Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - July - 2012 Issue

Early Continental Books from Libreria Antiquaria Rappaport

- by Michael Stillman

Antiquarian European works from Rappaport.

Antiquarian European works from Rappaport.

This month we received our first catalogue from Libreria Antiquaria Rappaport, their Catalogo 195. Their catalogues may be new to our reviews, but Rappaport has been selling books for over a century. They are located in Rome, Italy, in a building appropriate to their focus, a quite old Italian structure. The bookseller primarily features early continental books, from incunabula through the 19^th century. The heaviest concentration of books is in the Italian language, but we find many in other languages, including Latin, French, and English. The catalogue itself is in Italian, but there are numerous notes in English that will enable an English-speaker to make their way through its pages. Here are some of the antiquarian works we found.

Item 74 is a guidebook to the ruins of ancient Rome from a time that is now fairly ancient itself. The author was Bartolomeo Marliano, born in 1488, who came to Rome after his years as a student. He wrote several books, but this one is his best known: Antiquae Romae Topographia, libri septem. Published in 1534, it is a guide to the ancient structures of Rome, compiled both from the works of others and his own archeological observations. Several more editions and translations to other languages would appear in the following years of this popular book, but this is the first edition. Priced at €2,000 (euros, or approximately $2,533 U.S. Dollars).

Italy is noted for producing some of the greatest works of science, architecture, and art, but children's books? You may not think of Italy as the source of this sort of book, and yet, here is one everyone knows, even in lands far across the sea: Le avventure di Pinocchio. Storia di unburattino. This is, of course, the story of Pinocchio, the wooden puppet who came to life, but suffered from a certain mysterious condition that made it hard to disguise when he told a lie. The author of this tale was Carlo Lorenzini, though he is better known by his pen name of Carlo Collodi. First published in 1883, this is the 1890 fifth and final edition issued under Collodi's control, the author dying that year, his character's coming international fame not yet known. Item 27. €2,500 (US $3,168).

Rare Book Monthly

Swann
Printed & Manuscript African Americana
March 20, 2025

Swann
Printed & Manuscript African Americana
March 20, 2025

Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 7: Thomas Fisher, The Negro's Memorial or Abolitionist's Catechism, London, 1825. $6,000 to $9,000.

Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 78: Victor H. Green, The Negro Travelers' Green Book, New York, 1958. $20,000 to $30,000.

Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 99: Rosa Parks, Hand-written recollection of her first meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., autograph manuscript, Detroit, c. 1990s. $30,000 to $40,000.

Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 154: Frederick Douglass, Autograph statement on voting rights, signed manuscript, 1866. $20,000 to $30,000.

Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 164: W.E.B. Du Bois, What the Negro Has Done for the United States and Texas, Washington, circa 1936. $3,000 to $4,000.

Swann
Printed & Manuscript African Americana
March 20, 2025

Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 263: Susan Paul, Memoir of James Jackson, Boston, 1835. $6,000 to $9,000.

Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 267: Langston Hughes, Gypsy Ballads, signed translation of García Lorca's poetry, Madrid, 1937. $1,500 to $2,500.

Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 274: Malcolm X, Collection from Alex Haley's estate, 38 items, 1963-1971. $4,000 to $6,000.

Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 367: Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, Auburn, NY, 1853. $2,500 to $3,500.

Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 402: Anna Julia Cooper, A Voice from the South, Xenia, OH, 1892. $2,000 to $3,000.
Koller, Mar. 26: Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000

Koller, Mar. 26: Merian, Maria Sibylla. Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung, und sonderbare Blumennahrung. Nürnberg, 1679; Frankfurt a. M. und Leipzig, 1683. CHF 20,000 to 30,000

Koller, Mar. 26: GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON. Faust. Ein Fragment. Von Goethe. Ächte Ausgabe. Leipzig, G. J. Göschen, 1790. CHF 7,000 to 10,000

Koller, Mar. 26: Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.

Koller, Mar. 26: BIBLIA GERMANICA - Neunte deutsche Bibel. Nürnberg, A. Koberger, 17. Feb. 1483. CHF 40,000 to 60,000

Koller, Mar. 26: HORAE B.M.V. - Stundenbuch. Lateinische Handschrift auf Pergament, Kalendarium französisch. Nordfrankreich (Rouen?). CHF 25,000 to 40,000
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

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions