Using the Americana Exchange Resources to Their Fullest Potential
AE Database Preliminary Search Screen
So what’s the catch, you are probably asking yourselves at this point in the article. Indeed, there is a catch, but not an insurmountable one, and it is this: in order to attain optimal value from our site, you need to first understand the research resources that each AE module offers and how to use them. That is where this article comes in. This article is intended to quantify that which is abstract by creating for the sake of illustration a series of real life scenarios which will demonstrate the purpose and potential of Americana Exchanges key research features.
Now Im going to do something dreadful: Im going to ask you to engage in a creative exercise. For a few minutes try and suspend your dislike for hypotheticals as well as your disbelief and imagine this situation: your distant Great Aunt Harriet has passed away, having lived a long and productive life. Strangely, you discover that although you barely knew Great Aunt Harriet she has left her entire 100 piece collection of books by Theodore Roosevelt to you. (You didn’t know that she had this driving interest in Teddy Roosevelt either, but that is another story.) This inheritance leaves you with a dilemma (other than that of figuring out why Great Aunt Harriet left you the books in the first place): you need to decide whether you are going to keep the books, grow the collection, give it away, or sell it for a profit. Your decision of course depends to a great extent on the issues that we touched on earlier in this piece: you need to know how important and rare these books are as Americana items. So, naturally, you turn to the Americana Exchange for some help with these questions.
You can begin your investigation by entering AE’s Auction Module. As a free AE member you can check the regularly updated calendar of upcoming auctions and click the auction house link directly into the auction house and browse a particular sale or sales. Read through the detailed list of upcoming auction lots within the upcoming sales to see if any of the auctions feature works by Theodore Roosevelt. If you do find lots that include works by Roosevelt, you can begin to get a feel for estimated prices and relative rarity of specific Theodore Roosevelt works.
If you are a paid AE member, you can take the Auction Module several steps further: when filling out your Member Registration Questionnaire, you can indicate that you are interested in being alerted about any auction involving Presidential material produced during Theodore Roosevelt’s era (you do this when you are filling out your list of preferences in the Americana field, which offers a choice of nearly 100 main and subcategories from which you select your collecting preferences.) AE will regularly categorize Americana lots in upcoming auctions according to this same list of nearly 100 subjects and will automatically send an email alert to all subscribers when a lot appears in any upcoming sale in your indicated subject area(s) of interest. In other words, when your chosen categories match those in any upcoming sale we will email you with a list of matching lots, a link to the auction site and a bridge back to the AE to check the referenced items against entries in our database. This service is both a spectacular time as well as a money saver.
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…
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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.
![<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.")
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
