Rare Book Monthly Reviews - December - 2012 Issue

Manuscript, Printed and Visual Americana from Ian Brabner, Bookseller

Manuscript, Printed and Visual Americana from Ian Brabner, Bookseller

Ian Brabner, Bookseller, of Wilmington, Delaware, has published Catalogue 13, Manuscripts & Printed & Visual Americana. There is quite a variety of material here, from books, broadsides, and other printed documents, to manuscript letters and personal accounts of important events, to photographs, advertising material, cartoons, business cards, unpublished typescripts, and even more ephemeral items such as document pouches. This is a fascinating mix of material and anyone who collects Americana will much enjoy this catalogue. These are a few of the items that are being offered.

Would you lik...

Books in English 1527-1728 from James and Devon Gray Booksellers

Books in English 1527-1728 from James and Devon Gray Booksellers

This month we review our first catalogue from James and Devon Gray Booksellers from Harvard Square, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They specialize in seriously antiquarian books, that is, from 1700 g...

Read More
English Books and Manuscripts from Pickering & Chatto

English Books and Manuscripts from Pickering & Chatto

This month we review our first catalogue from Pickering & Chatto of London, England. It is not their first. Actually, it is Catalogue 789. That large number is probably best explained by their age,...

Read More
The First Catalogue from Honey and Wax Booksellers

The First Catalogue from Honey and Wax Booksellers

This month we received our first catalogue from Honey & Wax Booksellers of Brooklyn, New York. It is an unusual catalogue, with fold-out covers and wording on the cover I can't quite figure out whe...

Read More
13th – 20th Century Books and Manuscripts from Librairie Thomas-Scheler

13th – 20th Century Books and Manuscripts from Librairie Thomas-Scheler

This month we received a new catalogue from Librairie Thomas-Scheler, of Bernard & Stéphane Clavreuil, of Paris, France. The title is Livres & Manuscrits du XIIIe au XXe siecle (Books & Manuscripts...

Read More
A Miscellany from Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Manuscripts

A Miscellany from Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Manuscripts

Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Manuscripts is now offering their Catalogue 63: A 19th and 20th Century Miscellany, including many modest items. We presume those “modest” items refer to modestly ...

Read More
25 Unusual Items from Simon Beattie

25 Unusual Items from Simon Beattie

Simon Beattie recently issued his Short List 5. Considering the catalogue is 16” in height, it doesn't much look like a short list, but inside reveals just 25 items in this oversized publication. B...

Read More
344 Years of History in the Paper from Timothy Hughes Rare and Early Newspapers

344 Years of History in the Paper from Timothy Hughes Rare and Early Newspapers

Timothy Hughes Rare and Early Newspapers has just issued a new selection of old papers, Catalog 205. Covered are 344 years worth of news, as it appeared when it happened. Beginning with a “newsbook...

Read More
Children's Literature from Peter Harrington

Children's Literature from Peter Harrington

Peter Harrington of London has created a fine catalogue of Children's Literature. It is filled with the work of the most beloved of children's authors. They are all here – Beatrix Potter, Dr. Seuss...

Read More
Graphic Works of Social Movements from Lorne Bair Rare Books

Graphic Works of Social Movements from Lorne Bair Rare Books

Lorne Bair Rare Books has issued their latest – Catalog 15. Graphics, Posters, & Original Artworks. Bair's material relates primarily to social and political movements of the late 19th through the ...

Read More
More Books from an Alternate Reality from Garrett Scott, Bookseller

More Books from an Alternate Reality from Garrett Scott, Bookseller

Garrett Scott, Bookseller, has published his Catalogue 39. Recent Acquisitions. Scott's books are not just the type you can collect, but titles from which there is much to learn – things you never ...

Read More
48 Varied Items from The Pages of Yesteryear

48 Varied Items from The Pages of Yesteryear

The Pages of Yesteryear issued a catalogue a little while back with the succinct title 48. It was named, not sequentially for catalogues, but for years in business. This represents their 48th year ...

Read More
Old and Rare Books from Knuf Rare Books

Old and Rare Books from Knuf Rare Books

Knuf Rare Books has issued a catalogue of Old & Rare Books 2012. The Vendome, France, bookseller specializes in the “books about books” field. They offer bibliography, specimen books, typography, f...

Read More
Jefferson Davis from the George S. MacManus Company

Jefferson Davis from the George S. MacManus Company

The most important movie in theaters today is an account of President Lincoln's final days of the Civil War. Such happens when you are on the winning side. The president of the losers, Jefferson Da...

Read More
Varied Antiquarian Material from Samuel Gedge Ltd.

Varied Antiquarian Material from Samuel Gedge Ltd.

Samuel Gedge Ltd. Rare Books of Norwich, UK has issued their Catalogue XIV. Gedge offers a variety of antiquarian material, primarily English, with a concentration in the 18th century. Along with b...

Read More
Signed Material from David Schulson Autographs

Signed Material from David Schulson Autographs

David Schulson Autographs has released their Catalog 152. It contains, naturally enough, autographed materials, primarily personal letters, along with signed photographs and other documents. The ca...

Read More
Illustrated Books and Fine Bindings from James Cummins Bookseller

Illustrated Books and Fine Bindings from James Cummins Bookseller

Catalogue 114 from James Cummins Bookseller is headed Illustrated Books, Fine Bindings & Works on China and India Paper. The common thread is attractiveness of appearance. That is not to say there ...

Read More
Private Press Works and Much More from The Kelmscott Bookshop

Private Press Works and Much More from The Kelmscott Bookshop

The Kelmscott Bookshop Rare Books has published their Catalog 8. Kelmscott focuses on the type of material created by their namesake, the Kelmscott Press. That was one of the earliest and most nota...

Read More
The Arctic, Antarctic, and Whaling from Gert Jan Bestebreurtje Rare Books

The Arctic, Antarctic, and Whaling from Gert Jan Bestebreurtje Rare Books

Gert Jan Bestebreurtje Rare Books recently published their List 57: Arctica, Antartica & Whaling. This catalogue is filled with accounts of explorations to the farther reaches of the earth, north a...

Read More
Civil War Material from the William Reese Company

Civil War Material from the William Reese Company

The William Reese Company has published their Bulletin 28: The Civil War. This is a selection of 32 items pertaining to that awful intramural skirmish, a terrible price paid to save the Union and r...

Read More

Rare Book Monthly

  • Heritage Auctions
    Rare Books Signature Auction
    December 15, 2025
    Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Bram Stoker. Dracula. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., 1897.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.

Review Search

Archived Reviews