Rare Book Monthly Articles - March - 2021 Issue

A Death In The Family:  Remembering Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919 - 2021)

A Death In The Family: Remembering Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919 - 2021)

There was a time when today’s gray beards and white tops were bright-eyed pioneers, forging pathways and persuading American youth to join them in a ‘Great Liberation’ of the soul, body, and mind. They called it freedom from the old ways, death to ‘the Establishment’.   That colorful generation of nay-sayers gave us many heroes: a prince among them was Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet, publisher, consummate bookman. His famed bookstore, City Lights, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, became a touchstone for those who identified with the so-called Beat generation. But the bookstore was more th...

Finding Shakespeare and Pocahontas with the Aid of Rare Book Hub and Further Research!

Finding Shakespeare and Pocahontas with the Aid of Rare Book Hub and Further Research!

I usually buy Paper and not Books per se. However my interest is in contemporary  reportage so I include printed English Chronicles from the 16th and 17th century such as Abbot, Purchas, Cooper, Ca...

Census of First Edition of Newton's Principia Yields More Copies than Anyone Knew Existed

Census of First Edition of Newton's Principia Yields More Copies than Anyone Knew Existed

If you are wondering where you can find a first edition of Isaac Newton's Principia, in fact, where you can locate every known copy still in existence, a preliminary report issued last fall will gi...

Small Museum in Asheville, N.C. Meets The Challenges of the Pandemic

Small Museum in Asheville, N.C. Meets The Challenges of the Pandemic

Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center carries on in difficult times   Black Mountain College was a famous experimental college founded in 1933. Many of the school's faculty and students wou...

Joubert de la Rue, A Savage Satire of French Society

Joubert de la Rue, A Savage Satire of French Society

In the wake of Montesquieu’s Lettres Persanes (1721), fake epistolary works from alleged travellers became a sure way to draw a satirical portrait of society. Thus, while pretending to be an Americ...

Home For Sale Perfect for Someone Needing a Massive Library

Home For Sale Perfect for Someone Needing a Massive Library

For those requiring a substantial library, we have found just the right home for you. It will be most convenient for those already living in England, but if not, it is worth the move. This is truly...

California Book Fair Virtual Tours:  March 4-6, 2021

California Book Fair Virtual Tours: March 4-6, 2021

Imagine walking through the California International Antiquarian Book Fair with some of the foremost experts in a collecting field, listening as they discuss the significance of items offered for s...

How to Shop a Virtual Book Fair

How to Shop a Virtual Book Fair

Here is an article we all need if we are interested to go online to a virtual rare book fair.  Most people instinctively understand that when you go to a brick and mortar book fair you know how to ...

The Literary Way of Death

The Literary Way of Death

Covid-19 has changed everything. The losses are deep and personal. We lose friends and family, we also lose some of our own possibilities.    Yet as history shows, disaster often invites an explo...

Joe Maddalena of Profiles in History has joined Heritage

Joe Maddalena of Profiles in History has joined Heritage

Heritage’s news release explains it this way:   “Joe Maddalena, the founder and CEO of Profiles in History, has joined Heritage in the role of Executive Vice President.  When Joe reached out to u...

Italian Senator Acquitted in Case Related to the Massive Girolamini Library Book Theft

Italian Senator Acquitted in Case Related to the Massive Girolamini Library Book Theft

In an offshoot of the massive Girolamini Library theft case, former Italian Senator Marcello Dell'Utri has been acquitted of the charges leveled against him. Dell'Utri was once a powerful politicia...

PBA Remembering the Beats, the Counterculture, and the Literary on March 18th

PBA Remembering the Beats, the Counterculture, and the Literary on March 18th

(Berkeley, California, February 25th, 2021) – PBA Galleries’ upcoming auction of Fine Literature with Beats, Bukowski and Counterculture on March 18th, 2021 pays homage to Ferlinghetti with several...

Leslie Hindman:  Literature from a Private New Orleans Collection:  Sale 855

Leslie Hindman: Literature from a Private New Orleans Collection: Sale 855

Live and Online March 19,2021 / 10:00am CST   Leslie Hindman:  Lots of Fun on March 19th   The Hindman Company of Chicago and Palm Beach is offering an appealing sale of Literature from a Priv...

Overdue Library Book Returned 82 Years Late, and It's a Good Thing They Waited So Long

Overdue Library Book Returned 82 Years Late, and It's a Good Thing They Waited So Long

A library book has been returned 82 years overdue and that's a good thing. It probably wouldn't have survived if returned on time.   Jordan Muscyscyn (pronunciation unknown) was working in his at...

Will the Yale Library Deliberately Suffocate You if There is a Fire?

Will the Yale Library Deliberately Suffocate You if There is a Fire?

Will the Yale University Library deliberately suffocate its patrons if there's a fire? Do we even need to ask this question? Yes. Many people believe it. This is an old story that recently made the...

One New Catalogue Review

One New Catalogue Review

This month we have only one new catalogue to review. It comes from Shapero Rare Books and it is a new selection of travel guides from Baedeker and other publishers. It can be found at this link: Cl...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
  • SD Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions
    The Odfjell Collection
    Polar – History – Ornithology – Colour Plate Books
    Ending December 4th
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ROALD AMUNDSEN: «Sydpolen» [ The South Pole] 1912. First edition in jackets and publisher's slip case.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: AMUNDSEN & NANSEN: «Fram over Polhavet» [Farthest North] 1897. AMUNDSEN's COPY!
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ERNEST SHACKLETON [ed.]: «Aurora Australis» 1908. First edition. The NORWAY COPY.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ERNEST SHACKLETON: «The heart of the Antarctic» + SUPPLEMENT «The Antarctic Book», 1909.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: SHACKLETON, BERNACCHI, CHERRY-GARRARD [ed.]: «The South Polar Times» I-III, 1902-1911.
    SD Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions
    The Odfjell Collection
    Polar – History – Ornithology – Colour Plate Books
    Ending December 4th
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: [WILLEM BARENTSZ & HENRY HUDSON] - SAEGHMAN: «Verhael van de vier eerste schip-vaerden […]», 1663.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: TERRA NOVA EXPEDITION | LIEUTENANT HENRY ROBERTSON BOWERS: «At the South Pole.», Gelatin Silver Print. [10¾ x 15in. (27.2 x 38.1cm.) ].
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ELEAZAR ALBIN: «A natural History of Birds.» + «A Supplement», 1738-40. Wonderful coloured plates.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: PAUL GAIMARD: «Voyage de la Commision scientific du Nord, en Scandinavie, […]», c. 1842-46. ONLY HAND COLOURED COPY KNOWN WITH TWO ORIGINAL PAINTINGS BY BIARD.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: JAMES JOYCE: «Ulysses», 1922. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS.
  • Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.

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