Rare Book Monthly

Articles - January - 2011 Issue

The AED at 3,100,147

The history of books is in the details

The history of books is in the details

The New AE is here and it will take some time to understand how this site is different from the version developed by Weicheng Chu of Los Angeles four years ago.  This time around the developer is Calsoft.  AE has become, over the past nine years, a group of modules developed one at a time:   AE Monthly, the AED, the Auction Search, Books for Sale, Matchmaker and Footnotes.  In this redevelopment Footnotes is incorporated into the AED and the other elements now function together.  The most important example of this is how searches are managed.  The AED, Books for Sale and Upcoming Auction Lots are now searched together.  Results for the database selected appear on screen while results from the other databases appear as blue number links to their related results.  If clicked, you already know how many results there are and they are queued for review.  The numbers themselves provide relative information even if the actual results are not examined.

 

For members who wish to sell material the interleaving of search results with material in upcoming auctions and the AED leads to a higher probability of sale.  In beta testing every aspect of the site benefited from the integration of search results. 

 

Searching multiple complimentary databases provides more complete answers.   The AED, by itself, deliverers 4 to 8 times the results of any other database tracking auction history and does so in seamless union with Books for Sale and Upcoming Auction Lots.  The effect is to deeply intensify search focus, to encourage digging and bring more intense, possibility important matches out.  Simply said, when you place current listings in the context of auction history they gain context and reference.  In the AED "Maps" yield 370,001 records, "maps New York" 59,463, "maps New York Ulster" 17.  The matches in Books for Sale and Upcoming Auctions, two each, yield precise and interesting matches.  Experience will confirm these databases running together work very effectively. 

 

The scale of the AED encourages precision.  Precision in turn leads to changing perceptions of the results.  Comparative numbers become part of what we can and immediately do begin to know.  An item at auction or in Books for Sale that has few related entries in the AED is immediately a candidate for purchase.  In a busy world of too few minutes and too many books these search results provide immediate clarity.


Posted On: 2011-01-04 00:00
User Name: canadense

"Searching multiple complimentary databases provides more complete answers. "

Not sure which spelling of complementary you wished to use, bu


Posted On: 2011-01-08 00:00
User Name: ae244155

Both versions may apply, sort of, but surely we meant it with an "e." Our compliments for picking that up.


Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby's Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Balthus, Emily Brontë. Wuthering Heights, New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1993. 6,600 USD.
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. Complete Works, Philadelphia & London: J.B. Lippincott Company & Chapman & Hall, LD, 1850. Limited Edition set of 30 volumes. 7,500 USD.
    Sotheby’s: John Lennon, Yoko Ono. Handwritten Letter from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to their Chauffer. 1971. 32,500 USD.
    Sotheby’s: Winston Churchill. First edition of War Speeches, Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1941. Set of 7 volumes. 5,500 USD.
    Sotheby’s: Andy Warhol, Julia Warhola. Holy Cats First Edition, Signed by Andy Warhol. 1954. 30,000 USD.
  • Forum Auctions
    Online: India
    Ends 19th February 2026
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 40
    Ramasvami (Kavali Venkata). A Digest of the Different Castes of India, 83 charming hand-coloured lithographed plates, Madras, 1837. £5,000-7,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 50
    Watson (John Forbes) & John William Kaye. The People of India: A Series of Photographic Illustrations...of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan, 8 vol., 480 mounted albumen prints, 1868-75. £4,000-6,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 53
    Afghanistan.- Elphinstone (Hon. Mountstuart). An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, first edition, hand-coloured aquatint plates, a fine copy, 1815. £2,000-3,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 57
    [Album and Treatise on Hinduism], manuscript treatise on Hinduism in French, 31 watercolours of Hindu deities, Pondicherry, 1865. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 62 Allan (Capt. Alexander). Views in the Mysore Country, [1794]. £2,000-3,000
    Forum Auctions
    Online: India
    Ends 19th February 2026
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 76
    Bird (James). Historical Researches on the Origin and Principles of the Bauddha and Jaina Religions..., first edition, lithographed plates, Bombay, American Mission Press, 1847. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 100
    Ceylon.- Daniell (Samuel). A Picturesque Illustration of the scenery, animals, and native inhabitants, of the Island of Ceylon: in twelve plates, 1808. £5,000-7,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 123
    D'Oyly (Charles). Behar Amateur Lithographic Scrap Book, lithographed throughout with title and 55 plates mounted on 43 paper leaves, [Patna], [1828]. £3,000-5,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 139
    Gandhi (known as Mahatma Gandhi,) Fine Autograph Letter signed to Jawaharlal Nehru, Sevagram, Wardha, 1942, emphasising the importance of education in rural communities. £10,000-15,000
    Forum Auctions
    Online: India
    Ends 19th February 2026
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 140
    Gantz (John). Indian Microcosm, first edition, Madras, John Gantz & Son, 1827. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 146
    Grierson (Sir George Abraham). Linguistic Survey of India, 11 vol. in 20, folding maps, original cloth, Calcutta, Superintendent Government Printing, 1903-28. £2,000-3,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 195
    Madras.- Fort St. George Gazette (The), No.276-331, pp.493-936 and Index to all of 1834 at end, modern half calf, Madras, 2nd July - 31st December 1834. £2,000-3,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 205
    Marshall (Sir John) and Alfred Foucher. The Monuments of Sanchi, 3 vol., first edition, 141 plates, most photogravure, [Calcutta], [1940]. £3,000-4,000
  • Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803) - Campi Phlegraei. Napoli: [Pietro Fabris], 1776, 1779. € 30.000 - 50.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: [MORTIER] - BLAEU, Joannes (1596-1673) - Het Nieuw Stede Boek van Italie. Amsterdam: Pieter Mortier, 1704-1705. € 15.000 - 25.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: TULLIO D'ALBISOLA (1899-1971) - Bruno MUNARI (1907-1998) - L'Anguria lirica (lungo poema passionale). Roma e Savona: Edizioni Futuriste di Poesia, senza data [ma 1933?]. € 20.000 - 30.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: IL MANOSCRITTO RITROVATO DI IPPOLITA MARIA SFORZA. TITO LIVIO - Ab Urbe Condita. Prima Decade. Manoscritto miniato su pergamena, metà XV secolo. € 280.000 - 350.000

Article Search

Archived Articles