Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2024 Issue

Here Comes a New Search: Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven

  The history of book auctions have long reflected the intertwining threads of value and price.  Dealers convert rarity, condition and market appeal into offers to those who wish to add their name to the lengthening lists of collectors and collecting institutions who have possessed copies of important editions. As to understanding, appreciating, and celebrating the significance of material, those tasks have long fell to libraries because they own 95% of the best examples.   For them, we have developed an interesting enhancement to our searches to quickly and deeply plumb our 14,000,000 r...

Nine Arrests Made of Library Theft Ring that Stole $2.8 Million of Rare Books

On an “action day,” European law enforcement officers conducted a series of raids that led to the arrest of four individuals alleged to be part of a large rare book theft ring that had stolen rare ...

Caren at Potter & Potter - Not All Sales are Equal

Our report of Eric Caren’s ephemera sale recently conducted by Potter and Potter of Chicago makes dry reading until and unless you understand you’re seeing the changing of the guard in the collecti...

A Collection of 120,000 Books Offered For Sale

If you would like to obtain a lot of books quickly, collector/dealer Richard Axe has a deal for you. Axe has 120,000 books at his residence in Aysgarth, Yorkshire, U.K. He would like to sell them a...

How To Skin A Book

Harvard University has just stripped off one of its infamous books that was bound with human skin.   On March 27, 2024, Harvard University publicly announced they had removed the human skin from ...

Antiquarian Bookselling: Curiouser and Curiouser

Several recent articles in major publications caught my attention and I think they are interesting, if contradictory indicators for the antiquarian book business. The first is a long article in th...

Doyle Auctions: Rare Books, Autographs & Maps May 1st!

Doyle will hold an auction of Rare Books, Autographs Maps on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 at 10am. The sale offers a broad range of material ranging from the 12th to 20th centuries. The first thirty-fiv...

States Seek to Limit What Publishers Can Charge Libraries for eBooks

Are libraries being overcharged for e-books and audiobooks? Many libraries seem to think so, and legislatures in many states are considering legislation to bring these costs under control. The publ...

Firsts: London’s Rare Book Fair: Saatchi Gallery 16 – 19 May 2024

Firsts London is one of the most popular and prestigious rare book fairs in the world, showcasing unique and unusual items from over 100 leading UK and international dealers.  As the Antiquarian Bo...

So You Want to be an Antiquarian Bookseller?

So you want to be an antiquarian bookseller? Well you’re in good company, ever since the invention of movable type, c.1450, the western world has been cranking out books and in the wake there follo...

COLLECTING INSIGHTS – Registration Open for Summer 2024 Sessions

COLLECTING INSIGHTS https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/collecting-insights-summer-2024-3305979?utm-campaign=socialutm-content=creatorshareutm-medium=discoveryutm-term=odclsxcollectionutm-source=cpaff=e...

London Map Fair to be Held June 15-16

The annual London Map Fair will take place on Saturday and Sunday, June 15-16. The London Map Fairs date back 30 years. Since 2008, they have been held at their current location – the Royal Geograp...

Boxboro Paper Town Returns June 8

Boxboro Paper Town – The Vintage Paper, Book Advertising Collectibles Show will be returning on June 8, 2024. The popular show takes place in Boxboro, or more formally, Boxborough, every year when...

Seven New Catalogues Reviewed

This month we review seven new bookseller catalogues. Type Punch Matrix presents the George Bixby Collection of James Baldwin. Voewood Rare Books offers a wide-ranging and eclectic mix of items. Bo...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Gonnelli
    Auction 51
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 14st 2024
    Gonnelli: Leonard Bramer, The descent from the cross, 1634. Starting price 3200€
    Gonnelli: Gustav Hjalmar de Morner Karel, Rome’s Carnival, 1820. Starting price 1000€
    Gonnelli: Various Authors, Mater Dolorosa, 1700. Starting price 200€
    Gonnelli: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Carcere Oscura, 1790. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli: Jan Brueghel, Marine fauna view, 1620 ca. Starting price 28000€
    Gonnelli: Ippolito Scarsella, Mary and Christ with Sant Rocco and Arch-Angel Michele,1615. Starting price 8000€
    Gonnelli: Hans Sebald Beham, Adam and Eve, 1543. Starting price 600€
    Gonnelli: Francesco Burani, Baccanale, 1630. Starting Price 280€
    Gonnelli: Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Plance from Ventiquattr’ore, 1675. Starting price 800€
    Gonnelli: Giuseppe Angeli, Livorno’s Plan, 1793. Starting price 240€
    Gonnelli: XIV Century Artist, Capital “N” letter, 1350 ca. Starting price 340€
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Isaac Newton on chemistry and matter, and alchemy, Autograph Manuscript, "A Key to Snyders," 3 pp, after 1674. $100,000 - $150,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Exceptionally rare first printing of Plato's Timaeus. Florence, 1484. $50,000 - $80,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: On the Philosophy of Self-Interest: Adam Smith's copy of Helvetius's De l'homme, Paris, 1773. $40,000 - $60,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: "Magical Calendar of Tycho Brahe" - very rare hermetic broadside. Engraved by Merian for De Bry. c.1618. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Author's presentation issue of Einstein's proof of Relativity, "Erklärung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie." 1915. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: First Latin edition of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed. Paris, 1520. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: De Broglie manuscript on the nature of matter in quantum physics, 3 pp, 1954. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Tesla autograph letter signed on electricty and electromagnetic theory. 1894. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Heinrich Hertz scientific manuscript on his mentor Hermann Von Helmholtz, 1891. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: The greatest illustrated work in Alchemy: Micheal Maier's Atalanta Fugiens. Oppenheim, 1618. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Illustrated Alchemical manuscript, a Mysterium Magnum of the Rosicurcians, 18th-century. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Rare Largest Paper Presentation Copy of Newton's Principia, London, 1726. The third and most influential edition. $60,000 - $90,000

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