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

  • High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Ellis Smith Prints unsigned. 20” by 16”.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: United typothetae of America presidents. Pictures of 37 UTA presidents 46th annual convention United typothetae of America Cincinnati 1932.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec signed Paper Impressionism Art Prints. MayMilton 9 1/2” by 13” Reine de Joie 9 1/2” by 13”.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Aberle’ Ballet editions. 108th triumph, American season spring and summer 1944.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Puss ‘n Boots. 1994 Charles Perrult All four are signed by Andreas Deja
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Specimen book of type faces. Job composition department, Philadelphia gazette publishing company .
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: An exhibit of printed books, Bridwell library.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court By Mark Twain 1889.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 1963 Philadelphia Eagles official program.
    High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 8 - Esquire the magazine for men 1954.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: The American printer, July 1910.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Leaves of grass 1855 by Walt Whitman.
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare.
    The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens.
    A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Golding.
    Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll.
    Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien.
    The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: John Milton.
    Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD

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