Rare Book Monthly Articles - March - 2017 Issue

The New York Book Fair March 9-12: the Big Casino

Once a year in the western world the stars align over New York for the New York Antiquarian Book Fair.  It always feels exciting and this year is no exception though a few book collectors may be absent because of this year’s change of schedule.  You are reading about this in the March issue of Rare Book Monthly because the fair is a month earlier due to scheduling conflicts with the Armory and the Fair’s strong preference to continue there rather than face moving to a new and possibly less appealing venue.   Now, with these plans and commitments in place it’s next up to the audience to jo...

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Over $2 Million Worth of Rare Books Destined for California Book Fair Stolen from London Warehouse

In what must be the most audacious book theft since the Director of Italy's Girolamini Library stole thousands of antiquarian books under his care, thieves broke into a London warehouse on the nigh...

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Lillian Cole: a bookseller weathers changes and challenges

By age 60 many dealers have lost a step and are on their second wind.  Lillian Cole was already 60 in 1985 when she stumbled into bookselling, driven by her love of books. Now, aged 92 and 32 years...

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A Geezer’s Listicle: A Few Tips for Sellers from a Late Adopter

I confess, I’m old enough to remember the “Summer of Love” (and what’s more I was there). That makes me over 70 and counting. In the intervening 50 years the content of the antiquarian, rare and co...

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An Auctioneer's Lot

In the Bay Area recently for the ABAA’s west coast show I met with Rupert Powell, Vice Chairman of Forum Auctions, and suggested he tell us his story, that is, his career in the book auction field ...

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Caren Chooses Christie's, Cowans & Country

Eric Caren, the exceptional collector and sometime dealer, continues this month to explain his decisions about collecting and collections.  He’s recently decided to send some of his best material t...

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The ABAA Fair at Oakland has now come and gone

One hundred and seventy three dealers in the books, manuscript, maps and ephemera categories gathered at the recent 3 day ABAA Fair in Oakland to exhibit and offer material to collectors, instituti...

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The American Library Association States Its Opinions on Events in Washington

The upheaval in Washington has reached into even the American Library Association. The ALA is not the staid organization one might think, a bunch of cliché librarians telling everyone to be silent....

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Auctions in New York in March

Over the past decade auction houses have concentrated their April New York sales around the ABAA fair; creating an auction house – ABAA fair synergy that produced good results on both sides.  This ...

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Arader Galleries Spring Auction March 25th

Arader Galleries Spring Auction March 25th – 1pm at 1016 Madison Avenue, New York The Arader Gallery is holding an important sale of rare books and images on March 25th.  The sale will be hosted ...

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It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World

    Men shall always comply with women’s desires... The power women have over men is not a negative thing; it’s a gift from Nature, it was meant for the happiness of mankind.   Jean-Jacques...

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Mar. 9: Shakespeare, manuscripts, and more at Bonham's New York

Normally when I write previews of upcoming auctions for Rare Book Monthly, I can key in on a few highlights that top the estimates, and also look at the other end of the spectrum for material that ...

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The Greatest Private Library of Judaica has been Sold to the National Library of Israel

What was believed to be the largest private collection of books of Judaica recently found a home after almost a decade of uncertainty. The problem was that the collection was too large and valuable...

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A Busy Month for Forum Auctions

As spring begins to push away the vestiges of the northern hemisphere’s winter outside, inside auction rooms around the world, things are beginning to heat up. For London-based Forum Auctions, Marc...

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Amazon Bookstores to Spread Coast to Coast – Is This Good or Bad for Booksellers?

Amazon has announced the planned opening of four more traditional, bricks-and-mortar bookstores for later this year. They join three already open on the west coast, Seattle, Portland, and San Diego...

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So You Think Your Library Has Problems...

As libraries in the West fret over vexing issues such as funding limitations and changing usage patterns, it's sobering to remember how horrifically bad the situation can be in lands torn by war. I...

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19 New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we review 19 new catalogues, many prepared for the recent California Antiquarian Book Fair. Donald Heald Rare Books features Americana, travels voyages, natural history and more. Dougla...

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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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