Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2004 Issue

For the First Time Ever: Search Worldwide<br>Auction Listings From One Place : FREE!

Detailed results for one-of-a-kind copy of Huckleberry Finn

Detailed results for one-of-a-kind copy of Huckleberry Finn


What happens after you enter a search? You get a page full of matches. For each match, it will show you the auction house, the auction date, the title and author of the book, a partial description, and the estimated price. After the partial description, you will see the word “more”. Click this to see the complete description and other details about it (such as printing place and date). Here you will also find a link to the auction house’s website if you wish to place a bid. Additionally, you will see your keywords highlighted in red or yellow so you can instantly see where in the description your keywords were found. There’s no need to say any more about the search results here, as it is all very easy and self-evident. No training whatsoever is required.

Now just a quick comment about the auction houses. The AE Auction search covers live auctions as opposed to online ones such as eBay. There are dozens of them, running from the biggest names like Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Swann’s, to well-known American regional houses like Skinner’s, Pacific Book Auctions, Waverly’s, Baltimore, Butterfield’s and Dorothy Sloan, to many overseas houses such as Bonham’s, Bloomsbury and Bubb Kuyper. The list is far too long to cover here. While online auctions have a lot of old books, the truly rare and antiquarian books, especially when a complete collection is being offered, more often come up for sale at the live auctions. This is the material that has always been hard to see but has now been made very visible to everyone anywhere in the world with the AE Auction search . We believe this is one of the most important tools for book auctions and book collecting that has ever been developed.

One final note: subscribers to the AE Database and to MatchMaker will find the new auction search fits neatly together with these services. The AE Database provides the past history of books, through previous auctions, dealer catalogues, and bibliographies. It’s a necessary tool for determining an appropriate price/valuation for the new listings you find. MatchMaker enables you to do daily automated searches for your keywords without your having to re-enter them each time, and notifies you when new matches are found. It also does the same with eBay listings, plus provides automated searches for titles on Abebooks and more. An AE Database subscription (Research ) costs just $10 a month, while a combination AE Database and MatchMaker (Octavo, Quarto, Folio) starts at just $17.50. It costs that much to park your car overnight at the airport, or to have half a meal at your favorite restaurant, provided you don’t order a drink, appetizer, or dessert. If you aren’t impressed, just cancel when the month is over. To try these services, click " Become a Member” on the top toolbar or this link: www.americanaexchange.com/registration/registration.asp. If you are a free member and would like to try some of the paid services, click this link or “ Membership+” on the top toolbar. And, if you are not quite ready to commit for a month, please click the link and sign up for our free membership so we can tell you about any further services we have when they become available. Either way, access to the auction search is free. It’s not a paid service.

Now, it’s time to give the auction search a try. Test it out for a little while and you will quickly discover how to use it to best suit your needs. Here goes:
http://www.americanaexchange.com/auctions/auctionlistings.asp

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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: Bram Stoker. Dracula. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., 1897.
    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…
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!

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