Rare Book Monthly Articles - December - 2024 Issue

The Agony and the Ecstasy

The Agony and the Ecstasy

What was once known as book collecting, we now call collectible paper because many forms of paper are silently and seamlessly appearing in catalogues and listings. There’s no fanfare about it anymore because paper always belonged but its increasing importance, measured by frequency and price has our attention.   Ninety percent of old and collectible books occasionally appear in dealer catalogues, at shows, on listing sites and at auction. And because frequency of reappearance at auction is followed and retained, rare and collectible books' rarity are increasingly understood. For Ephemera,...

AI Meets the Book World

AI Meets the Book World

AI is creeping into the book world, and not everyone is happy about it. If there is anyone left who doesn't know what “AI” stands for, it's “artificial intelligence.” AI can not only answer your qu...

Nick Aretakis, ABAA: A Fresh e-List

Nick Aretakis, ABAA: A Fresh e-List

Nick Aretakis, ABAA: A Fresh e-List   Nick Aretakis, who helped the Reese Company after the passing of William Bill Reese, has returned to manage his own firm:  Nick Aretakis – Americana, now bas...

Sotheby’s Posts Ambitious and Diverse December Sale Schedule

Sotheby’s Posts Ambitious and Diverse December Sale Schedule

Sotheby’s global Books and Manuscripts Department has posted a diverse and ambitious sales schedule for the final month of 2024, with material ranging from the fourth through the twenty-first centu...

TikTok for Book Collectors

TikTok for Book Collectors

Where is the new book collector? That's a question many have been asking ever since dealers started noticing the stereotypical, traditional book collectors were aging out. Here is one answer – TikT...

Some Highs and Lows of 2024 Bookselling

Some Highs and Lows of 2024 Bookselling

Published Page: A big bricks and mortar store in a small Texas town Jim Hart and his wife Connye are the owners of the Published Page in Cleburne, Texas. This is a large general interest shop stoc...

Larry McMurtry's Legendary “Booked Up” to be Reborn as a Literary Center in His Honor

Larry McMurtry's Legendary “Booked Up” to be Reborn as a Literary Center in His Honor

Larry McMurtry was one of America's greatest novelists of recent memory. That was an unnecessary preface. Everyone knows that. The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, Lonesome Dove, are a few o...

High Bids Win: Letterpress & Bindery Auction end December 5th, and then 3 more auctions

High Bids Win: Letterpress & Bindery Auction end December 5th, and then 3 more auctions

High Bids Win: Letterpress Bindery Auction ends December 5th, and then 3 more auctions   For most, books start with paper and ink.  But for a special few, they prefer to have the old equipment t...

Giving Big:  Glen and Cathy Miranker Make Two Multi-million Dollar Donations

Giving Big:  Glen and Cathy Miranker Make Two Multi-million Dollar Donations

Noted California bibliophiles and philanthropists Glen and Cathy Miranker recently made two multi-million dollar donations. They gave $3.1 million to endow a full-time curatorial chair for the teac...

The Bouquinistes Displayed!

The Bouquinistes Displayed!

Photographer Alain Lecornu celebrates the “bouquinistes des quais de Seine”, in Paris, France, and their recent “victory” over modernity with a beautiful project—and guess what, it’s a book! Books...

Doyle on 12/6:  Rare Books, Autographs, & Maps +++

Doyle on 12/6: Rare Books, Autographs, & Maps +++

Doyle on 12/6:  Rare Books, Autographs, Maps +++   Doyle’s upcoming auction of collectible paper in many forms on December 6th is fun and easy to parse.  There are 305 lots that can be searched ...

There's a New Book Publisher in Town and It's a Name You Know

There's a New Book Publisher in Town and It's a Name You Know

There is a new book publisher in town but it's someone you know well from its other endeavors. It is one of just three American companies with a market value of over $3 trillion, the other two bein...

Best wishes for the holidays

Best wishes for the holidays

Best wishes for the holidays.   Rare books and collectible paper enjoy a wide following because collectors, institutions, appraisers, dealers and auction houses find pleasure and opportunity in t...

Seven New Catalogues Reviewed

Seven New Catalogues Reviewed

This month we review seven new booksellers' catalogues. Michael D. Heaston Rare Books Manuscripts presents a catalogue of “Wanderings Westward,” as Americans began to settle their more western exp...

Rare Book Monthly

  • SD Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions
    The Odfjell Collection
    Polar – History – Ornithology – Colour Plate Books
    Ending December 4th
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ROALD AMUNDSEN: «Sydpolen» [ The South Pole] 1912. First edition in jackets and publisher's slip case.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: AMUNDSEN & NANSEN: «Fram over Polhavet» [Farthest North] 1897. AMUNDSEN's COPY!
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ERNEST SHACKLETON [ed.]: «Aurora Australis» 1908. First edition. The NORWAY COPY.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ERNEST SHACKLETON: «The heart of the Antarctic» + SUPPLEMENT «The Antarctic Book», 1909.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: SHACKLETON, BERNACCHI, CHERRY-GARRARD [ed.]: «The South Polar Times» I-III, 1902-1911.
    SD Scandinavian Art & Rare Book Auctions
    The Odfjell Collection
    Polar – History – Ornithology – Colour Plate Books
    Ending December 4th
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: [WILLEM BARENTSZ & HENRY HUDSON] - SAEGHMAN: «Verhael van de vier eerste schip-vaerden […]», 1663.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: TERRA NOVA EXPEDITION | LIEUTENANT HENRY ROBERTSON BOWERS: «At the South Pole.», Gelatin Silver Print. [10¾ x 15in. (27.2 x 38.1cm.) ].
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: ELEAZAR ALBIN: «A natural History of Birds.» + «A Supplement», 1738-40. Wonderful coloured plates.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: PAUL GAIMARD: «Voyage de la Commision scientific du Nord, en Scandinavie, […]», c. 1842-46. ONLY HAND COLOURED COPY KNOWN WITH TWO ORIGINAL PAINTINGS BY BIARD.
    Scandinavian Art & Rare Books Auctions, Dec. 4: JAMES JOYCE: «Ulysses», 1922. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS.
  • Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
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  • Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.

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