Rare Book Monthly Articles - July - 2024 Issue

The Curious Case of the Davis Collection (Detroit, 1890)

By chance I encountered an unfamiliar book two years ago on the website of De Wolf Wood Rare Books (Alfred, Maine);  it was a privately printed Catalogue of the Private Library of Mr. George S. Davis, issued and dated, Detroit, August 1st, 1890.    For years I’ve been acquiring material for Rare Book Hub’s Transactions+, and I thought this volume an interesting speculation.  Sometimes these purchases work out and others not.  On that occasion it has. Whether Mr. Davis’s catalogue was prepared as a prequel to auction or simply intended as a tribute to a collector’s achievement, RBH provid...

Read More

Deaccessioning of Library Books Goes to Court

A case is taking place in Cincinnati right now that could have significant ramifications for the collecting and preservation of old books and related ephemeral material. We have entered a period th...

Read More

Auctions in a time of uncertainty

Collectible paper at auction has been on a tear post-Covid and now we’re entering a period of political uncertainty.  To understand how the auctions and their consignors are responding, our auction...

Read More

Tattered Cover Indie Bookstore Rescued from Bankruptcy by B&N

Tattered Cover, the legendary Denver group of independent bookstores will be rescued from bankruptcy by Barnes Noble.  BN, headed by James Daunt, confirmed reports that the giant book retailer wi...

Read More

BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS FROM HISTORIC SOUTHERN ESTATES AT CASE’S JULY 6-7 AUCTION

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.— Case’s Summer Auction, happening July 6-7 at the company’s gallery in Knoxville, Tennessee, features 1,086 lots of books, documents and historical items, along with American and E...

Read More

Book Detective: A Few Tips on Valuing and Dating Antiquarian Books

What’s it worth? How old is it? Is it a first or a reprint? How often does it show up? Here’s a short guide on how to start to answer those questions. Unless I have a written provenance from a re...

Read More

Harry Potter is still feeling the Magic

The Library of Dr. Rodney P. Swantko was sold at Sotheby’s on June 26th in New York as 47 lots were offered and 36 sold.   Among them was the original cover art for “Harry Potter and the Philosophe...

Read More

Legislation Proposed that Can Make Librarians Felons

The obscenity police are on the prowl again. This time, it's school librarians and teachers they have in their sights. A bill has been introduced to the Ohio legislature to turn pornography promoti...

Read More

A Few States Are Now Banning the Book Bans

The news recently has been filled with stories about book bans. Some local residents don't want others to read what they don't like, and opportunist politicians jump on the bandwagon. Censorship is...

Read More

A Court Splits the Difference on Banning Books

This story completes our trilogy of stories this month about book banning (see the others elsewhere in this issue). From Ohio we have seen a bill that has been offered that would turn librarians an...

Read More

Louis Richeome, Visual Fore-taste of Paradise

During the 16th century, Protestants questioned the use of images in religion, as they associated it with paganism. One Jesuit priest named Louis Richeome made it clear that representing was, on th...

Read More

Should Books Be Placed on a Gluten-Free Diet?

As with people, there are a number of afflictions that wear down our books as they age. Torn and yellowing pages, loose bindings, worn covers, are among them. Then, there are bookworms. Not the peo...

Read More

One New Catalogue Reviewed

This month we have just one new catalogue to review. It's vacation time. But, it's a good catalogue, Zephyr Used Rare Books celebrating their 30th Anniversary with a collection of various sorts of...

Read More

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s, July 11: Galileo, Document annotated and signed by Galileo, dated Padua, 1595. £500,000 to £700,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 2: CHRIST PRESENTS THE MISSION TO ST PETER in a historiated initial cut from an illuminated Dominican(?) Antiphonary(?), in Latin, manuscript on vellum. [(Cologne), 14th century]. £30,000 to £40,000.
  • Finarte, July 4-5: FERMI, ENRICO. Letters, 1923. €30,000 to €40,000.
    Finarte, July 4-5: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. The comedy, 1477. €45,000 to €50,000.
    Finarte, July 4-5: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. The Comedy [Commentary by Christophorus Landinus]. Addition: Marsilius Ficinus, Ad Dantem gratulatio [in Latin and Italian], 1487. €40,000 to €60,000.
    Finarte, July 4-5: ASTRONOMIA - CALENDARIO - REGIOMONTANUS, JOHANNES (MÜLLER, JOHANN, OF KÖNIGSBERG) Kalendarium, 1483. €5,000 to €7,000.
    Finarte, July 4-5: CATERINA II DI RUSSIA, Parchment diploma granted by Catherine II of Russia, 1778. €15,000 to €20,000.
    Finarte, July 4-5: VICO, GIAMBATTISTA New Science Principles, 1725.

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions