Rare Book Monthly Articles - October - 2024 Issue

Adam Weinberger, Rare Book Buyer

Adam Weinberger, Rare Book Buyer

Rare Book Hub has long been a go-to resource for collectors and dealers of antiquarian books, manuscripts, maps, and ephemera. When readers dive into Rare Book Monthly or explore Transactions+, they approach it from different angles: collectors often seek price validation, while dealers focus on provenance, comparable sales, and rarity in the marketplace. The distinctions between these two perspectives are crucial, but a large database with numerous records can satisfy the diverse needs of researchers, dealers, and collectors alike.   Between collectors and dealers lies the true market, w...

David Szewczyk:  One foot in the past, one foot in the future

David Szewczyk: One foot in the past, one foot in the future

The field of rare books and manuscripts lost a good friend.  David Szewczyk, who partnered with Cynthia Buffington, slipped away after a hard fight.  David was trained as a library man who focused ...

Another Theory to Explain the Meaning of the Mysterious Voynich Manuscript

Another Theory to Explain the Meaning of the Mysterious Voynich Manuscript

Another attempt was recently made to unravel the long-standing mystery that is the Voynich Manuscript. It has been identified by carbon dating as coming from 1408-1438. However, its existence was u...

One of A Kind Collectibles:  An Auction on this 17th

One of A Kind Collectibles: An Auction on this 17th

One of A Kind Collectibles, a division of Gindy Auctions, are specialists in collectible paper in its many forms.  For the past 17 years the firm has been offering rare and collectible material at ...

The Bancroft Library Considers Changing Its Name.

The Bancroft Library Considers Changing Its Name.

We are living in a time when some buildings, monuments and places are having their names changed. They are structures and places named in another era for the notable persons of their time. They wer...

Four Book Collectors and Sellers Share Their Passion for Collecting

Four Book Collectors and Sellers Share Their Passion for Collecting

The world is filled with readers who love books and who are sort-of collectors in that they place the books they have read on their shelves and keep them there, perhaps forever. Still, they may not...

A New Fine Press, Fablelistik Editions, has been launched by Macmillan Publishers

A New Fine Press, Fablelistik Editions, has been launched by Macmillan Publishers

A new fine press is launching today (October 1) with one of the best-known publishers behind it. Its name is Fablelistik Editions and its a new venture for a publisher that goes back long before th...

Major Collection of American Publishers’ Bindings Gifted to Delaware Art Museum by Sawyer Family

Major Collection of American Publishers’ Bindings Gifted to Delaware Art Museum by Sawyer Family

The Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington is the recipient of an extensive collection of American publishers' bindings assembled by Mary Sawyer, as well as many illustrated books from the Brandywine Sc...

A Rare Early Printing of the United States Constitution to sell October 9th

A Rare Early Printing of the United States Constitution to sell October 9th

Fireworks at Brunk Auctions: The United States Constitution   On October 9th, Brunk Auctions will sell “the only located privately held Official Signed Ratification Copy of the United States Cons...

Three-Fingered Jack, the Terror of Jamaica!

Three-Fingered Jack, the Terror of Jamaica!

Not exactly a book, rather a booklet—28 pages, printed on a cheap paper with small fonts—peddling stuff—a B movie poster trying to lure you in with a lengthy title loaded with superlatives: The Won...

The Internet Archive Loses Legal Appeal. 500,000 books Will No Longer Be Available Free to the Public

The Internet Archive Loses Legal Appeal. 500,000 books Will No Longer Be Available Free to the Public

The Internet Archive has lost its appeal of a successful lawsuit brought against it by a group of book publishers. The subject was the IA's Free Digital Library. The Free Digital Library loans elec...

William L. Parkinson is offering the Mello Collection at auction on October 12th

William L. Parkinson is offering the Mello Collection at auction on October 12th

William L. Parkinson, Books, long time dealer and occasional auctioneer, is offering The Robert A. Mello Collection at auction on October 12th.  Highlights fall into three categories: Americana, Ve...

Old World Auctions Celebrates its 200th Auction with an Auction of Just 5 Rare, Important Lots, October 10

Old World Auctions Celebrates its 200th Auction with an Auction of Just 5 Rare, Important Lots, October 10

RICHMOND, Va. – To celebrate its 200th auction, Old World Auctions is offering five of the most coveted maps of the last 500 years. Auction #200: Cartographic Treasures is an Internet-only auction ...

Doyle:  our goal is your satisfaction

Doyle: our goal is your satisfaction

Doyle is finding the world a welcoming place.   We are excited for the future at DOYLE!   It is easy to focus solely on data, markets, and technology, but it is essential to keep in mind the pe...

Floodwater Rages Through Smithtown, New York, Library

Floodwater Rages Through Smithtown, New York, Library

On the night of August 18-19, torrential rains hit parts of northern Suffolk County on the north side of New York's Long Island. According to the Suffolk County website, “more than 11 inches of rai...

“History and Future of the Book” a hands-on class at Colorado College

“History and Future of the Book” a hands-on class at Colorado College

In an age that’s gone mostly digital and will soon use AI to remove the human touch entirely, it’s reassuring to know that at least one school is still teaching the “History and Future of the Book....

17th Century Book of Feminist Literature Outsells a King’s Autograph at Auction

17th Century Book of Feminist Literature Outsells a King’s Autograph at Auction

A 17th century book regarded as the first piece of English feminist literature and a gory gothic novel owned by one of the UK’s largest female landowners have out-sold a King’s autograph at auction...

Freeman's Hindman Offering Pre-Civil War Photograph of Interracial Couple – Perhaps the First

Freeman's Hindman Offering Pre-Civil War Photograph of Interracial Couple – Perhaps the First

CINCINNATI – On October 26, Freeman’s | Hindman will bring to auction what is believed to be the first American photograph of a romantically posed interracial couple. The anonymous ninth plate dagu...

Four New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Four New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month seems to be devoted to collections of Americana. I don't know why, but all of the new catalogues we received were about that land in the northern and western hemispheres. We have four ne...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Johnson (C.). A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pyrates, 1724. £3,000-4,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Ordonez de Cevallos (Pedro). Viage del Mundo, 1st edition, Madrid: Luis Sanchez, 1614. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: North America. Merian (Matthaus), Virginia..., 1627 or later. £1,500-2,500
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: World. Waldseemuller (Martin), Tabula Nova Totius Orbis, Vienne: 1541. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Erasmus (Desiderius). The ... paraphrase of Erasmus... 2 volumes, 1st edition, 1549. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Bible [English]. [The Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament, 1562]. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Smith (Lucy). Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, 1st edition, 1853. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Derain (Andre). Pantagruel, signed limited edition, Albert Skira, 1943. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Austen (Jane). Pride and Prejudice, illustrated by Hugh Thomson, Large Paper edition, 1894. £1,500-2,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Ellison (Ralph). Invisible Man, 1st edition, New York: Random House, 1952. £200-300
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Taschen Collector's Edition. Annie Leibovitz, limited edition, 2014. £1,000-1,500
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Bonhams, Apr. 8: First report outside of the colonies of the American Revolution, from American accounts. Printed broadsheet, The London Evening-Post, May 30, 1775. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce, James. The earliest typescript pages from Finnegans Wake ever to appear at auction, annotated by Joyce, 1923. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce's Ulysses, 1923, one of only seven copies known, printed to replace copies destroyed in customs. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: ATHANASIUS KIRCHER'S COPY, INSCRIBED. Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell' Accademia del Cimento, 1667. $2,000 - $3,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi, 1713. "... first significant book on probability theory." $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Aristotle's Politica. Oeconomica. 1469. The first printed work on political economy. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: John Graunt's Natural and political observations...., 1662. The first printed work of epidemiology and demographics. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: William Playfair's Commercial and Political Atlas, 1786. The first work to pictorially represent information in graphics. $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Anson's A Voyage Round the World, 1748. THE J.R. ABBEY-LORD WARDINGTON COPY, BOUND BY JOHN BRINDLEY. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: La Perouse's Voyage de La Perouse autour du monde..., 1797. LARGE FINE COPY IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Francesca Woodman's Some Disordered Interior Geometries, 1981. Untrimmed publisher's proof sheets. $4,000 - $6,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Charles Schulz original 8-panel Peanuts Sunday comic strip, 1992, pen and ink over pencil, featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy as a psychiatrist. $20,000 - $30,000

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