Rare Book Monthly Articles - November - 2024 Issue

Susan Heller: A life with books

Susan Heller: A life with books

Susan Heller: A life with books Susan Heller, retired rare book dealer, slipped away on October 8, leaving her shelves bare.  She was 90.  Born in 1933, Susan lived in Beachwood, Ohio and began life as a teacher but slowly succumbed to the magic of being a book dealer.  The very idea of browsing garage sales, bidding at auction, going to book fairs, and dropping in to see what book shops were offering, these activities were never work for her, they were pure pleasure. The possibility to find unappreciated gems made life exciting.  In 1982 she became a member of the ABAA.   Her husband, H...

Do Your Books Have Booklice?

Do Your Books Have Booklice?

We are constantly bombarded with warnings of all sorts of grave risks. Some new disease we never heard of seems to perfectly fit the symptoms of some problem we think we have. Or, maybe there is so...

Esther Inglis: Multimedia Renaissance Virtuosa

Esther Inglis: Multimedia Renaissance Virtuosa

  Esther Inglis, an accomplished Renaissance calligrapher, painter, book-artist, and miniaturist, is the subject of special events this season in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Washington, DC.  Commemo...

Library Technology: Report Reviews Digitizing Ancient and Fragile Materials

Library Technology: Report Reviews Digitizing Ancient and Fragile Materials

Digitizing Ancient and Fragile Materials is the subject of a recent report by Primary Research Group (PRG), a New York City firm specializing in data analysis related to libraries, higher education...

November 5

November 5

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue and “discovered” America. It was a big rock, with some inhabitants but not many by today's standards. That was the last time America was “discovered.” Ever s...

The Boston Int’l Antiquarian Book Fair:  Find your future there!

The Boston Int’l Antiquarian Book Fair: Find your future there!

Once again, bibliophiles have an opportunity to be in the same room with the leading dealers who handle collectible paper when the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair opens to the public on ...

The Boston Shadow Fair: 10, 9, 8, . .

The Boston Shadow Fair: 10, 9, 8, . .

MW Book Fairs, a collaboration between Wiggins Fine Books ABAA, SNEAB and Richard Mori Books, is pleased to announce that 40 outstanding antiquarian book, ephemera and photo dealers have signed on ...

Women in Rare Books: Belle da Costa Greene Exhibit at the Morgan Library Spotlights Life of Extraordinary Librarian

Women in Rare Books: Belle da Costa Greene Exhibit at the Morgan Library Spotlights Life of Extraordinary Librarian

I’m new to the Belle da Costa Greene fan club, but I can assure you I’m going to be one of its most enthusiastic members.   That’s Belle, who in 1905 became financier JP Morgan’s personal librari...

Texas County Changes Its Mind, Again Reclassifies Book Previously Reclassified as Fiction

Texas County Changes Its Mind, Again Reclassifies Book Previously Reclassified as Fiction

An attempt to denigrate a book if not hide it in Texas has been reversed, at least for the time being. In this era of increasing censorship of libraries, every victory adds a ray of hope that the f...

Imprints in Time, Selections from the Great Collection of Stuart and Mimi Rose, are on Display at the Folger Shakespeare Library through January 5, 2025

Imprints in Time, Selections from the Great Collection of Stuart and Mimi Rose, are on Display at the Folger Shakespeare Library through January 5, 2025

The Folger Shakespeare Library recently opened its inaugural exhibition in its new gallery. The exhibition title is Imprints in Time, items from the amazing collection of Stuart and Mimi Rose of Da...

Maggs Bros.:  Fuchsia Voremberg Appointed Managing Director

Maggs Bros.: Fuchsia Voremberg Appointed Managing Director

Maggs Bros., announces.   We write with news from 48 Bedford Square, where the antiquarian booksellers Maggs Bros Ltd., have appointed Fuchsia Voremberg as Managing Director. She has been with th...

Duels, or the French art of killing one another

Duels, or the French art of killing one another

  Found a copy of Le Vrai et ancien usage des duels... /Of The True and Ancient Use of Duels (Paris, 1617) that looks like it’s been through a few fights itself during the last 400 years. It wear...

New President Elected at the Antiquarian Book School Foundation

New President Elected at the Antiquarian Book School Foundation

There has been a changing of the guard at the Antiquarian Book School Foundation (ABSF). Lorne Bair has been elected the new President. Bair has been a bookseller since the 1990s, specializing in A...

How an 800-Year-Old Library Preserves Its Books from Mold and Bugs

How an 800-Year-Old Library Preserves Its Books from Mold and Bugs

Old books are being preserved at Japan's oldest school and perhaps oldest library in a manner I had not seen before. The founding dates of the school and library are unknown, but it is believed tha...

Random Notes:  November 1st, 2024

Random Notes: November 1st, 2024

The election is on November 5th. Please vote. Democracy is on the ballot.   If you are following the rare book and collectible auctions, pay attention. The volume of sales and lots has soared whi...

Four New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Four New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we review four new dealer catalogues. Dr. Jörn Günther presents one of the most impressive catalogues I have ever seen, though you will need to be strong to lift it. The subject is Renai...

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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