Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2020 Issue

Bookselling In A Time Of Coronavirus

The whole world, including your Hawaii correspondent, is working from home. At Rare Book Hub we reached out to some booksellers for comment. Those who responded included some friends in the San Francisco Bay area and other locations including Mexico and UK. Here are their responses, somewhat edited. ----------------- Alexander Akin- Bolerium Books - Social Movements, San Francisco Before the shelter-in-place order, I was already taking precautions in the shop, using disinfectant wipes on shared surfaces, etc. Because I have family and friends in East Asia I saw a lot of this stuff coming...

Oxford Professor Arrested for Theft of Ancient Bible Fragments and Their Sale to Washington's Museum of the Bible

An Oxford University professor has been arrested in connection with the theft of some ancient Egyptian biblical fragments. The mostly papyrus fragments belonged to the Egyptian Exploration Society ...

Book Fairs: Can they become Virtual?

With the disruption of Covid-19 Marvin Getman, show promoter, is developing a fresh approach to fairs that work around the current prohibitions for gathering of groups.  For many dealers shows are ...

eBay is not another Abe or Biblio

The book listing sites have been around for more than two decades and once upon a time there were many.  But not so.  eBay saw the number of listing sites shrinking and shifted, in books anyway, to...

A Half Million Dollar Gift to Support “Indie” Bookstores

The usually small, independent bookstore has been under great pressure for decades. It goes all the way back to the 1960s when chain stores, notably B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, began spreading aroun...

Unexpected Donor Gives £250,000 to Help Booksellers Struggling Through Coronavirus Crisis

A fundraiser to help British booksellers struggling through the coronavirus epidemic received a surprising £250,000 (US $310,000) contribution from a mystery donor. Who was that mystery donor? The ...

Peter Luke: a resourceful dealer

There are many ways for dealers and customers to connect.  For dealers, shows have been for years important, even vital.  This category of sales however is being battered by limitations based on he...

Is it a Good Deed During Troubled Times, or Book Piracy? The Internet Archive vs. the Authors Guild

Was this a good deed to help students in particular when they are locked out of their schools in the time of the coronavirus, or a blatant stealing of authors' copyrighted works with no payment in ...

Some Things Matter More

Recently I received a message from Scott DeWolfe of DeWolfe and Wood and mentioned they had a Poughkeepsie imprint that is shabby but intact and wondered if I would accept it if sent to me.  And I ...

AbeBooks Presents Their Top 10 Most Expensive Items for the First Quarter of 2020

AbeBooks has released their list of the Top 10 highest prices paid for books and related material on their website during the first three months of 2020. The items are as different as can be, cover...

Books, Manuscripts and Ephemera Sales at Doyle Forever Transformed

Doyle has landed on their feet as the field has been adjusting to the changing market and the Coronavirus catashrophe.  Net net the company is stronger and I believe Doyle will be PLAYERS.  Based o...

Cynric R. Williams: Massa Buckra in Jamaica

As travelling has now become almost impossible due to the Covid-19 pandemic, let’s take a trip across the island of Jamaica in 1823. Meet our guide, Cynric R. Williams! A British subject, he travel...

June 9: Highly important Isaac Newton presentation copy to be offered at Forum Auctions

A truly superlative copy of the first edition of Newton’s Opticks, 1704, given by the author to Nicolas Fatio de Duillier will appear at auction for the first time in its history as part of Forum A...

An Exceptional Sale at Morphy’s: A collection of the American Revolutionary Era and the War of 1812 material

The personal collection of Al Benting, comprising 210 lots of Revolutionary and War of 1812 material, is to be sold at Morphy’s in Denver, Pennsylvania on May 27th.  Winning bidders will be ecstati...

Patience Rewarded

Circuses are an obscure footnote and been part of the human landscape for a millennium.  Even in remote backwaters such as the Hudson Valley in New York State in the 19th century, such entertainmen...

Shapero Rare Books' Parent Reports Small Monthly Loss

The past few years have not been the easiest for antiquarian booksellers. The last thing anyone needed was a crisis that forced shops to close, people to retreat behind the walls of their homes and...

Just Two Catalogues Reviewed This Month

When last month began, with much of the world under lock down, we didn't know what to expect. With storefronts closed, and people shut in their homes all day, would booksellers issue more catalogue...

Rare Book Monthly

  • CHRISTIE’S
    Valuable Books and Manuscripts
    London auction
    13 December
    Find out more
    Christie’s, Explore now
    TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
    C.1311. £100,000–150,000
  • Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Roberts (David) & Croly (George). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumae, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. Lond. 1842 - 1843 [-49]. First Edn. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Incunabula: O'Fihily (Maurice). Duns Scotus Joannes: O'Fihely, Maurice Abp… Venice, 20th November 1497. €8,000 to €12,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: An important file of documents with provenance to G.A. Newsom, manager of the Jacob’s Factory in Dublin, occupied by insurgents during Easter Week 1916. €6,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: WILDE (Oscar), 1854-1900, playwright, aesthete and wit. A lock of Wilde’s Hair, presented by his son to the distinguished Irish actor Mícheál MacLiammóir. €6,000 to €8,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Heaney (Seamus). Bog Poems, London, 1975. Special Limited Edition, No. 33 of 150 Copies, Signed by Author. Illus. by Barrie Cooke. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Binding: Burke, Thomas O.P. (de Burgo). Hibernia Dominicana, Sive Historia Provinciae Hiberniae Ordinis Praedicatorum, ... 1762. First Edition. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: COLLINS, Michael. An important TL, 29 July 1922, addressed to GOVERNMENT on ‘suggested Proclamation warning all concerned that troops have orders to shoot prisoners found sniping, ambushing etc.’. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Scott Fitzgerald (F.) The Great Gatsby, New York (Charles Scribner's Sons) 1925, First Edn. €2,000 to €3,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Yeats (W.B.) The Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2 vols. Lond. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949. Limited Edition, No. 46 of 375 Copies Only, Signed by W.B. Yeats. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of the Russian Empire, Description in English and French, Lg. folio London (S. Gosnell) 1803. First Edn. €1,000 to €1,500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of Turkey, Illustrated by a Series of Engravings. Lg. folio Lond.(T. Bensley) 1802. First Edn. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Mason (Geo. Henry). The Costume of China, Illustrated with Sixty Engravings. Lg. folio London (for W. Miller) 1800. First Edn. €1,400 to €1,800
  • Sotheby’s
    Fine Books and Manuscripts
    8 December 2023
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane] — Isaac D'Israeli. Jane Austen's copy of Curiosities of Literature. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition in boards of the author's debut novel. 70,000 - 100,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Brontë, Charlotte. "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me..." 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Eliot, George. The author's magnum opus. 25,000 - 35,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Whitman, Walt. Manuscript written upon the Death of Lincoln, 1865. 60,000 - 80,000 USD
  • Sotheby’s
    Important Modern Literature from the Library of an American Filmmaker
    8 December 2023
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Kerouac, Jack. Typescript scroll of The Dharma Bums. Typed by Kerouac in Orlando, Florida, 1957, published by Viking in 1958. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. The autograph manuscript of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." [Key West, finished April 1936]. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Miller, Henry. Typescript of The Last Book, a working title for Tropic of Cancer, written circa 1931–1932. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Ruscha, Ed. Twentysix Gasoline Stations, with a lengthy inscription to Joe Goode. 40,000 - 60,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. in our time, first edition of Hemingway’s second book. 30,000 - 50,000 USD
  • Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: Samuel Augustus Mitchell, A New Map of Texas, Oregon and California with the Regions Adjoining, Philadelphia, 1846. $3,500 to $5,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: 17th–19th-century case maps of various locations. $1,500 to $2,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Andreas Cellarius, Haemisphaerium Stellatum Boreale Cum Subiecto Haemisphaerio Terrestri, celestial chart, Amsterdam, 1708. $2,500 to $3,500.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: Vincenzo Coronelli, Set of engraved gores for Coronelli’s monumental 42-inch terrestrial globe, Venice, circa 1688–97. $18,000 to $22,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, group of four navigational charts, Antwerp, 1580s. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Thomas Bros, Block Book of Berkeley, Oakland, 1920s. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Nieuhoff & John Ogilby, An Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, map of China, plan of Canton, London, 1673. $1,200 to $1,800.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Frederick Sander, Reichenbachia, St. Albans, 1888-1894. $5,000 to $7,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Two early illustrated works on horsemanship and breeding, Nuremberg, early 18th century. $700 to $800.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Gould, A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans. Supplement to the First Edition, London, 1834; 1855. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Pinkerton, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World, London, 1808–14. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Oakley Hoopes Bailey, Hackensack, New Jersey, Boston, 1896. $800 to $1,200.

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