Rare Book Monthly
Auctions in April and May
Bloomsbury is exceptionally busy in this period.
That said, auction houses are in the midst of a transition from glancing to full and complete disclosure. They have for many years spoken with authority about importance but often, while describing material accurately, failed to transparently disclose condition problems. The talk a few years ago was that you could be misleading on the net but not in person. That's not my experience. Reputable sellers can hardly afford to misinform or subtly mislead buyers. In this new world of auction-selling buyers tend to look for what they collect rather than exclusively at specific sellers' material. They are after material of personal interest, not simply buying a particular inventory. This suggests all auction houses will be selling, over the next five years, to perhaps 10 times as many buyers as they did in the past. The flip side of this is that buyers will be buying in many more venues and relying more heavily on auction house honesty and accuracy. eBay is proving that honesty can be inculcated into an online system. They are doing it with extensive photography and buyer feedback. Traditional auctions are now creating a separate reality at the upper end of the market. Given that the materials are generally more expensive and the bidding correspondingly higher than eBay the standards of description and disclosure need to be correspondingly rigorous.
Clarity in the auction process, an increasingly clear history of auction transactions and easy access to priced auction records such as we provide on AE mean that auction houses can empirically ground their estimates and bidders can evaluate the examples, their descriptions and the value through time and decide whether to bid and, if bidding, how far to go.
Now all you have to do is click here and begin to search the upcoming auctions for appealing material. In the mean time, if time permits and the opportunity presents itself, attend a sale. You'll find it interesting.
