Rare Book Monthly Articles - April - 2022 Issue

The Book Fairs Arrive in New York!

The New York Antiquarian Book Fair returns to the Armory in New York City April 21-24 and the world is taking a collective deep breath as Covid-19 is moving on.  The address is 643 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10065. The ABAA is a show organization and the New York Book Fair has been suspended for two years.  For collectors, dealers and librarians, the chance to participate at the world’s greatest book fair is a heady moment of reverie.  Is the worst behind us?  We all hope so.   As has been previously, it is a 4 day event, Thursday afternoon opening, continuing Friday, Saturday and Su...

Contrary to Popular Belief, There Are Young Women Collectors, and the Honey & Wax Collecting Prize for Young Women is Now Open for Entries

The sixth annual Honey Wax Book Collecting Prize is open for applications from U.S. women collectors age 30 and under. Say what? Who is going to apply? Everyone knows book collectors are old men. ...

Happy Days Are Here Again for Florida Book Lovers

Yes! Happy Days Are Here Again for Florida Book Lovers. After a weary pandemic hiatus, the 39th Florida Antiquarian Book Fair will welcome a joyful crowd of bibliophiles to the Coliseum, St. Peters...

A Glimpse of the Kislak Collecting Magic: At Auction 4/26

Jay Kislak’s name is familiar to the vast majority of readers of Rare Book Monthly, but thanks to “Exploring the Early Americas,” the ongoing exhibition at the Library of Congress of selections fro...

William P. Barlow: A Grace Note

William, Bill, Barlow the exceptional collector passed away in October, 2021 while in the midst of lending his archives of various old auction house sales to us.   During 2021 he lent and we conver...

What Are They Building in There?: Bonhams in March

This March, within ten days of each other, Bonhams Auctioneers announced the acquisition of two auction houses, Skinner in the US (https://www.bonhams.com/press_release/34061/) and Bruun Rasmussen ...

Handwritten Book of Poems by 13-Year-Old Charlotte Bronte Revealed by Booksellers James Cummins and Maggs Bros.

Booksellers James Cummins of New York and Maggs Bros. of London have come up with one of the more significant literary finds in recent memory. It is a hand-written miniature volume by Charlotte Bro...

A Library Opens As Usual But No One Is There

The main library in Christchurch, New Zealand, opened as usual the other day. There's nothing unusual about that except it wasn't a usual day. It was a holiday, Waitangi Day* to be exact. It wasn't...

Francisco Lopez de Gomara, or the Certain Curse of an Uncertain Translation

One of the best books on the conquest of the New World, Francisco Lopez de Gomara’s Historia general de las Indias (1552), raised controversy when it came out in France in 1569—mainly because the F...

Revisiting the Durants in the 21st Century: Story of Civilization Gets a 2nd Life on YouTube

Anyone who grew up in a moderately literate household during the mid-20th century could count on finding Will and Ariel Durant's The Story of Civilization on the family bookshelf. The 11 volume his...

Selections from Maurice Sendak’s Personal Collection Sold to Benefit the Rosenbach

Christie’s New York is pleased to announce the sale of selections from artist and author Maurice Sendak’s personal library in its upcoming Fine Printed Books Manuscripts Including Americana auctio...

An Exceptional Collection of Black Americana: Sold!!

Promptly at 2:00 pm EST in New York on Tuesday 15 March, 2022 Guernseys sold the most complex lot we have had the pleasure to contemplate in many years:  The Elizabeth Meaders Collection tracing th...

Amazon to Close All Their Bookstores

Amazon.com has put a lot of retail stores out of business. Now it looks like it has done the same to its own. Before it became the behemoth seller of everything under the sun, Amazon was an online ...

Book of Books: How many trees must die for this thing to exist?

Many people hope to have a book in them.    A few do.  Those who have experienced their lives through the words, stories and experiences of books seem the most likely to succeed.  One such effort w...

A Century Later, the Endurance, the Ship of “South, the Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition,” Has Been Found

This story is something of a follow up on an event described in the polar exploration classic South, the Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition 1914-1917, a century ago. Polar exploration was the la...

A Pokemon Card Sells for Over $300,000. What Does This Mean?

Another spectacular price for a collectible card was achieved at Heritage Auctions last month. It wasn't another multi-million dollar sports card, the price being a “modest” $336,000. However, this...

Eight New Catalogues Reviewed This month

This month we are reviewing eight new bookseller catalogues. Ursus Rare Books is celebrating its 50th anniversary with 50 very special books. Jonathan A. Hill Bookseller features science, medicine,...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Isaac Newton on chemistry and matter, and alchemy, Autograph Manuscript, "A Key to Snyders," 3 pp, after 1674. $100,000 - $150,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Exceptionally rare first printing of Plato's Timaeus. Florence, 1484. $50,000 - $80,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: On the Philosophy of Self-Interest: Adam Smith's copy of Helvetius's De l'homme, Paris, 1773. $40,000 - $60,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: "Magical Calendar of Tycho Brahe" - very rare hermetic broadside. Engraved by Merian for De Bry. c.1618. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Author's presentation issue of Einstein's proof of Relativity, "Erklärung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie." 1915. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: First Latin edition of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed. Paris, 1520. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: De Broglie manuscript on the nature of matter in quantum physics, 3 pp, 1954. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Tesla autograph letter signed on electricty and electromagnetic theory. 1894. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Heinrich Hertz scientific manuscript on his mentor Hermann Von Helmholtz, 1891. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: The greatest illustrated work in Alchemy: Micheal Maier's Atalanta Fugiens. Oppenheim, 1618. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Illustrated Alchemical manuscript, a Mysterium Magnum of the Rosicurcians, 18th-century. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Rare Largest Paper Presentation Copy of Newton's Principia, London, 1726. The third and most influential edition. $60,000 - $90,000
  • Doyle, May 1: Thomas Jefferson expresses fears of "a war of extermination" in Saint-Dominigue. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An exceptional presentation copy of Fitzgerald's last book, in the first issue dust jacket. $25,000 to $35,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The rare first signed edition of Dorian Gray. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The Prayer Book of Jehan Bernachier. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Van Dyck's Icones Principum Virorum Doctorum. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The magnificent Cranach Hamlet in the deluxe binding by Dõrfner. $7,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, May 1: A remarkable unpublished manuscript of a voyage to South America in 1759-1764. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Bouchette's monumental and rare wall map of Lower Canada. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An rare original 1837 abolitionist woodblock. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An important manuscript breviary in Middle Dutch. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An extraordinary Old Testament manuscript, circa 1250. $20,000 to $30,000.
  • Jeschke Jadi
    Auction 151
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 546. Christoph Jacob Trew. Plantae selectae, 1750-1773.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 70. Thomas Murner. Die Narren beschwerung. 1558.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 621. Michael Bernhard Valentini. Museum Museorum, 1714.
    Jeschke Jadi
    Auction 151
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 545. Sander Reichenbachia. Orchids illustrated and described, 1888-1894.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 1018. Marinetti, Boccioni, Pratella Futurism - Comprehensive collection of 35 Futurist manifestos, some of them exceptionally rare. 1909-1933.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 634. August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof. 3 Original Drawings, around 1740.
    Jeschke Jadi
    Auction 151
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 671. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 1260. Mary Webb. Sarn. 1948. Lucie Weill Art Deco Binding.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 508. Felix Bonfils. 108 large-format photographs of Syria and Palestine.
    Jeschke Jadi
    Auction 151
    Saturday, April 27, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 967. Dante Aligheri and Salvador Dali. Divina Commedia, 1963.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 1316. Tolouse-Lautrec. Dessinateur. Duhayon binding, 1948.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 27: Lot 1303. Regards sur Paris. Braque, Picasso, Masson, 1962.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD

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