Rare Book Monthly Articles - July - 2019 Issue

Sotheby's Sold for $3.7 Billion

Sotheby's Sold for $3.7 Billion

Sotheby's has been selling property for others going on three centuries now. Two weeks ago, the tables were turned. This time, it was Sotheby's itself that was sold. The hammer price was $3.7 billion, undoubtedly the highest realization ever at Sotheby's, although the sale did not take place in the auction rooms. It was a private sale.   The buyer officially was BidFair USA, but that is an entity wholly owned by entrepreneur Patrick Drahi and his family. Mr. Drahi is a French and Israeli citizen who has had enormous success in the telecommunications and digital media sphere. He owns sever...

Sotheby's Goes Private or Sotheby's Going Going Up

Sotheby's Goes Private or Sotheby's Going Going Up

Sotheby’s, a publicly traded company for 30 years, has been purchased by Patrick Drahi for $3.7 billion including debt.  In going private the firm joins the other major auction houses in the world,...

The Voynich Manuscript Code Has Finally Been Cracked...Or Not

The Voynich Manuscript Code Has Finally Been Cracked...Or Not

It was a stunning claim, at least for one coming from a respected university, the University of Bristol. The Voynich Manuscript, whose indecipherable code has eluded translation by the greatest sch...

A BOOKSELLER’S LISTICLE: Six Vintage and Antique Books to help you make money

A BOOKSELLER’S LISTICLE: Six Vintage and Antique Books to help you make money

SELF HELP is one of the book trade’s most popular genres. Most of us have encountered Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, first published in 1936, or Napoleon Hill’s Think and ...

The Future of the Past

The Future of the Past

History matters, if not so much these days.  Knowing less about history does not much concern those who know less but those who know more are concerned because they believe past experience is deter...

Once Again:  the C. H. Booth Book Fair

Once Again: the C. H. Booth Book Fair

As certain as is summer, so too is the annual arrival of the Friends of C. H. Booth Book Fair, one of the most eagerly awaited book fairs in New England.  This year’s 5 day event follows the sequen...

Barnes & Noble Purchased by a Hedge Fund. Times Have Changed

Barnes & Noble Purchased by a Hedge Fund. Times Have Changed

The long journey of Barnes Noble, once the world's largest bookseller, took another major turn in its declining years when it was sold last month to Elliott Management for $683 million, or $6.50 p...

Theodore De Bry & the Bodmer Project! A Complete digitized tour of the World...

Theodore De Bry & the Bodmer Project! A Complete digitized tour of the World...

For the first time ever, a complete collection of Theodore de Bry’s Voyages—‘Great’ and ‘Small’—is available online! These 29 volumes published between 1590 and 1634 are, with their extraordinary i...

An Important Book:  Hiding in Plain Sight

An Important Book: Hiding in Plain Sight

In 1864 Abraham Lincoln, weighted with war, made a trip to Philadelphia to support a charity event whose goal was to raise money for wounded soldiers.  For the event he provided 48 copies of the Em...

July Sales at Forum Auctions: A Busy Month

July Sales at Forum Auctions: A Busy Month

About half of Forum Auctions’ online sale on Thursday 3rdJuly comprises books from the collection of the the late Frank Herrmann (1927-2017), author, publisher, collector and mentor to many at Foru...

Elect Me President and . . . .

Elect Me President and . . . .

It seems beyond shocking the deterioration in the American political landscape but as a consequence there seems to be room for another 72 year old in the race.  These are the policies I will pursue...

Comic Books Valued at $42,000 Stolen from Retail Shop

Comic Books Valued at $42,000 Stolen from Retail Shop

Comic book crime is no laughing matter. As the value of collectible comics has soared in recent years, so have the number of thefts and break-ins related to them. Superheroes may be able to take ca...

The Murder of Richard Jennings

The Murder of Richard Jennings

Recently I bought a copy of “An Account of the Murder of Richard Jennings; Together with the Confessions of Teed Dunning.”  It details the story of a murder and later the execution of two men in O...

The Downside of Posting Official Documents Online

The Downside of Posting Official Documents Online

Oops. The digitization and online posting of documents is a wonderful benefit of technological advances, making all sorts of information once virtually unobtainable available to scholars and the pu...

10 New Catalogues Reviewed for July

10 New Catalogues Reviewed for July

This month we review 10 new booksellers' catalogues. Shapero Rare Books offers "the world on stone," that is, lithography. The 19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop presents a collection of "p...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby'sSell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts Sotheby'sSell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 746. Speed's Dual Atlas of Britain & the World with 96 Maps (1676). Est. $70,000 - $85,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 9. Visscher's Superb Double-Hemisphere World Map with Representations of the Elements (1658). Est. $4,750 - $6,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 58. One of the Most Important 16th Century Maps of the New World (1554). Est. $5,000 - $6,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 745. A Complete Example of Ortelius' Atlas of Ancient Geography (1624). Est. $12,000 - $15,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 73. First English Map to Show California as an Island (1625). Est. $16,000 - $19,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 156. Bachmann's Dramatic View of the Mid-Atlantic Region (1861). Est. $1,800 - $2,200
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 741. Early Announcement of Continental Congress' Declaration of Independence (1776). Est. $9,000 - $11,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 695. The First Printed Map Devoted to the Pacific (1589). Est. $8,000 - $9,500
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 733. Superb Image of the Presentation of Jesus in Hand Color (1502). Est. $700 - $850
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 52. Produced by the Psychological Warfare Branch to Encourage Surrender (1945). Est. $200 - $230
  • Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: ALDROVANDI, Ulisse (1522-1605) - [Opera omnia]. Bologna: Bellagamba, Benacci, Bonomi, Tebaldini, Ferroni, 1599-1668. €22.000-€28.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: [CANALETTO] - VISENTINI, Antonio (1688-1782) da Giovanni Antonio CANAL (1697-1768, detto 'Il Canaletto') - Urbis Venetiarum prospectus celebriores. Venezia: Giovanni Battista Pasquale, 1742-51. €7.000-€10.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: LA FONTAINE, Jean de (1621-1695) - Fables Choisies. Parigi: Claude Barbin, 1668. €7.000-€10.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: MERCATOR, Rumold (1545-1599) - [I continenti] - Europa; Africa; America Sive India Nova; Asia. Amsterdam: S.d. [ca. 1633]. €2.000-€3.000

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