Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2009 Issue

Old and Rare Books About Books from Frits Knuf Antiquarian Books

The latest from Frits Knuf.

The latest from Frits Knuf.


By Michael Stillman

Frits Knuf Antiquarian Books has issued a catalogue of Old and Rare Books 2009. These are primarily books in the "books about books" and bibliography field. A large number of the texts are in the French language, Knuf being located in France, but there are also many in English and other languages. The description of "old" is certainly accurate, as there are few items here that don't date back at least a couple of centuries, and "rare" is undoubtedly correct as well as there is nothing commonplace in this catalogue. Here are a few samples of the books Frits Knuf has available in this first catalogue of 2009.

Item 14 is a catalogue for the early English bookseller Richard Chiswell. It was published in 1683, a date far closer to Gutenberg than it is to today. Chiswell sold both books he printed and those issued by others. He lists his books by size, starting with 36 folios and working progressively down through smaller sizes. Chiswell was not a specialist, as all sorts of topics are offered, including several of Speed's maps. Richard Chiswell was active from 1660 to 1711, and he was one of if not Britain's most important bookseller at the turn of the 18th century. Priced at €850 (euros, or approximately $1,092 in U.S. currency).

Item 18 is another early English catalogue, but this one comes from a far less reputable bookseller. It is headed New Books Printed for E. Curll. Edmund Curll was the personification of sleaze. He didn't just settle for things like scandal, pornography, and junk, but engaged in slander, pirated works, fabricated letters, and other outright lies. What he did do well, not surprisingly, was sell books, but his lies did at one point land him in jail. Still, he never learned his lesson, or, at least, he better learned the lesson that lies and scandal make money, rather than it lands you in the pokey. This Curll catalogue, published in 1740, includes both serious books and those of the variety for which he was better known. €900 (US $1,156).

Item 53 is a 17th century work on French printing and bibliography: Histoire de l'Imprimerie et de La Librairie... It was written by Jean de la Caille, and published in 1689 (this is a first and only edition). The bulk of the book is a bibliographic dictionary of Parisian printers and booksellers up to 1689. The book also discusses the invention and early history of printing and provides a list of first books printed in various locations. €2,000 (US $2,569).

There have been many ways of keeping out of the military over the years, but here is an unexpected one. Item 58 is a legal notice headed, Loi Qui Exempte de l'Enrolement Pour les Frontieres... Published in 1792, during the French Revolution, it prohibits printers from enlisting in the army, even voluntarily, unless they can provide a certificate showing there are still enough people working in the printing plant to carry on operations. We've heard of working in an arms plant as an exemption, but working for a printing press? Obviously printing carried a bit more respect in those days. €200 (US $257).

Rare Book Monthly

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  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Geek Week
    2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Buzz Aldrin's FLOWN Apollo 11 Crew-Signed NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Cover. $15,000 to $20,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Lunar Surface Flown Mission Emblem Presented to Tom Stafford by John Young. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Albert Einstein. Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein."), to Ann Morrisett, Affirming a Pacifist's Right to Self-Defense, March 21, 1952. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Geek Week
    2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Operating and Maintenance Manual for the BINAC Binary Automatic Computer Built for Northrop Aircraft Corporation. Philadelphia, 1949. $30,000 to $50,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Steve Jobs Apple Computer Business Card, c. 1977. $5,000 to $8,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Extensive Chronology of Spacecraft From Apollo to Skylab, Signed by a Member of Every Crewed Apollo Flight and the Commanders of Each Skylab Mission. $5,000 to $8,000.

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