Rare Book Monthly Articles - October - 2017 Issue

California Rescinds Application of Hated Autograph Law to Booksellers

California Rescinds Application of Hated Autograph Law to Booksellers

Good news for booksellers – California has repealed its hated new autograph law, at least as it applies to booksellers. The onerous requirements, which also could have affected out-of-state booksellers selling to California residents and participants in California trade shows, will no longer apply to those in the book trade. The same applies to those selling manuscripts, numbered prints and other forms of autographed ephemera not pertaining to the sports or entertainment media industries.   The old law, which took effect on January 1 of this year, was never meant to apply to booksellers. ...

The World as it will be

The World as it will be

The world of books, maps, manuscripts and ephemera seems to have always lived within its own reality.  Decades ago rare and unusual examples were often obscure and required experts to first find, e...

Nancy Pearl & the Pursuit of Bookish Things

Nancy Pearl & the Pursuit of Bookish Things

There’s not much in the world of bookish pursuits that Nancy Pearl hasn’t tried. She’s been a Tulsa bookseller, a Seattle librarian, a highly regarded book reviewer with regular guest appearances o...

Record Price of $35 Million Paid for Printer's Copy of the Book of Mormon

Record Price of $35 Million Paid for Printer's Copy of the Book of Mormon

A record sale in the books and manuscripts field was completed late last month. A private sale between two churches saw the printer's manuscript copy of the Book of Mormon sold for $35 million. It ...

The Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair:  a roundup

The Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair: a roundup

The Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair is now come and gone.  It’s in its fourth year and by some accounts this year moved from start-up to established as evidenced by the type of material that sold be...

Ernest Renan, The (Emotional) Life of Jesus

Ernest Renan, The (Emotional) Life of Jesus

Regarded as the “first historical biography of Jesus”, Renan’s Vie de Jésus is a very emotional book. As such, it deeply irritated the historians, while selling like hot cakes. Historians and feeli...

Abe Down

Abe Down

You might have thought the world had come to an end. Comments from some booksellers that appeared on the internet expressed such dire sentiments, at least in regards to their livelihoods. Abe was d...

The Seattle Rare Book Fair:  October 14th and 15th

The Seattle Rare Book Fair: October 14th and 15th

Over the weekend of October 14th and 15th in Seattle at the 1962 World’s Fair Grounds the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair will be held as it has been over the past four decades.  The fair throughout ...

Law's Picture Books – Two Exhibitions and Some Online Videos

Law's Picture Books – Two Exhibitions and Some Online Videos

"Most people would not look for illustrations in law books." So begins the description of two exhibitions curated by the Yale Law Library in one of the greater understatements you will hear. The ex...

Law's Picture Books – The Book

Law's Picture Books – The Book

A fascinating companion volume to the exhibition of Law's Picture Books currently taking place in New York City is available for those who cannot (or can) make it to New York. It also bears the nam...

Against the Current:  opening in St. Paul

Against the Current: opening in St. Paul

On Grand Avenue just down the street from Macalester College, in St. Paul Minnesota, the Against the Current used and rare Book Shop is busy preparing to open its doors to readers and bibliophiles....

Oct 12: The Edge Hall Library at Forum Auctions

Oct 12: The Edge Hall Library at Forum Auctions

London-based Forum Auctions is a relatively new player in the field, having formed last year, but their team is anything but new to the rare book business. Since their launch, they have been quite ...

Scientist Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Government of Half a Million Dollars to Buy Books

Scientist Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Government of Half a Million Dollars to Buy Books

An Australian scientist with a long resume of published works has pleaded guilty to defrauding the government of over half a million Australian dollars, primarily to purchase books. Dr. Daniel Mich...

Follow Up:  Can a Monkey Copyright His Original Works? We Still Don't Know

Follow Up: Can a Monkey Copyright His Original Works? We Still Don't Know

The infamous "monkey selfie" case has come to an end without answering the major question – can a monkey copyright his original works? The parties to the lawsuit have come to a settlement which lea...

Seven Bookseller Catalogues Up For Review

Seven Bookseller Catalogues Up For Review

Seven new catalogues are up for review in this month's issue of Rare Book Monthly. The William Reese Company revisits the greatest Americana sale of the 20th century, by that century's greatest col...

William R. Cagle, former Lilly Librarian

William R. Cagle, former Lilly Librarian

On the University of Indiana website notice of the death of William R, Cagle, former Lilly Librarian, who died in Paris last week at the age of 83, was recently posted.   We provide here his In M...

Rare Book Monthly

  • SD Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions
    The Odfjell Collection
    Polar – History – Ornithology – Colour Plate Books
    Ending December 4th
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ROALD AMUNDSEN: «Sydpolen» [ The South Pole] 1912. First edition in jackets and publisher's slip case.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: AMUNDSEN & NANSEN: «Fram over Polhavet» [Farthest North] 1897. AMUNDSEN's COPY!
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ERNEST SHACKLETON [ed.]: «Aurora Australis» 1908. First edition. The NORWAY COPY.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ERNEST SHACKLETON: «The heart of the Antarctic» + SUPPLEMENT «The Antarctic Book», 1909.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: SHACKLETON, BERNACCHI, CHERRY-GARRARD [ed.]: «The South Polar Times» I-III, 1902-1911.
    SD Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions
    The Odfjell Collection
    Polar – History – Ornithology – Colour Plate Books
    Ending December 4th
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: [WILLEM BARENTSZ & HENRY HUDSON] - SAEGHMAN: «Verhael van de vier eerste schip-vaerden […]», 1663.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: TERRA NOVA EXPEDITION | LIEUTENANT HENRY ROBERTSON BOWERS: «At the South Pole.», Gelatin Silver Print. [10¾ x 15in. (27.2 x 38.1cm.) ].
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ELEAZAR ALBIN: «A natural History of Birds.» + «A Supplement», 1738-40. Wonderful coloured plates.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: PAUL GAIMARD: «Voyage de la Commision scientific du Nord, en Scandinavie, […]», c. 1842-46. ONLY HAND COLOURED COPY KNOWN WITH TWO ORIGINAL PAINTINGS BY BIARD.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: JAMES JOYCE: «Ulysses», 1922. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS.
  • Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.

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