Rare Book Monthly Articles - March - 2021 Issue

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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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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