Rare Book Monthly « November

12 Defendants Sentenced in $3 Million “Mission Impossible” Book Theft

The day of reckoning finally arrived for 12 of the participants in the extraordinary “Mission Impossible” book theft in January 2017. That was when three of them climbed down a rope from a skylight in a London warehouse and rose back up 5 hours later with over 200 rare and valuable books. As to why they chose to remove them that way, other than the obvious that the books did not belong to them, the answer was to avoid the alarm sensors which were all aimed at the doors. The valuable rare books, belonging to two dealers from Italy and one from Germany, were in the warehouse awaiting shipment...

John Crichton: a career in the rare book trade

John Crichton, career antiquarian as proprietor of The Brick Row Book Shop, lives comfortably within the two worlds in which rare books and collectible paper exist; between commerce and academics. ...

Suspect Arrested in 10-Year-Old Cold Case Murder of Salt Lake City Bookseller Sherry Black

On the morning or early afternoon of November 30, 2010, Salt Lake City bookseller Sherry Black was brutally murdered in her shop. She had been stabbed at least 20 times and beaten, her body sexuall...

In the Age of Ephemera

Books have long been the mainstay in the ‘printed’ category while other printed forms have periodically captured the headlines and imaginations of collectors and collecting institutions. But we se...

Shakespeare First Folio Sells for Record Breaking Price of Almost $10 Million

A copy of the first edition of William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, Tragedies, better known as the “First Folio,” sold at Christie's on October 14 for a record-smashing price of just a hair ...

The ABAA rethinking the world

Susan Benne is the Executive Director of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America. A substantial portion of her work normally relates to building awareness of the association’s activiti...

Dada Data: Books and Boîtes by Marcel Duchamp and Others online 9—16 November 2020 at Sothebys.com

Carlos Alberto Cruz a distinguished Chilean architect, art collector, and connoisseur, was also a renowned bibliophile and Honorary Director of the Sociadad de Bibliofilos Chilenos. He assembled a ...

Everything Old is New Again. Marvin Getman Finds a Strong Market for Virtual Book Fairs. Others Also Offer the Online Fair Experience.

“I worked very hard to be first,” said Marvin Getman, 70, the longtime Boston based businessman whose company Book Paper Fairs has hosted book fairs for 40 year. Traditional events were hit hard b...

AbeBooks Top 10 Most Expensive Sales for the Third Quarter of 2020

The third quarter of 2020 may have been a difficult quarter for most everything else, but it didn't discourage AbeBooks' higher-end buyers. The effect the pandemic would have on in-store sales was ...

Baseball Card Sells for Record Price of $3,936,000

Move over Honus Wagner. Wagner, the turn-of-the-century baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates, has long ruled the collectible works on paper field known as baseball cards. We used to flip thes...

Ecce Homo: La Faute à Voltaire...

On October 16, French teacher Samuel Paty was murdered and beheaded in the middle of the street, near Paris, France, by a Muslim fanatic. Paty had shown Muhammad’s caricatures (see our article on C...

The Annual Boston Antiquarian Book Fair (Now Virtual Fair) Will Be Held Nov. 12-14

The annual Boston Antiquarian Book Fair will be held on November 12-14 this year. While this is the 44th annual fair, it is also the first Boston Virtual Book Fair. Hopefully, if there is a second,...

Nov. 20-22: 80+ booksellers exhibiting at IOBA's 2nd Virtual Book Fair

It’s an unfortunate reality that Covid-19 continues to seriously affect many countries around the world. The rare book field has certainly not been immune. Book fairs, like virtually every aspect o...

November 4-18: Old World Auctions' November auction focuses on fresh material

Old World Auctions has offered multiple sales of rare maps and books for a long time. The business has been around since 1978, and since 2011, Eliane and Jon Dotson have been sole proprietors of th...

Print is losing its grip

Utah is losing two of its’ daily newspapers, The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News. This story was printed on October 29th in America’s paper of record, The New York Times. It’s another chap...

Upcycling Your Old Books

Alternative uses for books have become something of a rage recently. Over the first five centuries of their existence, there weren't many of these. Other than for reading, some books became items f...

In America: Vote

Vote John Fitzgerald Kennedy spoke to the ages at his inauguration on January 20th, 1961 when he said, "We observe today not a victory but a celebration of freedom – symbolizing an end as w...

Five New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we review five new catalogues. Bull's Head Rare Books has issued their first catalogue and it's a “mixed grill.” Langdon Manor Books offers a selection of African Americana. Johnathan A....