarium naturae, 1789-1813. Est: € 10,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: A. de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, 1943. Est: € 6,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction November 24th
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: Ibn Butlan, Tacuini sanitatis, 1531. Est: € 8,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: H. Hesse, Casa Camuzzi in Montagnola, 1927. Est: € 12,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: Pop Art portfolio Reality & Paradoxes, 1973. Est: € 12,000
  • Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
  • Swann
    Printed & Manuscript Americana
    November 20, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 9
    George Catlin. O-Kee-Pa: A Religious Ceremony; and other Customs of the Mandans. London, 1867.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 17
    Benjamin Beal, Unpublished diary of a lieutenant serving in the Invasion of Quebec, 1776.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 23
    George Washington, Autograph Letter Signed anticipating the coming British campaign against Philadelphia, 1777.
    Swann
    Printed & Manuscript Americana
    November 20, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 35
    Matthias C. Sprengel, Allgemeines historisches Taschenbuch, the first published appearance of the American flag, [1784].
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 120
    Portfolio of lithograph Civil War portraits by Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co. and others. Cincinnati, OH, circa 1863.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 130
    Eleazar Huntington, engraver. Early broadside engraving of the Declaration of Independence, circa 1820-24.
    Swann
    Printed & Manuscript Americana
    November 20, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 175
    Jeremiah B. Taylor, Letterbook of a frontier Baptist missionary in Kansas with tales of friendly Indians and unfriendly Confederate raiders, 1839-1887.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 188
    Jonas Rishel, The Indian Physician, Containing a New System of Practice, Founded on Medical Plants, 1828.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 201
    Brigham Young and the First Presidency of the LDS, Commission issued to two Church representatives, 1849.
    Swann
    Printed & Manuscript Americana
    November 20, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 293
    Kuonraden's Vart (Kuonrad's Travels), an illustrated western travel memoir set to verse, circa 1914.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 311
    Hermann Stieffel, Early watercolor view of the ruins of a Spanish mission in the Manzano Grant. Manzano, NM, circa 1860-67.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 343
    Vida de San Felipe de Jesus, protomartir del Japon, y patron de su patria Mexico.
  • University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books
    Now through Nov. 19
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 308 - Bob Dylan Handwritten & Signed Lyrics to "Just Like a Woman" With Jeff Rosen & JSA Authentication
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 455 - Isaac Newton Admiration For Judaism & Moral Continuity With Christianity! 350+ Words in his Hand - Extraordinary Content!
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 219 - 371g Moon Meteorite, Incredible Find - Laâyoune 002
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books
    Now through Nov. 19
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 448 - Scarce Einstein AM on Unified Field Theory, 180+ Words & 11 Equations in His Hand! From His Published Article, "A Generalization of the Relativistic Theory of Gravitation"
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 159 - Woodrow Wilson Baseball Signed for WWI Red Cross Fundraiser, Ex. Forbes & PSA Authentic - Finest Known!
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 84 - Lee Harvey Oswald ALS to Brother, Trying Desperately to Get out of Russia! Highly Important
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books
    Now through Nov. 19
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 152 - George Washington Signed Discharge for MA Soldier Whose Regiment Was at Bunker Hill!
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 88 - Abraham Lincoln Fully Signed Military Appointment for Mexican War Vet & Respected Cavalryman
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 188 - Apollo XI Astronauts & Their Wives Signed Photo, Plus Crew Signed Cover, From Apollo XI Presidential Goodwill Tour Era, Pre-Cert Zarelli
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books
    Now through Nov. 19
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 265 - Martin Luther King, Jr. TLS Re: "Stride Toward Freedom" Film Rights To Literary Agent Marie Rodell
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 324 - John Lennon Signed Apple Records Check, PSA GEM MT 10! Possibly Finest Known
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 79 - John & Jacqueline Kennedy Signed WH 1963 Christmas Gift Inscribed to Close Friend Joan Braden, PSA Authentic

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