Rare Book Monthly Articles - January - 2019 Issue

The Rare Book Hub Top 500 Sales at Auction for 2018. Prices Were Up at the Top

With another year under our belts, it's time to look back at the Top 500 prices paid at auction in the books and paper field (see end of this article for an explanation). At the top end, 2018 was a very good year. Prices rebounded sharply from 2017's softness. The top price paid in 2017 was $1.8 million for an early printing of the Declaration of Independence. This year's highest price was over five times that amount. Six items sold for more in 2018 than did anything in 2017. Nine items exceeded $1 million in price, compared to five the previous year.   Perhaps more telling is the price p...

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Understanding Valuation in a fast Changing World

Presentation of historical data for the rare book field has been evolving for more years than any book collector can remember because it’s been clear and necessary for more than two hundred years t...

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Book Selling: 40 Years Later

Looking back at almost 40 years as an independent bookseller I’ve been thinking about what has changed. It isn’t the money; though I do know a few dealers who’ve built a profitable business, for mo...

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We are in a War over Attention Span

It’s no accident that rare books, and books generally peaked in the 19th century.  Their popularity and importance stemmed from their often unique ability to deliver “content” in a world in which c...

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Utah Man Charged in Large Thefts and Frauds Concerning Collectible Mormon Books and Artifacts

Kevin Mark Ronald Schuwer finds himself in a lot of trouble today. Schuwer, a former student at Brigham Young University, has plied the lucrative trade of selling artifacts related to the Church of...

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Voyage a la Mer du Sud: No Hollywood Spin-Off

Although sub-titled “a follow-up to Anson’s voyage”, and sometimes bound with the latter, Voyage A la Mer du Sud1 (Duplain Brothers—Lyon, 1756) is actually an independent publication, the spin-off ...

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A Greek Monastery Battles Princeton University for Some Very Old Manuscripts

"Possession is nine-tenths of the law" is one of those old idioms that may need updating, at least in the books and manuscripts field. In recent years, it has been more common to look at old transf...

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Rare Book Hub as of January 1st, 2019

We enter 2019 with 8,765,292 full text records in the Rare Book Transaction History Database.  During the past year we’ve added 465,101 new records or 1,274 a day or 53 records every hour of every ...

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New Amsterdam to Metropolis – Important Maps of New York City 1548 – 1964 at Martayan Lan

Martayan Lan, the New York City rare book and map dealer and ABAA member, has announced the opening of an exhibition of New York maps issued over the past four hundred years.  The event now underwa...

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Jan 22: Books & Manuscripts at Il Ponte Casa d'Aste features a previously unknown Portolan chart

Milan-based auction house Il Ponte Casa d’Astewill be hosting a sale of Books and Manuscriptsthis month on January 22. Headlining the 216-lot event is a previously unknown Portolan chart, supported...

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Book and Paper Fairs in North America January - March

While the rare book world has been going online and bookshops closing, book fairs remain a resilient marketplace that continues to find new energy among dealers and collectors who are trying to buy...

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Scholium Group Reports £56,000 Loss in First Half of Fiscal Year

The Scholium Group, corporate parent of Shapero Rare Books, released its interim financial report for the six months ending September 30, 2018. While holding several divisions, Shapero Rare Books i...

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eCatalogues: Seasons Greetings from RBH Members

As the printed catalogue has declined many smart sellers have shifted to eCatalogues to showcase material.  This holiday season we are pleased to present the most recent fifty eCatalogue presentati...

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Grant to American Institute of Physics a Sign of Maturation of Book Digitization

The American Institute of Physics has been awarded a grant of $646,697 from the Sloan Foundation to digitize and make universally available the Wenner collection of 3,800 volumes, dating back nearl...

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Eleven New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Variety is the word for this month's new catalogue reviews. There is a variety of topics covered in subject specific catalogues, while others are filled with a variety of material themselves. Those...

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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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