Rare Book Monthly Articles - June - 2024 Issue

Two Elderly Women Attack the British Library's Copy of the Magna Carta with a Hammer and Chisel

Two Elderly Women Attack the British Library's Copy of the Magna Carta with a Hammer and Chisel

In one of the more bizarre attacks in memory, one of the rare early copies of England's Magna Carta was attacked at the British Library. The Magna Carta is Britain's bill of rights, the most important document in its history. The two suspects attacked the document with a hammer and chisel. Then, the story gets really strange. The two suspects were women, elderly women. One was 82-years old, the other 85. The younger one was an Anglican priest, Reverend Dr. Sue Parfitt. The other, Judy Bruce, was a retired biology teacher. These are not the typical profiles of violent criminals.   They did...

Collectible paper, née Rare Books, is moving on

Collectible paper, née Rare Books, is moving on

Collectible paper’s value has long depended on content and priority which is often subject to interpretation and argument.  When such material is offered at auction [and often but not always sold],...

Charles Agvent: ABAA/ILAB a high visibility antiquarian dealer

Charles Agvent: ABAA/ILAB a high visibility antiquarian dealer

If you’ve been in the book trade for any length of time you’ll have heard of Charles Agvent. One reason is because he shows up every day in your inbox with two or three interesting items at various...

A Farewell to Todd Weyman: Our Congratulations on His Retirement

A Farewell to Todd Weyman: Our Congratulations on His Retirement

May 24, 2024   In an industry not particularly known for big changes, Swann Galleries is about to undergo the kind of change that only happens once in a generation. After almost 30 years at the h...

Why Do Collectors Collect?

Why Do Collectors Collect?

Why do collectors collect, or more specifically, why do book collectors collect books? If you ask them, they will probably have an explanation such as a love of books, a life-long love of reading, ...

François Hue’s Narrative, or the last days of the man who wouldn’t be king

François Hue’s Narrative, or the last days of the man who wouldn’t be king

Is the holy French Republic the saint that the French portray? Some books challenge the official narrative, and François Hue’s Dernières années du règne et de la vie de Louis XVI..., is one of them...

The Invisible Man:  Sanford L. Smith

The Invisible Man: Sanford L. Smith

The Invisible Man at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair has left the building.  Who was he?  Sanford L. Smith, the show impresario who created and ran fairs, among them The New York  ...

Freeman's | Hindman to offer over 1,400 Lots of Books, Manuscripts, and Historical Ephemera This Spring During Book Month

Freeman's | Hindman to offer over 1,400 Lots of Books, Manuscripts, and Historical Ephemera This Spring During Book Month

A selection of books to be offered in Fine Literature from the Collection of Richard C. McKenzie this June 6.   Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia – Freeman’s | Hindman presents a month of books, ...

Sotheby's is Offering Some Serious Material

Sotheby's is Offering Some Serious Material

Sotheby’s New York Books and Manuscripts Department has an ambitious slate of sales scheduled for June 26, including three small but significant auctions to be conducted live.   The morning begin...

Twenty-seven Lost Books from the Brothers Grimm Library Have Been Discovered

Twenty-seven Lost Books from the Brothers Grimm Library Have Been Discovered

Generations of children have been thrilled by the stories of the Brothers Grimm. They were the writers of the fairy tales we all grew up with. They include Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Littl...

Rose City Book & Paper Fair to be Held June 14-15 in Portland, Oregon

Rose City Book & Paper Fair to be Held June 14-15 in Portland, Oregon

The Rose City Book Paper Fair will be back in Portland, Oregon, this month. The dates this year are Friday and Saturday, June 14-15. Hours on Friday are 2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Saturday hours are 10...

Free Publishing Vs. Mandatory Deposit, in Australia and The United States

Free Publishing Vs. Mandatory Deposit, in Australia and The United States

In the 19th century, eccentric British collector Sir Thomas Phillipps set out to own a copy of every book in the world. He also wanted every manuscript he could get his hands on. He never quite ach...

June Grab Bag

June Grab Bag

School’s out, summer’s right around the corner. Time to kick back a little and browse through some of the interesting bookish news and information that is floating around the web. Here are a few of...

COLLECTING INSIGHTS – Registration Open for Summer 2024 Sessions

COLLECTING INSIGHTS – Registration Open for Summer 2024 Sessions

COLLECTING INSIGHTS – Registration Open for Summer 2024 Sessions   COLLECTING INSIGHTS https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/collecting-insights-summer-2024-3305979?utm-campaign=socialutm-content=creato...

Cannabis in the Library? A Strange Twist to a New Library Story

Cannabis in the Library? A Strange Twist to a New Library Story

These are tough times in the library world. Libraries and librarians have come under attack for the sin of offering books in their libraries. Some librarians have been threatened, libraries defunde...

Four New Catalogues Reviewed

Four New Catalogues Reviewed

We review four new catalogues this month. Booksellers William Reese Company, Peter Harrington, James Cummins Bookseller, and Hordern House, have combined forces (and three continents) to offer The ...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    Bibliotheca Brookeriana:
    A Renaissance Library. The Aldine Collection D-M
    18 October 2024
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Herodianus Syrus, Herodiani Historiarum, Venice, Heirs of Aldo & Torresano, 1524, Parisian binding for Jean Grolier by Jean Picard, ca. 1540
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Musaeus, Opusculum de Herone et Leandro, Venice, Aldo, 1495 (Greek text), interleaved with 1497–1498 (Latin text), English olive morocco by Charles Lewis, the Botfield copy
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Horatius Flaccus, Horatius, Venice, Aldo, 1501, Bolognese brown goatskin (between 1501 and 1503), arms of Mino Rossi and illuminated initials throughout
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Lucretius, De rerum natura, Venice, Aldo, 1500, English early eighteenth-century red morocco, the Fletcher copy
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Dante, Le terze rime, Venice, Aldo, 1502, illuminated, contemporary Bolognese morocco binding
  • Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: CATESBY, MARK. 1683-1749. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. $100,000 - $150,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. 1785-1851. The Birds of America, from Drawings Made in the United States and their Territories. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: ADAMS ON HIS PEAR TREES AND A LOST PORTRAIT BY SALEM ARTIST HANNAH CROWNINSHIELD. ADAMS, JOHN. 1735-1826. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: EARLIEST MAP DEVOTED TO NORTH AMERICA. FORLANI, PAULO. fl.1560-1571. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: HAMILTON DEFENDS THE CONSTITUTION. HAMILTON, ALEXANDER. 1757-1804. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION BROADSIDE. Boston, September 14, 1768. $5,000 - $8,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: ONE OF THE EARLIEST ILLUSTRATIONS OF A SURGICAL PROCEDURE. BARTHOLOMAEUS ANGLICUS. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: RICHARD FEYNMAN'S ANNOTATED COPY, WITH TWO EARLY FEYNMAN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPTS. $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN COMPUTING. TURING, ALAN MATHISON. 1912-1954. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: FINE OIL PORTRAIT OF ALBERT EINSTEIN BY EUGEN SPIRO. $40,000 - $60,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: PENICILLIN MOLD MEDALLION INSCRIBED BY ALEXANDER FLEMING. FLEMING, ALEXANDER. 1881-1955. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: APPLE "TWIGGY" MACINTOSH PROTOTYPE USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMONSTRATION SOFTWARE. $80,000 - $120,000
  • Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    A Superb Extra-illustrated Copy of Nicolay and Hay’s Work About Lincoln. $50,000 – 70,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    The First Volume of De Bry's Great Voyages, Thomas Hariot's Description of Virginia. $50,000 – 70,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    An autographed cabinet card of Custer as lieutenant colonel. From his last sitting. $800 – 1,200.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    The Congressional Committee, Lincoln's Funeral Springfield Illinois, 3 May 1865. $4,000 – 6,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    A remarkable ninth plate daguerreotype of an interracial couple. $30,000 – 50,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    What may be the earliest known images of an identified plantation and enslaved African Americans posed with their owner. $20,000 – 30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    Through Tickets to All Principal Points West Via Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad For Sale at This Office. $500 – 700.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    15th New York Infantry / Regiment of Engineers GAR regimental colors. Ca 1880. $1,500 – 2,500.
  • Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1556. Senghor, Les Élégies Majeures. Geneve 1978.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1572. Lew Tolstoy. Anna Karenina. First Edition, Moscow, 1878.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 49. Petrarca. Das Gluecksbuch, Augsburg, 1536.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1060. Immanuel Kant, Critik der reinen Vernunft. First Edition, Riga, 1781.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 585. Bonaparte, Iconografia della fauna Italica. Rome, 1832f.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 548. Robert Fludd. Utriusque cosmi maioris, Frankfurt, 1617f.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1496. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 571. Christian von Wolff. Works, Halle 1741f.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 969. Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Dekorationen innerer Raeume. Berlin 1874.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1457. Goethe. Das Tagebuch. Print on Vellum. Berlin, Officina Serpentis. 1934.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1316. Tolouse-Lautrec. Dessinateur. Duhayon binding, 1948.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 30. Michael de Hungaria. Sermones praedicabiles, Strasbourg, 1494.
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    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
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    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
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