Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2024 Issue

Here Comes a New Search: Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven

  The history of book auctions have long reflected the intertwining threads of value and price.  Dealers convert rarity, condition and market appeal into offers to those who wish to add their name to the lengthening lists of collectors and collecting institutions who have possessed copies of important editions. As to understanding, appreciating, and celebrating the significance of material, those tasks have long fell to libraries because they own 95% of the best examples.   For them, we have developed an interesting enhancement to our searches to quickly and deeply plumb our 14,000,000 r...

Nine Arrests Made of Library Theft Ring that Stole $2.8 Million of Rare Books

On an “action day,” European law enforcement officers conducted a series of raids that led to the arrest of four individuals alleged to be part of a large rare book theft ring that had stolen rare ...

Caren at Potter & Potter - Not All Sales are Equal

Our report of Eric Caren’s ephemera sale recently conducted by Potter and Potter of Chicago makes dry reading until and unless you understand you’re seeing the changing of the guard in the collecti...

A Collection of 120,000 Books Offered For Sale

If you would like to obtain a lot of books quickly, collector/dealer Richard Axe has a deal for you. Axe has 120,000 books at his residence in Aysgarth, Yorkshire, U.K. He would like to sell them a...

How To Skin A Book

Harvard University has just stripped off one of its infamous books that was bound with human skin.   On March 27, 2024, Harvard University publicly announced they had removed the human skin from ...

Antiquarian Bookselling: Curiouser and Curiouser

Several recent articles in major publications caught my attention and I think they are interesting, if contradictory indicators for the antiquarian book business. The first is a long article in th...

Doyle Auctions: Rare Books, Autographs & Maps May 1st!

Doyle will hold an auction of Rare Books, Autographs Maps on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 at 10am. The sale offers a broad range of material ranging from the 12th to 20th centuries. The first thirty-fiv...

States Seek to Limit What Publishers Can Charge Libraries for eBooks

Are libraries being overcharged for e-books and audiobooks? Many libraries seem to think so, and legislatures in many states are considering legislation to bring these costs under control. The publ...

Firsts: London’s Rare Book Fair: Saatchi Gallery 16 – 19 May 2024

Firsts London is one of the most popular and prestigious rare book fairs in the world, showcasing unique and unusual items from over 100 leading UK and international dealers.  As the Antiquarian Bo...

So You Want to be an Antiquarian Bookseller?

So you want to be an antiquarian bookseller? Well you’re in good company, ever since the invention of movable type, c.1450, the western world has been cranking out books and in the wake there follo...

COLLECTING INSIGHTS – Registration Open for Summer 2024 Sessions

COLLECTING INSIGHTS https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/collecting-insights-summer-2024-3305979?utm-campaign=socialutm-content=creatorshareutm-medium=discoveryutm-term=odclsxcollectionutm-source=cpaff=e...

London Map Fair to be Held June 15-16

The annual London Map Fair will take place on Saturday and Sunday, June 15-16. The London Map Fairs date back 30 years. Since 2008, they have been held at their current location – the Royal Geograp...

Boxboro Paper Town Returns June 8

Boxboro Paper Town – The Vintage Paper, Book Advertising Collectibles Show will be returning on June 8, 2024. The popular show takes place in Boxboro, or more formally, Boxborough, every year when...

Seven New Catalogues Reviewed

This month we review seven new bookseller catalogues. Type Punch Matrix presents the George Bixby Collection of James Baldwin. Voewood Rare Books offers a wide-ranging and eclectic mix of items. Bo...

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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