Specialized magazines such as the UK's Selvedge on textiles and fiber arts bring good prices.
Magazines can sell as single sheets like the Coke ads, they can sell as featured visuals like the MM spread or they can sell as lots, like the dazzling textile arts publication SELVEDGE published in the UK, possibly the most fascinating contemporary design publication around. What they have in common is they all started life as a magazine, came in cheap and went out the door fast.
While we’re on the subject don’t forget to clip the interesting and unusual parts from the magazines that pass through your own hands (I stash mine in the Tyvek bags so thoughtfully provided by the USPS, they’re breathable yet nicely bug resistant). Pack them away for future appreciation. You’ll be surprised how interesting some of that ephemera looks as the years go by.
3. Include the copyright information
Sellers get 12 free pictures with every eBay listing. Most of you know by now what “points of issue” are -- those quirky little nit picky things that make one edition of a book more interesting or desirable from a collector’s point of view than another. Those picky things can often be found on the back of the title page. The copyright statement with Library Congress and ISBN numbers, editions, number line, edition statement and all that fine print is often the best way to substantiate your written description. So zoom in and take that photo and use that photo in your listing. It’s not a sexy image, but it’s a money maker.
4.Good Girl Art (GGA) is still in demand
Casting about for categories that sell include pinups, vaguely lurid pulps and other visuals that go by the handle Good Girl Art (GGA). It’s all still in demand, though more often than not the good girls shown are trying to be bad. That’s part of their charm.
5. If you have a point of view -- push it
For example I am currently interested in the Pacific centered world. That’s because I live in Hawaii, the red hot center of the Pacific and the 50th state in the USA. We are small; we are isolated but, get this straight, we are the hub and the wheel revolves around us.
Admittedly this is not yet universally acknowledged and has not yet become standard practice in mapping. The maps most of us grew up with had an Atlantic centered world. The Pacific Ocean was usually drawn with half on the far left and the other half at the far right. Even today the true picture of the largest geographic feature on the planet is seldom standard. Comes now the Pacific century and this is slowly changing; even so, earlier images of a Pacific centered world can be hard to find and in my experience usually command a premium.
Not that you’re going to be selling any Pacific maps, but it does illustrate an interesting perspective to use in descriptions. That’s another way of saying if you have a point of view that the buyer may find intriguing - it doesn’t hurt to push it.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.
Heritage Auctions Rare Books Signature Auction December 15, 2025
Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
