Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2018 Issue

Inhumanity in New York

Inhumanity in New York

I’m a collector of Ulster County specifically and the Hudson Valley generally.  On the 29th of March a lot offered at Swann, No. 13 in Sale No. 2471, attracted both my bid and, since receiving it, my intense interest.   Here it is:   "TO BE BURNED AT THE STAKE . . . UNTILL HE IS DEAD, AND AFTER THAT TO ASHES" (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) Trial account of an enslaved New York man for arson, with the order to burn him at the stake. 3 manuscript pages, 12 3/4 x 8 inches, on 2 leaves, the last leaf with the signatures and seals of twelve officials; folds and minor wear. Kingston, NY, 28 and 29...

Will You Soon Have to Pay/Collect Out-of-State Sales Taxes?

Will You Soon Have to Pay/Collect Out-of-State Sales Taxes?

We are close to learning whether the U. S. Supreme Court will overturn a previous decision that has long protected retailers from having to collect sales taxes from out-of-state customers when ship...

The Incredible Manuscripts of Mont Saint-Michel

The Incredible Manuscripts of Mont Saint-Michel

Two weeks ago, the French state opposed the sale of four stunning manuscripts—40 pages bound in one volume—from the XIIth century. Their provenance itself is incredible: they are from the prestigio...

Who Says You Can’t Go Home Again

Who Says You Can’t Go Home Again

I grew up in Ulster County on the west side of the Hudson midway between New York and Albany.  I moved away in my mid-twenties, almost fifty years ago, although some who know me say I never left, f...

Fore-Edge Play - Is Turning Your Books Around Backwards Art?

Fore-Edge Play - Is Turning Your Books Around Backwards Art?

Backward facing books? Apparently, it has become the rage, or outrage. It all depends upon your point of view. The trend, at least among the trendy, is to place your books backwards on a bookshelf....

Women in the Antiquarian Book Trade

Women in the Antiquarian Book Trade

As a woman who was born and raised in the trade by a mother who was also a book dealer (and ran a tight ship), this is a subject I know well from first hand experience.   And while it is true tha...

AbeBooks 15 Most Expensive Sales for the First Quarter of 2018

AbeBooks 15 Most Expensive Sales for the First Quarter of 2018

To answer the question of where are today's collectors, AbeBooks latest list of most expensive sales suggests anyplace other than the U.S.A. This list is a surprise. AbeBooks has been the largest o...

May 23: Artist's Books take center stage at Il Ponte Casa d'Aste

May 23: Artist's Books take center stage at Il Ponte Casa d'Aste

This month, on May 23rd, Il Ponte Casa d’Aste is hosting a sale of Books, Manuscripts and Engravings that includes a unique collection of artist’s books. About 150 artist’s books from the avant-gar...

The Getman New York Fair for March 2019 is creating a Larger Footprint

The Getman New York Fair for March 2019 is creating a Larger Footprint

Marvin Getman, who had a nice turnout for his one day fair in New York over the extended ABAA New York weekend in March, recently committed to the Sheraton to bring his fair back to their location ...

Chiswick Auctions’ forthcoming sale of Printed Books on 30 May

Chiswick Auctions’ forthcoming sale of Printed Books on 30 May

Chiswick Auctions sale on May 30th  will feature many classic and highly collectable editions, in sought-after dust-jackets together with rare  inscribed copies.  English and American  literature i...

May 31: Forum Auctions follows up the London ABA Fair with Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper

May 31: Forum Auctions follows up the London ABA Fair with Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper

Deliberately timed to take place just after the ABA Fair (May 24th-26th), Forum Auctions’ sale on the 31st has a wealth of enticing lots covering most areas of interest. This year the main London b...

The Unending Circle: Recidivist Book Thief Goes Straight from Jail to Custody

The Unending Circle: Recidivist Book Thief Goes Straight from Jail to Custody

Book thief most unusual Andrew Shannon is headed back to his home country of Ireland after a brief interlude spent in England. He has returned in the company of Irish gendarmes after being released...

Annual Rose City Book & Paper Fair in Portland, Oregon, Set for June 15-16

Annual Rose City Book & Paper Fair in Portland, Oregon, Set for June 15-16

It's time once again for book collectors in the Pacific Northwest to mark their calendars for the annual Rose City Book Paper Fair. This is the twelfth such yearly event set to take place in the "...

Auctions in May

Auctions in May

We are moving into the spring seasonal strength in the auction field for rare books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera.  These fields have been strong all spring as the number of sales posted over the...

Four New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Four New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we review four new bookseller catalogues. Shapero Rare Books has a catalogue devoted to material from the far north and far south, the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The George S. MacManu...

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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