I have been in the used/rare book business for twenty years. Below are some of the things I have learned.
If someone is trying to sell you books and it appears they are going to be difficult, it is best to just walk away.
In the history of antiquarian bookselling, we live in the age called, “Don’t Get Greedy.”
All private libraries of any size must have a copy of Iacocca. It’s a rule.
The best title of a nonfiction book: “A Stress Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown” by Robert A. Baker (acknowledgement to Chandler Gordon for this one).
Title most frequently gotten wrong: incorrect title, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Correct title: “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
When buying books, if a bookseller encounters a book that he/she “must have”, the bookseller can rationalize absolutely anything.
Best title of a really good fiction book: The Postman Always Rings Twice by James Cain.
Worst title of a really good fiction book: Mildred Pierce by James Cain.
When a private seller goes to a bookseller with quality antiquarian books to sell, 90% of the time they have decided whether to sell before an offer is made.
When a private individual has a book that you want to buy and they say, “It sells for $200 on ABE,” it is best to reply as follows: “Now you know only one thing for certain. That copy of that book has not sold for $200 on ABE, because it is still being offered.”
Almost all booksellers are really nice people. But not quite all.
Almost all book buyers are really nice people. But not quite all.
Amazon is a marketing company that knows little about books. They have five grades: new, like new, very good, good and acceptable. Most serious collectors want fine or near fine, grades which Amazon does not acknowledge.
The best place to buy rare and collectible books is from estates. Not estate sales.
The maxim that the three most important things are condition, condition, and condition is not entirely true. If you offer me a signed first of Of Mice and Men in good condition in a jacket, I will be interested at some price.
Stan Shelley is the proprietor of Shelley and Son Books of Hendersonville NC. Their website is found at www.shelleyandsonbooks.com.
Sotheby’s, July 14: Henry De La Beche. "Awful Changes," 1830. $6,000 to $9,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 11]. Flight Plan, Complete Original Printing Signed by Buzz Aldrin. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Thomas Alva Edison. Documents Establishing and Ending the Edison Electric Railway Company. $20,000 to $30,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Richard P. Feynman. Feynman's Lectures on Gravitation 1-16, Including the Original Transcriptions of Lectures 12-16 by Morinigo and Wagner, With Richard Feynman's Manuscript Notations, 1971. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 9]. A Group of Manuals and Mission Documents used by Stuart Roosa as a member of the Astronaut Support Crew. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [BYTE: The Small Systems Journal]. A collection of early foundational issues of Byte: The Small Systems Journal, with rare hardcover editions. $5,000 to $8,000.
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000
Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000
Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000
Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000
