This methodology seems to be an important advance for those who love books. It’s giving me a remarkable control over what I collect. It’s allowing me to turn on the flow as I learn to understand and use it. It’s efficient and inexpensive and intellectually challenging. Few book collectors can walk past a garage sale and this is one that is open every day and has as many sellers as there are seats in Yankee Stadium. And who knows, maybe you’ll turn out to be the Babe Ruth of book collectors. It’s a lovely and inexpensive way to collect books and ephemera.
Here is how you convert your lunch money into a ringside seat. If you are already an
Æ Octavo member, but haven’t yet entered keywords, sign in and go to MatchMaker which you’ll find under Facilities on the toolbar as well as in the right hand column of the main AE home page and your personal home page. If you aren’t yet a member you can sign up for an annual subscription or subscribe month-to-month and cancel at any time. Sign-up links are provided at the end of this article.
Once in MatchMaker the control panel is always on the left. Click on “Add Keywords” and then put only one word in each box. Usually a single term is best but you may want to put George and Washington together because Washington is very, very common. Also beware of entering a descriptive term that isn’t usually present. Kingston is a small city in the Hudson Valley of New York State but if I put in Kingston and New York it will miss almost every early Kingston item. By using only Kingston I’m going to see unrelated Kingston items but I just delete them. It’s easy. For those signing up and entering keywords today (8:00 pm PST daily cut-off) your matches are going to be posted late tonight and every night thereafter. If you are a book person you’ll be checking your matches early tomorrow morning and I’m sure you aren’t going to be disappointed. Currently, with 19 keywords, I have on average about 160 live auction lots every day.
Not all eBayauctions run the same amount of time. The seller has latitude so you will want to look every day. Most are seven or ten days. A few are five or even three days. They come without warning. They are there and then they are gone. Amazing, surprising material, like rain in the desert, is there only briefly. We list the matching lots in order of their closing date and time but you also see lots come up for briefer auctions so you need to read your full list of matches every day or so. The quicker auctions are going to appear on your inside pages. Once you begin to have matches you can identify material of interest and move it to the top of your list because you are going to see plenty of matches. With 19 keywords I have 160+ matches currently alive and I have bids in on several more items.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
