Rare Book Monthly

Articles - December - 2010 Issue

Auctions Going Postal

Ed Postal - building an auction based community

Ed Postal - building an auction based community


By Bruce McKinney

Antiquarian Auctions of Laguna Beach, California will be posting its first sale for bidding beginning on December 9th and concluding its first sale on the 16th. Ed Postal, of Barnaby Rudge Booksellers, is developing the business. The model is designed to enable those with books to sell to be able to offer material at auction in a direct and simple way. The structure and timing of the sales are controlled by Antiquarian Auctions, the items, descriptions, estimates and reserves controlled by consignors.

For this first sale there are no listing fees and for buyers no buyer's premiums ever. The bid is the final price.

Think of this as an auction commune. Mr. Postal, an ABAA member for many years, is presiding over a fresh approach, adapted from www.AntiquarianAuctions.co.za based in South Africa, that permits individual consignors to post listings - everything including images, description, estimates and reserves. Once the system is established, an 8% success fee will be charged if, and only if, a listed item sells.

For the first sale nine dealers have posted what is expected to be about 200 items when the starting gun is fired. Mr. Postal emphasizes that collectors, who can establish their bona fides, can also sell on the site. They can sell random items or complete collections.

Because shipments are made directly from the seller their reliability and expertise will be particularly important.

Here is a link to the site and to some of the material already posted.

www.antiquarianauctions.com/auctions/preview

To contact Mr. Postal about consigning or bidding by phone:

866-840-5900 toll free in the United States and Canada

By Spype: Ed.Postal

By local phone: 949-497-4079

By email: info@antiquarianauctions.com

Rare Book Monthly

  • ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections
    Open for Bidding 2-17 April
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.

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