Rare Book Monthly Articles - July - 2017 Issue

An Incredible Collection for which I have the Receipt. When can I pick them up?

As any regular reader of Rare Book Monthly is probably aware, my collecting focus is the Hudson River Valley of the State of New York. My collection spans the gamut of material—books, of course, but ephemera, manuscripts, maps, paintings, prints, and furniture as well. I would guess that within the collection, possibly a thousand books have come into my possession. Two of these are copies of a book by Abraham Tomlinson of Beekman, New York in Dutchess County. Published in 1855, Tomlinson’s The Military Journals of two Private Soldiers, 1758-1775, with Numerous Illustrative Notes to which is...

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The Untouched Collection

A collection of old books, untouched for 200 years, was found in Bouillon, Belgium, last month. The reading room where they had remained silent for so long was haunted by the spirit of a “honnête h...

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A $2 Million Theft? Maybe Not

How one estimates the value of rare, even unique works is always a challenge. The correct formula is to determine the market price agreed upon by a willing buyer and willing seller, but the rarer t...

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Popular Print: Fearless (if subjective) Forecasting

“By the shore of Gitche Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water, At the doorway of his wigwam, In the pleasant Summer morning, Hiawatha stood and waited…..”   When my father was a child in the ea...

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July 8: Fine Books & Manuscripts at Potter & Potter Auctions including a Force Declaration of Independence

Potter Potter Auctions, a Chicago-based house started in 2007, has historically focused on magicana—antiques and collectibles focused on magic and magicians—but they also conduct sales including p...

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A Dr. Seuss Museum Opens in His Hometown

It isn't a medical museum, but a museum has just opened in Springfield, Massachusetts to celebrate the life of America's foremost "doctor." Rather than a physician, Theodor Geisel was an author, an...

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Eric Caren: Satisfied Seller at Christie's

I am not known to mince words.  I give 100 percent and I expect 100 percent back.  On June 15th in New York, some of my best material came up for sale at Christie’s and my expectations were exceede...

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July at Forum Auctions: Two sales in 10 days, two more on deck

Historically a quieter time of year in the book business, London-headquartered auction house Forum Auctions is bucking the trend by keeping the summer packed with sales: four in July, and two more ...

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Bookfinder Enables Searching Free from Annoying POD Books

For many, POD's have become the scourge of book listing sites. No, we aren't talking about podcasts, though some of those can be annoying too. Rather, we mean the Print on Demand books that now inf...

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July 6-17: Cowan's Online Sale of N. Flayderman & Co. Civil War material and more

Cowan’s Auctions, based in Cincinnati and in business since 1995, has been an auction house always at the forefront of technological advances. One of the first houses to boast a website and to cond...

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Bonhams Appoints Ian Ehling as New York Director of Fine Books & Manuscripts

Bonhams is pleased to announce that longtime Christie’s rare book specialist Ian Ehling will join the New York office as Director of Fine Books Manuscripts, beginning June 1.  Ian has more than 34...

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A Most Unusual Library Theft

A most unusual theft took place at the McKinley Library in Sacramento on May 24. Usually, it's books that are stolen from a library. Not this time. Instead, it was a statue, a 110-pound bronze stat...

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Fourteen New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we review 14 new booksellers' catalogues. Shapero Rare Books takes us "back to the cradle," a collection of works about African discovery. From Hordern House, we find a selection of Aust...

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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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