All Books and All Knowledge: Coming Soon to <i>Your</i> Computer
- by Michael Stillman
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At the beginning we mentioned that the tide of information may be too great for the large companies to control. Google is clearly going to be a major force in this latest information revolution, and I cannot help but believe Microsoft will find a way to join in, but there are others. Project Gutenberg has been in the process of posting complete books on the internet for quite awhile now. If you have never checked them out, here's the link: http://promo.net/pg/. It went virtually unnoticed next to Google's announcement, but the Internet Archive also recently announced a digitization program. The Internet Archive is a nonprofit organization that provides, among other items, the "Wayback Machine," which allows you to look at websites the way they were at various times in the past. If you think that correcting egregious errors on your website will once and for all do away with the embarrassment, take a look at the "Wayback Machine" for a sobering dose of reality.
The Internet Archive will be hosting texts as part of a cooperative effort with ten libraries and organizations from five countries. They state that 27,000 volumes are currently available, 50,000 more will be posted in the first quarter of 2005, and they have commitments for one million books. Among the libraries and organizations taking part are Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S., the Library of Congress American Memory Project, the Universities of Toronto, Ottawa, and McMaster in Canada, plus organizations in Egypt, India, China, and the Netherlands. As with Google and Gutenberg, the texts are free to the public.
So where is all of this leading us? The answer is "somewhere." No one really knows what changes this will make to our institutions or in our lives. Who could have imagined the impact of the internet on our lives, our schools, our businesses, just a dozen years ago? Who would have imagined the impact television would have on our reading habits half a century ago, or the impact of radio a century ago? We do not yet know what the impact will be of this latest flood of information coming from millions of books, old and new, in the years ahead. All we can say is that the effect will be substantial.
What happens to libraries as more of the information hidden deep within their vaults becomes available to the public from the comfort of their homes? What will be the effect on those who sell old books when those books can be read from your home computer screen whenever you like for free? Obviously, these institutions and businesses will need to evolve to meet the needs of a changing reality. Some will thrive, despite the seemingly negative implications for printed material. The internet itself was filled with negative implications for those who deal in books, and yet out of it emerged Amazon.com and the cooperative bookselling sites. The world is again changing, and from the realms of booksellers, collectors, libraries and other institutions, there will be winners and losers. The winners will be those who watch the changes closely and find ways to better serve the public in the emerging new world.
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. 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.
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>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.")
