The number of auctions for the rare book, manuscript, map and ephemera field has long been increasing, and finding and following lots relevant to your focus now needs more time to manage the data flow. It’s long been easy to search upcoming events in our Upcoming Auction Search but anymore, there are so many auctions it’s becoming useful to have your terms running automatically against fresh auctions as they are posted. Otherwise, you may later find in Transactions+ what you’ve been hoping to find, recently slipped by undetected.
All memberships [including free] have access to Matchmaker that will match your search terms against new auctions as they are posted. Use it because it’s useful.
What is different these days is simply the volume of auctions and lots.
Through August in 2020 we covered 315,755 lots, while this year, through August, the running total is running much higher: 391,123.
For 2020, the full year, we covered 521,422 lots. We are projecting this year to cover 645,885. As to what the numbers will look like in 2022, it’s likely the numbers will continue to increase.
To understand how your areas of interest are faring in the upcoming auction market, it takes only a few minutes to set your Matchmaker preferences after which you’ll receive a fresh report daily.
It’s easy, and it’s free.
How to use it?
From the main menu bar running across every RBH page, when signed in, select Matchmaker:
Enter your terms by clicking “Add Keywords.” Regular reports will begin the next day.
If you find your first terms to be overly broad, adjust your search terms by adding modifiers to narrow their focus. It works like this based on a quick search of Upcoming Auctions (your results may differ as auctions conclude and are uploaded to Upcoming Auctions daily):
“Benjamin Franklin” finds 13 lots coming up:
“Washington” finds 303 upcoming lots. When you add “George,” “George Washington” finds 61. If you are looking for manuscript material, simply add “manuscript” to “George Washington” and you find 4 relevant lots.
ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections Open for Bidding 2-17 April
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.
