Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2023 Issue

An Old Man with his Old Books

An Old Man with his Old Books

My interest in old books is now well into my seventh decade. To a kid in the 1950’s old books were accessible mysteries.  I already had Howes’ USiana and was bumping into its limitations, just 10,500 titles and its narrow focus:  Americana in book form.  Pamphlets, broadsides and ephemera were around but very little of it made its way into Howes. Between them there were 96 references.  In book barns and on random shelves you could see fiction was the bigger category.  Americana was more like a cottage industry.  I learned early I knew more than most sellers and soon began to conceal the How...

Thief Who Stole Over a Thousand Pre-publication Manuscripts Receives No Jail Time

Thief Who Stole Over a Thousand Pre-publication Manuscripts Receives No Jail Time

The case of one of the most bizarre book thefts ever imagined has come to a conclusion. The culprit, one Filippo Bernardini, Italian citizen, British resident, arrested in New York, will face no ja...

AbeBooks Top 15 Highest Prices from January-March

AbeBooks Top 15 Highest Prices from January-March

AbeBooks has released their list of the top 15 prices paid on the largest old and rare books selling site in the world during the first quarter of 2023. The publishing dates range from 1529-2020, w...

The Crabs Of Sagami Bay and Other Stories of Life in the World of Books

The Crabs Of Sagami Bay and Other Stories of Life in the World of Books

Would you believe I’ll be eighty this month? Born May 1943 I’ll be the big 80 by the time you read this. Since I was part of the generation that subscribed to live fast, die young, I never dreamed ...

Libbie Auctions, long missing, are reappearing!

Libbie Auctions, long missing, are reappearing!

The Libbie Auction Sales, long missing, are earning their rightful place among the important American auction houses.  They lived and worked in the shadows of Bangs, Anderson and American auctions ...

ALA Reports on Library Censorship, and It Looks Like the Censors May Be Winning

ALA Reports on Library Censorship, and It Looks Like the Censors May Be Winning

Attempts to censor books in libraries rose dramatically in 2022, the American Library Association reported recently. The ALA documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, ...

Texas Library Ordered to Return Censored Books to Shelves

Texas Library Ordered to Return Censored Books to Shelves

Opponents of library censorship won a victory in court in Texas, albeit a small one that might prove illusory. These are challenging times for those seriously concerned with the right of free speec...

A Philosophical Tour Through the Jardin des Plantes

A Philosophical Tour Through the Jardin des Plantes

I went to the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris, France, with a small book written by Louis-François Jauffret and entitled Voyage au Jardin des Plantes/Travel To The Jardin des Plantes (Paris, An VI). L...

Court Rules for Copyright Protection Over Open Access in Library Dispute

Court Rules for Copyright Protection Over Open Access in Library Dispute

In a major legal ruling pitting copyright protections against open access to books, the copyright interests have prevailed. The interests of copyright protection was represented by a group of four ...

Major Book Binding Collection to be Sold by Bruce Marshall Rare Books

Major Book Binding Collection to be Sold by Bruce Marshall Rare Books

A bibliographical catalogue of what must be one of the finest and most thorough private collections of material on bookbinding has been published by Clare A. Marshall of Bruce Marshall Rare Books o...

Collectors collect and collecting polymaths collect widely and deeply

Collectors collect and collecting polymaths collect widely and deeply

Graham Arader lives history and experiences deep pleasure in unearthing connections.  In the rare book and image field he has achieved rare eminence.  His personal tastes go far beyond paper, ink a...

The Codex Sassoon:  Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow

The Codex Sassoon: Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow

On May 17th the Codex Sassoon will be sold at Sotheby’s New York. Early and important manuscripts often achieve record outcomes.  This one provides the basis of Biblical translations used by Jews a...

A Library With No Books?

A Library With No Books?

Vermont State University made a stunning announcement in February, they would remove all books from their library for the coming year. Vermont State University will be a combination of three colleg...

ON AUCTIONS - Contemporary Issues and Opportunities in Rare Book & Manuscript Collecting

ON AUCTIONS - Contemporary Issues and Opportunities in Rare Book & Manuscript Collecting

ON AUCTIONS - Contemporary Issues and Opportunities in Rare Book Manuscript Collecting Monday, May 1, 2023 – 8:00 PM Eastern Live free, Webinar   https://manuscript.org/event/manuscript-monday...

Winnie the Pooh and Xi Jinping Too

Winnie the Pooh and Xi Jinping Too

Winnie the Pooh banned in China? That's what the headline said. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised. We have had lots of stories of children's books being “banned” here in America recently. Dr. Seuss w...

Five New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Five New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we review five new bookseller catalogues. Susanne Schulz-Falster Rare Books has teamed up with Antiquariat Elvira Tasbach to create a catalogue of silhouettes and paper cuts. Zephyr Used...

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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