The future of history will be in its ability to predict the emerging present
We are caught in that particular moment when old men, remembering their dreams, pay homage to them. In some cases they remember a past no longer anchored in the present. As a case in point, the Gannett newspaper organization which achieved both wealth and power through the ownership of daily newspapers in the United States in the 20th century, leveraged that success into, among other things, the Newseum, a homage to the printed word in Washington D. C. It was a splendid, if dated idea, that would have held crowds in thrall in the 1930’s but has rapidly lost ground to the internet, news feeds, and instant messaging. Of course, it’s not the museum located In Washington D. C. that fell behind, it’s the present that is racing ahead. So here’s a note to the future. Museums should focus on the future to anticipate what we will end up living through. Had the Newseum done that they might have survived.
Their end could have been worse.
The New York Times had a story in its west coast edition on Saturday January 26th that both announced the sale and sought to explain it in which it came down to this: insufficient attendance and rising real estate values. It turns out the real estate market is going to bail out the Gannett Foundation [now called the Freedom Forum] and the building will go to one of the few enterprises that has control over its retail prices: higher education. Johns Hopkins, the great Baltimore university, is buying a beachhead in the nation’s capital.
Many in the world of rare books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera will recognize the symptoms: declining audiences, higher costs, and changing methods of interaction. Collectible paper faces many of the same issues. My take away: explain your material in ways that illuminate the future so you won’t be relegated to the past. Yesterday’s news has become a hard sell.
In time the Newseum will become an entirely electronic institution, live online, see its attendance soar and its archives quoted every day around the world. We now have to fit into an evolving world because that world increasingly does not remember us, even if the building is pristine and the location at the nexus of power.
Old World Auctions (Oct. 10): Lot 1. Rare First Edition of Oronce Fine Double-Cordiform World Map (1531) Est. $50,000 - $60,000
Old World Auctions (Oct. 10): Lot 2. French Edition of "Rudimentum Novitiorum" with Woodcut Maps of the World and Palestine (1543) Est. $27,500 - $35,000
Old World Auctions (Oct. 10): Lot 3. Complete Edition of Munster’s Cosmographia with over 100 Maps & Views (1560) Est. $32,500 - $40,000
Old World Auctions (Oct. 10): Lot 4. Purchas' Important Collection of Voyages with 88 Maps, Including John Smith Map of Virginia (1625-26) Est. $55,000 - $70,000
Old World Auctions (Oct. 10): Lot 5. Complete First Latin Edition of De Bry's "Grands Voyages," Parts I-IX (1590-1602) Est. $120,000 - $150,000
Sotheby’s Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library. The Aldine Collection D-M 18 October 2024
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Herodianus Syrus, Herodiani Historiarum, Venice, Heirs of Aldo & Torresano, 1524, Parisian binding for Jean Grolier by Jean Picard, ca. 1540
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Musaeus, Opusculum de Herone et Leandro, Venice, Aldo, 1495 (Greek text), interleaved with 1497–1498 (Latin text), English olive morocco by Charles Lewis, the Botfield copy
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Horatius Flaccus, Horatius, Venice, Aldo, 1501, Bolognese brown goatskin (between 1501 and 1503), arms of Mino Rossi and illuminated initials throughout
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Lucretius, De rerum natura, Venice, Aldo, 1500, English early eighteenth-century red morocco, the Fletcher copy
One of a Kind Collectibles Auctions Rare Autograph and Book Auction October 17th, 2024
One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Abraham Lincoln Signed Letter on Executive Mansion Stationary To Secretary of The Navy re: Appointment for Naval Academy!
One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Extremely Rare Ben Franklin Printed: Considerations on Keeping Negroes...Part Second. 1762.
One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: An impressively extra-illustrated copy; Including an Original leaf from Shakespeare’s 1623 First Folio!
One of a Kind Collectibles Auctions Rare Autograph and Book Auction October 17th, 2024
One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Rarest Naval Autograph James Lawrence “Don’t give up the ship On " U.S. Ship Hornet June 19th 1812.
One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Oversize Ernest Hemingway Signed Photo with long Inscription about Drinking Wine to his dear friend and Secretary Roberto Herrera.
One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: VOLTAIRE Signed Receipt about a partial payment of debt for the Duke of Wuerttemberg.
One of a Kind Collectibles Auctions Rare Autograph and Book Auction October 17th, 2024
One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: [Maps] Gio. Ant. Magnini, Italia, 1620.
One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: LAWMAN SALOON JUDGE ROY BEAN Signed Legal Document 1895-RARE!
One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Autograph Album with James Garfield as President, Chester A. Aurthur as VP, William T. Sherman, Burnside, P.T. Barnum and many more!
One of a Kind Collectibles Auctions Rare Autograph and Book Auction October 17th, 2024
One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Thomas Jefferson and James Madison Signed Four Language Ship's Paper.
One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Hector Berlioz Autograph Musical Quotation Signed.
One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17: Important Memorandum the Day after Gettysburg July 5th, 1863 where Lincoln asks all Department Heads of the cabinet to meet him at the Executive Mansion.
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RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. London, 1954-1955.FIRST EDITIONS, FIRST IMPRESSIONS, ALL IN THE EXTREMELY RARE FIRST STATE DUST JACKETS.
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: Francesco Fontana. Novae coelestium terrestriumque rerum observationes... Naples: Gaffari, 1646. FIRST EDITION. Contains the first observations of spots on the surface of Mars.
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London: Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776. FIRST EDITION of “the first and greatest classic of modern economic thought” (PMM).
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: Benjamin Franklin. Mémoires de la Vie Privée de Benjamin Franklin, écrits par lui-méme… Paris: Chez Buisson, 1791. FIRST EDITION OF FRANKLIN'S MEMOIRS IN THE PUBLISHER'S ORIGINAL WRAPPERS.
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: Samuel Johnson, Jr. A School Dictionary… New Haven, [Connecticut]: Edward O'Brien, [1798]. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST DICTIONARY IN ENGLISH BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR, AN EXCEPTIONAL RARITY.
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: Joseph Smith, Jr. The Book of Mormon. Palmyra: Printed by E. B. Grandin, for the Author, 1830. FIRST EDITION.
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: Miguel de Cervántes Saavedra. El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid: Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. THE BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED IBARRA EDITION.
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: James Joyce. Ulysses. London: John Lane The Bodley Head, [1936]. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, SIGNED BY JOYCE. Designated a “Presentation Copy” in ink beneath Joyce’s signature.
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: [Photoplay]. Delos W. Lovelace. King Kong. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, [1932]. FIRST EDITION of "a most sought after title" (Davis).
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon & Schuster, [1993]. 40th Anniversary Edition. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR TO HUGH HEFNER.
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: Neil Gaiman. Original manuscript for the "Neverwhere" BBC television miniseries. [London: Crucial Films, LTD., 1995-1996]. TYPESCRIPT "NEVERWHERE" WITH NEIL GAIMAN'S NOTES AND AMENDATIONS THROUGHOUT.
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: [DICTIONARY]. Noah Webster. An American Dictionary of the English Language... New York, 1828. FIRST EDITION OF WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY, UNCUT IN THE PUBLISHER'S ORIGINAL BOARDS
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: Stephen King. Full Dark, No Stars. Baltimore: Cemetery Dance Publications, 2010. WITH AN ORIGINAL TWO-PAGE COLOR ILLUSTRATION BY GLENN CHADBOURNE
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: George Orwell. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Secker & Warburg, 1949. FIRST EDITION, IN THE ORIGINAL DUST JACKET.
Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11: H. G. Wells. The Time Machine: An Invention. London: William Heinemann, 1895 [but 1897]. With a SIGNED PHOTOGRAPHIC POSTCARD laid in.
![<b>One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17:</b> [Maps] Gio. Ant. Magnini, Italia, 1620.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/c92d6947-7efa-449d-82ff-548bbf1cd1ce.jpeg "<b>One of a Kind Collectibles, Oct. 17:</b> [Maps] Gio. Ant. Magnini, Italia, 1620.")
![<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> Samuel Johnson, Jr. <i>A School Dictionary…</i> New Haven, [Connecticut]: Edward O'Brien, [1798]. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST DICTIONARY IN ENGLISH BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR, AN EXCEPTIONAL RARITY.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/144d303d-fb7b-4c8f-90f8-93d2ee5b5473.jpg "<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> Samuel Johnson, Jr. <i>A School Dictionary…</i> New Haven, [Connecticut]: Edward O'Brien, [1798]. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST DICTIONARY IN ENGLISH BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR, AN EXCEPTIONAL RARITY.")
![<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> James Joyce. <i>Ulysses.</i> London: John Lane The Bodley Head, [1936]. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, SIGNED BY JOYCE. Designated a “Presentation Copy” in ink beneath Joyce’s signature.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/b96c89fb-e0c1-4ce9-99c1-c97b003d38bd.jpg "<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> James Joyce. <i>Ulysses.</i> London: John Lane The Bodley Head, [1936]. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, SIGNED BY JOYCE. Designated a “Presentation Copy” in ink beneath Joyce’s signature.")
![<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> [Photoplay]. Delos W. Lovelace. <i>King Kong.</i> New York: Grosset & Dunlap, [1932]. FIRST EDITION of "a most sought after title" (Davis).](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/030395f1-e26d-4ae6-b120-43d881c17632.jpg "<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> [Photoplay]. Delos W. Lovelace. <i>King Kong.</i> New York: Grosset & Dunlap, [1932]. FIRST EDITION of \"a most sought after title\" (Davis).")
![<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> Ray Bradbury. <i>Fahrenheit 451.</i> New York: Simon & Schuster, [1993]. 40th Anniversary Edition. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR TO HUGH HEFNER.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/593de668-7304-4f7b-af33-0f408183249a.jpg "<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> Ray Bradbury. <i>Fahrenheit 451.</i> New York: Simon & Schuster, [1993]. 40th Anniversary Edition. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR TO HUGH HEFNER.")
![<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> Neil Gaiman. Original manuscript for the "Neverwhere" BBC television miniseries. [London: Crucial Films, LTD., 1995-1996]. TYPESCRIPT "NEVERWHERE" WITH NEIL GAIMAN'S NOTES AND AMENDATIONS THROUGHOUT.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/2f398c6b-072b-406e-ad66-55fff389034a.jpg "<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> Neil Gaiman. Original manuscript for the \"Neverwhere\" BBC television miniseries. [London: Crucial Films, LTD., 1995-1996]. TYPESCRIPT \"NEVERWHERE\" WITH NEIL GAIMAN'S NOTES AND AMENDATIONS THROUGHOUT.")
![<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> [DICTIONARY]. Noah Webster. <i>An American Dictionary of the English Language...</i> New York, 1828. FIRST EDITION OF WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY, UNCUT IN THE PUBLISHER'S ORIGINAL BOARDS](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/e3af12c5-4ae8-4f41-9567-382fc93f5eee.jpg "<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> [DICTIONARY]. Noah Webster. <i>An American Dictionary of the English Language...</i> New York, 1828. FIRST EDITION OF WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY, UNCUT IN THE PUBLISHER'S ORIGINAL BOARDS")
![<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> H. G. Wells. <i>The Time Machine: An Invention.</i> London: William Heinemann, 1895 [but 1897]. With a SIGNED PHOTOGRAPHIC POSTCARD laid in.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/1772ac84-200c-4c75-b633-5f918dbe2d54.jpg "<b>Heritage Auctions, Oct. 10:-11:</b> H. G. Wells. <i>The Time Machine: An Invention.</i> London: William Heinemann, 1895 [but 1897]. With a SIGNED PHOTOGRAPHIC POSTCARD laid in.")