Rare Book Monthly

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Articles - January - 2018 Issue

How can we help in 2018?

- by Bruce E. McKinney

How can we help in 2018?

 

Change is now embedded in the fields of rare books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera.  Knowledge continues to increase, even explode, and as it does, the value and relative importance of material changes.  Add to that an evolving collector base and heavy dealer inventories and it sometimes seems to be a blur.

 

We will be trying to support you this year, be you a collector, institution or dealer.   How can we best do this?  Tell us what you see as the problems and opportunities for the field.  We will try to address them.

 

Do so by adding your comments to this article and/or emailing me directly at [email protected].

 

Begin your replies with I’m a dealer, dealer-collector or someone associated with an institution. 

 

How long have you been involved in the field?

 

What do you have?  Could be books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera, Also paintings, other artwork and furniture. Or other and if so, what?

 

If buying, selling or both, how do you do this?  On listing sites, from catalogs, at shows, at shops, or at auction?

 

You stock or collection is probably worth about?

 

Your expectations for the next 10 years?

 

 

About Rare Book Hub

 

Do you regularly use our services?  Which ones and how often?

 

What would you like to see more of or more often?  We are open to your ideas.

 

 

Bruce McKinney

Rare Book Hub

[email protected]

877.323.7273

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Posted On: 2018-01-14 08:13
User Name: xiaolipo

I have been collecting books on the Far East, especially China, and in particular periodicals published by westerners in China from the 19th C onward. Very hard to say how much my collection is worth: I recently saw Maggs in London offering for 75000 Euros a book which I turned down at auction 35 years ago because it was far too expensive at the equivalent of 300 Euros! Prices in this field have become absurd, which makes it difficult to collect -- and material of the kind that interests me appears on the market less and less frequently. So the next 10 years will probably just continue getting more difficult. I buy mainly at auction and occasionally from specialist booksellers: almost never from shops - they don't carry the material I am looking for. I use regularly your weekly auction roundup and also e-catalogues. I would subscribe to your database but lack of time prevents me - it would be a delightful distraction: in a few years time perhaps. One request to make life easier: when I search future auctions for material on China, the results have recently been swamped by hundreds of Chinese coins and notes (and occasionally stamps), often from Heritage - and occasionally porcelain (White House 'china' etc). Is there any way of keeping this out of listings of books and works on paper? It's a bit of a pain when you have 350 coins and only 40 books in a search result. That aside, Rare Book Hun is a truly excellent resource. Thanks for making it available.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
    Lot 11. Blaeu's Superb World Map on a Polar Projection (1695) Est. $5,500 - $7,000
    Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
    Lot 702. Munster's Largest 16th Century Edition, with Over 220 Woodcut Maps (1598) Est. $18,000 - $20,000
    Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
    Lot 101. Rare Jo Mora "Carte" Showing a NYC-to-Seattle Route through Panama Canal (1933) Est. $900 - $1,100
    Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
    Lot 65. The Waldseemuller/Fries "Admiral's Map" (1541) Est. $8,000 - $9,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
    Lot 46. Contains all 30 Plates from Atlas Coelestis in Full Original Color (1742) Est. $16,000 - $18,000
    Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
    Lot 129. The First Map to Name New Scotland and Cape Cod (1625) Est. $8,000 - $9,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
    Lot 663. The First Printed Map Devoted to the Pacific in Full Contemporary Color (1589) Est. $7,500 - $9,000
    Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
    Lot 629. De Jode's Rare Map of Eastern Asia (1593) Est. $7,500 - $9,000
    Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
    Lot 171. De Bry's Influential Map of Colonial North America (1591) Est. $11,000 - $13,000
    Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
    Lot 691. Superb Hand-Colored Image of the Holy Trinity (1502) Est. $800 - $950
    Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
    Lot 606. Important, Early Atlas of Japan with 75 Woodcut Maps in Printed Color (1837) Est. $2,000 - $2,300
  • Koller, Sep. 16: FRANZÖSISCHE REVOLUTION - ASSEMBLÉE NATIONALE - Extrait des Procès-Verbaux de L'Assemblée Nationale, Des 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26 Août & premier Octobre 1789.
    Koller, Sep. 16: MOURADJA D'OHSSON, IGNACE. Tableau général de l'Empire Othoman, divisé en deux parties dont l'une comprend la Législation Mahométane, l'autre l'histoire de l'Empire Othoman [... ]
    Koller, Sep. 16: BOTANIK - Blackwell, Elisabeth. A curious herbal, containig five hundred cuts, of the most useful plants, which are now used in the practice of physick.
    Koller, Sep. 16: SCHEUCHZER, JOHANN JAKOB. Physica Sacra. Iconibus Aeneis illustrata procurante & sumtus suppeditante.
    Koller, Sep. 16: HAIMONSKINDER – Eyn schön lustig Geschicht, wie Keyser Carle der groß, vier gebrüder, Hertzog Aymont von Dordons Süne [...]
    Koller, Sep. 16: KRÄUTERBÜCHER - HORTUS SANITATIS - [H]ortus Sanitatis. De herbis et plantis. De animalibus et reptilibus. De avibus et volatilibus. De piscibus et natalibus…
    Koller, Sep. 16: GAUGUIN, PAUL, MALER (1848-1903). Eigenhändiger Brief mit Unterschrift und Couvert. An den Künstler und Freund Daniel de Monfreid in Paris.
  • Leland Little, September 11: Kenneth Claiborne Royall (1894-1971), Large Archive with Letters from Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
    Leland Little, September 11: Harry S. Truman, Scarce Autograph Letter Signed as 33rd U.S. President.
    Leland Little, September 11: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910), Autograph Quotation Signed.
    Leland Little, September 11: The History of North America, the Extremely Scarce Deluxe "Edition of the Presidents."
    Leland Little, September 11: Scarce First Edition of Krafft's The American Distiller.
    Leland Little, September 11: Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room.
    Leland Little, September 11: A Signed Limited Edition of Love in the Time of Cholera.
    Leland Little, September 11: The Extremely Scarce Limited and Extra-Illustrated Edition of The Works of Charles Dickens.
    Leland Little, September 11: A Beautifully Bound Limited Edition of Émile Zola's The Rougon-Macquart.
    Leland Little, September 11: The Elaborately Bound and Extremely Scarce The Shakespeare Gallery.
    Leland Little, September 11: Hunting, Hawking, Shooting, A Signed Limited Edition Four Volume Set.
    Leland Little, September 11: Signed Limited Edition of Salmon-Salmon with a Chapter on Iceland.
  • Sotheby’s
    Original Film Posters
    10 September 2026
    Sotheby’s, Sep. 10: The Invisible Man (1933). Extremely Rare US Leader Press One Sheet. £20,000 to £26,000.
    Sotheby’s, Sep. 10: You Only Live Twice (1967). Italian Advance Quattro Fogli. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Sep. 10: A Dog's Life (1918). Extremely Rare US One Sheet. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Sep. 10: La Belle et la Bête/Beauty and the Beast (1946). French Style A Grande. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Sep. 10: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). US Lenticular Prototype One Sheet. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Sep. 10: Théâtre d’Ombres (1897). Exceptionally Rare French Poster. £8,000 to £12,000.

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