Rare Book Monthly Articles - January - 2017 Issue

The Annual Rare Book Hub Top 500 Prices Paid at Auction for Books and Works on Paper in 2016

Now that the new year has arrived, it's time to look back at the old. Once again, we have tallied the Rare Book Hub Top 500 highest prices paid at auction in the books and paper field for the past year – 2016. Each individual item is something of a curiosity, but taken as whole, these lists can tell us something about the market. Perhaps we should specify about the top end of the market, because most collectors will never purchase anything in this range. With this kind of money, they will purchase something more practical, like a house.   Nothing reached the $9 million level this year, as...

The Rare Book Hub Passes Seven Million Full Text Records

A year ago as we made the year-end turn from 2015 to 2016 we reported that the Rare Book Hub Transaction Database had reached six million full text records.  It’s now a year later and as we start 2...

Old Books / New Editions. Part III of III. New Work on Margaret Cavendish’s "The Blazing World" (1666; 2016)

Welcome to this third and final installment in my Guest Series on new editions of 17th-century women writers. This last essay discusses an extraordinary figure whose writings are a rich weave of in...

Does history predict the future?

  If you look at a slice of history, at a single area with very strong records, and if you then document in full text and cross index a fair approximation of all related printed and manuscript mat...

A $6 Million Ephemera Burning – Now That's Punk

A collection of ephemeral material said to be worth £5 million* (about $6.3 million U.S. dollars) went up in flames on November 26 last. The fire was deliberate. It was a protest. However, while re...

Sven Becker Appointed Head of Books and Manuscripts at Christie's - New York

Sven Becker recently was announced as new head of Books and Manuscripts at Christie's in New York and in early December assumed the post after serving in various capacities at Christie's in London ...

California's New Autograph Law: Is It A Threat to Booksellers?

A new law concerning the sale of autograph material in the state of California, which caused booksellers much consternation when it was passed in September, goes into effect on January 1. It applie...

Jan. 18: An Important Family Archive of Letters and Manuscripts by and about Alexander Hamilton

Sotheby’s bears no need for introduction, and their reputation often garners the attention of consigners with incredible material. While many auction houses can claim decades of auctioneer experien...

The Caren Archives: An Update

On December 1st Eric Caren announced in Rare Book Monthly that he would be selling his enormous archives of paper Americana.  Less than a week later he was in discussion to sell a category of mater...

AbeBooks Lists Its Top 10 Most Expensive Sales for 2016

For many, the AbeBooks' website is a great place to buy used books for a low price. Students and casual readers have made the most of their bargains for twenty years. But then, there is a rarefied ...

“Fresh is Important” - Rare Book Hub Monthly Tracks Book News in 2016

In 2016 a variety of themes emerged in the Rare Book Monthly articles. Tracking the market was one of our most frequent and high visibility topics:   “Are books a good investment?” asked an artic...

Voyage de Paris à Saint Cloud, The Perilous and Bold Adventures of a Badaud

According to the authoritative Larousse dictionary, the French word “badaud” refers to someone who “wanders around town, being curious of the various spectacles of life, and stopping to contemplate...

Jan. 21: Antiquarian Books, Maps, Documents, and Autographs at Case Antiques

Case Antiques, a Knoxville, Tennessee-based auction house specializing in art and antiques, began having their rare books, maps, manuscripts, and ephemera lots added to the Rare Book Transaction Hi...

Richard Murian of Alcuin Books on C-Span

If Mohammed will not come to the mountain the mountain will come to him.  Or so it seems.  Mr. Murian, a man of bibliographic attainment with a shop in Scottsdale, Arizona explains in a clear way h...

A Library Plans to Sell a Valuable Century-Old Book Collection

Important old books tend to become harder and harder for collectors to find, as the best are either purchased by or given to institutions. Once there, it is expected they will never return to publi...

The Austin Book Fair January 13-14

The Texas Booksellers Association is holding its annual Austin Book, Paper, Photo Show at the Norris Conference Center in Austin on Friday and Saturday January 13th and 14th.  About 60 exhibitors ...

Thirteen Catalogues Reviewed for January

This month we review 13 new catalogues. Whitmore Rare Books features a selection of literary classics. Patrick McGahern Books is focused on the Arctic world. Samuel Gedge Ltd. offers a varied colle...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Doyle, May 1: Thomas Jefferson expresses fears of "a war of extermination" in Saint-Dominigue. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An exceptional presentation copy of Fitzgerald's last book, in the first issue dust jacket. $25,000 to $35,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The rare first signed edition of Dorian Gray. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The Prayer Book of Jehan Bernachier. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Van Dyck's Icones Principum Virorum Doctorum. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The magnificent Cranach Hamlet in the deluxe binding by Dõrfner. $7,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, May 1: A remarkable unpublished manuscript of a voyage to South America in 1759-1764. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Bouchette's monumental and rare wall map of Lower Canada. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An rare original 1837 abolitionist woodblock. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An important manuscript breviary in Middle Dutch. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An extraordinary Old Testament manuscript, circa 1250. $20,000 to $30,000.
  • 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
  • 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€

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