Rare Book Monthly Articles - July - 2023 Issue

Montana: A Paper Trail. A Review

Recently I received a heavy package that contained a copy of Thomas Minckler’s book detailing his collection of Montanaiana.  It is large in every respect; 10.25” x 12.25” x 1.5”, 440 pages with images on more than 80% of them.  It weighs 6+ lbs.  And oh yes, he has 12,000 items relating to his magnificent obsession of which several hundred are contextualized and explained.  Welcome to collecting nirvana! <-------- Click on these images and they become a full size slide show!! Over the years I’ve received a thousand or more dealer catalogues and umpteen auction catalogues.  Anymore, mo...

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Did ChatGPT Learn Its Lesson About Old Books?

An article in Palm Springs' Desert Sun recently caught my eye. Writer Mike Rivkin said he had asked ChatGPT to identify five categories of antiques that were rising and five in decline. He said Cha...

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Sotheby’s: Bibliotheca Brookeriana will be coming into the rooms

On October 11, Sotheby’s will inaugurate a series of sales the likes of which, in terms of celebrity, magnitude, and value, has not been seen in the book world since the heady days of the Papal Cou...

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Old Books; Old is often not enough

Rare Book Hub is a paid self-appraisal service. Nevertheless, we frequently receive requests for free “advice” about what an owner should do with their old books.  Over the years, from their random...

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The Lament of the Beast of Gévaudan

I received an obscure manuscript from the South of France the other day, dealing with a mysterious animal that devoured more than a hundred people between 1764 and 1767—the infamous Beast of Gévaud...

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A Happy Ending for Bookstore Victimized by Theft

Recently, 15 books were stolen from Graffiti Books in the town of Montana, just north of Pretoria, in South Africa. They were all copies of the same book, Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Esko...

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Where has the truth gone?

Where has the truth gone?     Facts have become malleable in a world where traditional sources have been set in competition against loud voices that tell you what you want to hear.   Daily ne...

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Library Book Returned 81 Years Late. Perhaps the Borrower Thought He Was Doing Other Patrons a Favor Keeping It.

There seems to have been a rash of stories about long overdue library books being returned many years late recently. Perhaps people's consciences have become more sensitive, or maybe it's because m...

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Case Auctions July 8 & 9: A Summer Gem

On July 8 9 Case Auctions will soon be holding a two day sale featuring “fine art, antiques, and jewelry and a solid 150 lots of ephemera, manuscripts, early images, relics and flags.  Do I now ha...

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Censorship Is Not Just an American Problem

Library censorship has become a major concern in the United States this past year, but the issue is not limited to America. Other nations are ahead of us, and as such, perhaps, provide a road map a...

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Seven New Catalogues Reviewed for July

This month we review seven new catalogues in the field of books and related paper. They represent seven different subjects. Shapero Rare Books offers a collection of modern first editions. Bulls He...

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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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