• 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
  • Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.
  • Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    20 March 2024
    Koller, Mar. 20: DADA - Der Zeltweg. Redaktion: Flake, Serner, Tzara. Zürich, 1919. CHF 5,000 – 8,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Jespers, Floris - Peeters, Jan. Kinderlust. Antwerpen, J. F. Bogaerts & R. R. Dodson, [1923]. CHF 2,000 – 3,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: FARBENLEHRE - Chevreul, M. E. De la Loi du contraste simultané des couleurs et de l'assortiment des objets colorés. Paris, 1839. CHF 4,000 – 5,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: BOTANIK - Schrank, Franz de Paula von. Flora Monacensis, seu plantae sponte circa Monachium nascentes. München, 1811-1818. CHF 20,000 – 30,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: French Bible manuscript. Latin manuscript on parchment. With 81 illuminated, ornamental and figurative initials. Paris, c. 1250. CHF 90,000 – 120,000
    Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    20 March 2024
    Koller, Mar. 20: Gradual for the use of a Dominican convent. Latin manuscript on parchment, with Flemish rubrics in black and red. Mecheln (?), c. 1520. CHF 25,000 – 40,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Calendar. French manuscript on parchment. With 12 large colored thorn leaf initials on a gold background. Paris, c. 1380/1390. CHF 40,000 – 60,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Freud, Sigmund. Collection of 23 handwritten letters to Alphonse Maeder in Zurich. In addition to 4 letter drafts from Maeder to Freud. 2 February 1910 - 21 September 1913. CHF 50,000 – 80,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Jung, Carl Gustav. Collection of 26 autograph and 3 typescript letters and a postcard to Alphonse Maeder. 1911-1918. CHF 20,000 – 30,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Nietzsche, Friedrich, philosopher. Handwritten letter signed to Richard Wagner. Basel, September 27, 1876. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - January - 2014 Issue

The Easy Way to Track Lots at Auction

Matchmaker matches your keywords daily at live auctions, Books for Sale, and (for premium members) eBay.

We are now entering the start of the 2014 auction season. The season builds from now through May, when it slows for the summer. There will be many fascinating items offered, great deals for buyers, and much to be learned by newer collectors not quite ready to dip a toe in the water. The problem is... how do you find and keep track of all of this?

 

Recently we wrote about a free service AE (Americana Exchange) provides. Click here to read. The search box at the top of this and most other AE pages enables you to search listings at dozens of auctions around the world from one location. Just make sure you have selected “upcoming auctions” from the scroll bar to the left of the search box. It searches all posted lots for your keywords and responds with a list of matches in under a second. The alternative is to go to every auction house's website, find their current auctions, and read through their lots to find ones that match your collecting terms. That is many, many hours of work vs. one second. A second is faster... but not fast enough.

 

AE offers an automated service so you don't have to go back and enter those keywords everyday to see what new items are coming up for auction. That's too many seconds. Matchmaker will do all of the work for you. This is a free service. All you need to do is sign up for an account (at any level, including free). This is so you can set up your keywords, and we will be able to provide specific matches to you.

 

Once a day, Matchmaker will look at new auction listings, match them against your keywords, and provide you with a list of matches. The matches will be posted in your account, and you can receive an email notification whenever new matches are found (or not receive one if you prefer). Matchmaker will also provide matches from booksellers listing titles in AE's Books for Sale, and for those with an Octavo or Folio level of membership, matches from eBay as well. If you prefer not to see matches from any of these sources, you may turn off matches from those you do not wish to see.

 

Here is all you need to do to set up and operate a Matchmaker account. First, if you are already an AE member, log in. If not, sign up at any level, free or greater. You can do this quickly at the following page: click here.  That link will open the sign up page in a new window so you can follow along with this article. Once you have signed up, we will send you a password so you can log in. Once you are logged in, you will see a “Matchmaker” link on the top toolbar. Click this link. You will come to a simple, self-intuitive page, but we will explain it anyway. It features a basic box along with links to “Add Keywords” and “Matchmaker Preferences.”

 

When you click “Add Keywords” you will see a box to enter keywords and phrases. Enter your search terms, one or more, in this box. Matches will be made based on auction listings containing all of the words you enter.

 

If you wish, you may add a date range (but you do not have to). You would do this, for instance, if you wanted only a first edition of Huckleberry Finn and did not want to see a bunch of matches for later editions. Enter 1885 as the start and end date to only see first editions of Huck Finn. Or perhaps you collect your hometown but only want older material pertaining to it. You might select 1600 as the start date and 1900 as the end date.

 

Once you have entered a keyword(s), click the “Add Keywords” tab and it will display below in your keyword list. You can then add additional sets of keywords and phrases you wish to match. To test your keywords, you can click the test icon. That will immediately show you current matches from all sources. These will be the first matches you receive. After the first day, only newly listed titles will show up in your matches.

 

You will also notice a pair of icons under “Action” above your keyword list. One allows you to change your keywords, the other to delete them entirely.

 

Here is a tip for anyone seeking a specific title. Use only a couple of important keywords from the title. The full title for the aforementioned Huck Finn is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but some auction houses may abbreviate “adventures,” leave out “the,” or just enter the title as “Huckleberry Finn.” If you spell out the full title in your keywords, you will miss these matches.

 

Once you have set up your Matchmaker keywords, return to the main Matchmaker page. There is just one more thing to do. Click the green “Matchmaker Preferences” tab. Here is where you can choose which sources to match (“Enable this module”). You can select auctions, AE BFS (Books for Sale), and if you are an Octavo or Folio member, eBay. We recommend selecting “yes” for all, but you get to make your own choice.

 

Next you can choose whether to receive email alerts for those sources you have selected to match. The email alert is useful as it will tell you whether you should log in to your account that day to look for matches. If you don't want to receive email alerts, just select “no” for each source.

 

The next selection is for how long you want matches to remain in your account until they are automatically deleted. The default is 7 days, but you can extend it to as long as 45 days. Finally, you can choose which fields you want Matchmaker to search for keyword matches. Unless you have some particular reason for not searching some fields, we recommend you select all of them.

 

Now that your set-up is complete, all you need to do is go to the main Matchmaker page to access the “Keyword Matches” box. Naturally, if you have just set it up, there won't be any matches yet, but as soon as tomorrow there may be. For each source you will see counts for total matches and new matches. “Total” covers all you have received, and “New” are ones that came in last night. To view your matches, click the name (Live Auctions, AE BFS, eBay). This is all you need to do once your keywords are set up. You can delete individual items you no longer wish to see on this page, delete all of them on the main Matchmaker page, or wait for them to automatically be deleted after the time limit you selected under “Matchmaker Preferences” expires.

 

One final thought – if you just signed up, but don't think you can remember the password we sent you, you can change that now. Just click the “My Home” link in the upper right corner of the page, then the blue “Details” tab under “Account Settings” on that page (upper left box). Finally, click the brown “Change Password” tab near the top of the page. Now you're set. Enjoy exploring the matches you receive, as early as tomorrow morning. Collecting today is all about having access to information. And, that is what Matchmaker is all about providing.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.

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