The number of books and paper collectibles sold at auction was up significantly in 2024. The number of dollars generated was up even more, the result of a combination of more lots being sold and the average sale price going up. This represents a change from last year. In 2023, the number of lots sold also increased, but the average price dropped so much that the total dollars generated took a dive. In 2024, the rebound made up for last year's decline and more.
Here are the numbers. For 2024, 712,773 lots were offered at the auctions we are able to trace. That represents an 8.15% increas...
I purchased three lots at Swann Galleries this past November. Their common denominators were (1) they related to the mid-Hudson Valley (of New York State), and (2) they were archival in their app...
Forum Auctions presents The Ricky Jay Collection, an exclusive auction of rare and historic magic ephemera, to be held on Thursday 27th February 2025. The auction will feature a remarkable array of...
The catastrophic LA wildfires began on January 7th with the "Palisades Fire" igniting near the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and have continued to spread loss and destruction in their path. Accord...
E. Allen Ahearn of Quill Brush passed away January 5th. The price you pay to live is to accept your life will end. Americana Exchange and more recently Rare Book Hub were projects that interested...
The California Historical Society has agreed to transfer their 600,000 item collection to Stanford University. The issue was lack of permanent funding. They had a deep, complex and fascinating co...
“Behind the curtain of my mind!”: on Deborah Parker’s “Becoming Belle da Costa Greene: A Visionary Librarian through her Letters”, Florence: I Tatti, 2024The Library World knows Belle da Costa Gre...
An amazing collection of personal letters from the rich and famous was recently discovered in a manor house now owned by the British National Trust. In a story reported by The Guardian, it was reve...
There are the books arts, books as art, art books, artist's books... Those two words have long had a love affair. Their intersection will be found in Miami from February 6-9. That's when Tropic Bou...
A new antiquarian bookshop in town is always good news! Let’s visit Babel, the new oasis in the arid heart of the ancient city of Périgueux, France.
Périgueux, in the South of France, is a histori...
Jason H. Silverman, PhD, has been named the new Executive Director of the Manuscript Society according to a Jan. 15th announcement by the Board of Trustees. Dr. Silverman, an award-winning teacher ...
A battle is brewing between an ancient source of information, the book and its authors, versus a new invention, the chatbot and its developers. The chatbot is a program that can answer whatever que...
Here is one of the best ways to learn how to build a collection. The old norm was to blunder in the dark and overpay for several years. Spencer Stuart takes the pain out of becoming educated.
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Two more arrests have been made in the European country of Georgia in the massive library theft ring that stole books from libraries in nine countries. At least 170 books were stolen. At the time, ...
Extra Extra, Read All About It!
Rare Books San Francisco returns on February 1-2, 2025 and brings with it a Regency era flare in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of revered Eng...
Join us today or Tomorrow at the SF Book Fair: February 1-2
Book Fairs are the life blood for many dealers. Because the ABAA Fair at the Pasadena was cancelled because of fire risk, many deale...
This month we review two new bookseller catalogues. The William Reese Company has issued its first catalogue published exclusively by its new owners, James Cummins Bookseller and Peter Harrington. ...
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 1: Bob Dylan, his high school classmate's yearbook with his senior portrait, signed and inscribed to her, 1959. $10,000 to $20,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 1: Bob Dylan, his high school classmate's yearbook with his senior portrait, signed and inscribed to her, 1959. $10,000 to $20,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 4: Various entertainers, Group of 30 items, signed or inscribed, various dates. $1,500 to $2,500.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 27: John Adams, Autograph Letter Signed to Benjamin Rush introducing Archibald Redford, Paris, 1783. $35,000 to $50,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 36: Robert Gould Shaw, Autograph Letter Signed to his father from Camp Andrew, Boston, 1861. $10,000 to $15,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 53: Martin Luther King Jr., Time magazine cover, signed and inscribed "Best Wishes," 1957. $5,000 to $7,500.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 127: Paul Gauguin, Autograph Letter regarding payment for paintings, with woodcut letterhead, 1900. $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 169: Suck: First European Sex Paper, complete group of eight issues, 1969-1974. $800 to $1,200.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 173: Black Panthers, The Racist Dog Policemen Must Withdraw Immediately From Our Communities, poster, 1969. $2,000 to $3,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 187: Marc Attali & Jacques Delfau, Les Erotiques du Regard, first edition, Paris, 1968. $300 to $500.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 213: Andy Warhol, Warhol's Index Book, first printing, New York, 1967. $800 to $1,200.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 215: Cookie Mueller, Archive of 17 items, including 4 items inscribed and signed. $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 249: Jamie Reid, The Ten Lessons / The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle; Sex Pistols, chromogenic print with collage, signed, circa 1980. $20,000 to $30,000.
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
Bonhams, Apr. 8: First report outside of the colonies of the American Revolution, from American accounts. Printed broadsheet, The London Evening-Post, May 30, 1775. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce, James. The earliest typescript pages from Finnegans Wake ever to appear at auction, annotated by Joyce, 1923. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce's Ulysses, 1923, one of only seven copies known, printed to replace copies destroyed in customs. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: ATHANASIUS KIRCHER'S COPY, INSCRIBED. Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell' Accademia del Cimento, 1667. $2,000 - $3,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi, 1713. "... first significant book on probability theory." $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Aristotle's Politica. Oeconomica. 1469. The first printed work on political economy. $80,000 - $120,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: John Graunt's Natural and political observations...., 1662. The first printed work of epidemiology and demographics. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: William Playfair's Commercial and Political Atlas, 1786. The first work to pictorially represent information in graphics. $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Anson's A Voyage Round the World, 1748. THE J.R. ABBEY-LORD WARDINGTON COPY, BOUND BY JOHN BRINDLEY. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: La Perouse's Voyage de La Perouse autour du monde..., 1797. LARGE FINE COPY IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Charles Schulz original 8-panel Peanuts Sunday comic strip, 1992, pen and ink over pencil, featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy as a psychiatrist. $20,000 - $30,000
![Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Bible [English]. [The Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament, 1562]. £3,000-5,000](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/e47bb03e-3f3d-4f68-9e79-b0b2739ca87c.jpg "<b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 9:</b> Bible [English]. [<i>The Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament,</i> 1562]. £3,000-5,000")
