When bidding or buying why guess what is fair market value?
Book valuation is never a certain number when you look on a listing site because what determines market value is when a willing buyer makes an offer and the seller agrees. Book listing sites offer millions of printed items and certainly try to convey that the price is the price, take it or leave it. But in time the vast majority of browsers find that what they first wanted and thought was too expensive, they later find the market slowly affirms their opinion, when the item remains unsold. It’s inefficient but listing sites believe buyers will pay up.
When printed paper comes up on auction sites it’s a different proposition. The date of the sale is firm but the price will be market determined. The outcome, for book buyers who are patient, can return to listing sites periodically for an update of status, knowing most material will still be posted for months if not years. But for auctions, 80% of all lots offered will soon be sold on the day of the sale. When it’s something you missed it’s frustrating. To avoid that risk requires a collector or collecting institution monitor the daily flow of upcoming auction lots in the collectible paper field.
Collectible paper is a part of many auctions but to look for that type of material requires looking to and through sales that are only tangentially relevant. We alone, on Rare Book Hub, make it possible to know what’s upcoming at auction in collectible paper worldwide because we work with most auction houses and review their upcoming events and then post their related lots. This means our upcoming auction lot search is very pure. On a typical day 2,000 fresh paper lots are posted, ensuring you’ll have a chance, if you take a moment to run your search terms. It’s free and efficient.
Better yet, for the sake of efficiency, Rare Book Hub, years ago also developed a daily report matching member preferences and we release those reports overnight to those members who have created a matrix of search terms reflecting their interests. That service is called Matchmaker.
Because auctions are typically posted 7 to 14 days ahead of sale, this means 15,000 to 30,000 items will at any given time be searched in the upcoming category. For those who are more methodical, they can create a set of search terms matching their interests in Matchmaker. After which we issue reports when one or more of your terms appears in upcoming lots. This saves both time and the occasional sense of disaster when you realize you missed something that’s in your wheelhouse.
As well, if serious, by subscribing to our paid services, you will gain access to over 11 million records from past auctions and other sources. This will enable you to estimate current value and the probability to appear again at auction – expressed in months and years. And it’s useful to know. The probability of reappearance often drives prices higher. You can learn more about it by clicking the “Rare Book Transaction History” tab at the top of the page.
Use the upcoming auction search. It’s free, it saves time, and it’s sequenced by sale date so you know immediately, if something is appealing comes up at the top of the list, it’s coming up soon. When you conclude your time is valuable, use Matchmaker in conjunction with Transactions+.
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Galileo Galilei. Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo tolemaico, e copernicano. Firenze, 1632
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Saverio Manetti. Storia naturale degli uccelli. Firenze, 1771-76
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Fortunato Depero. Depero futurista. Rovereto, 1927
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Nicolas Visscher. Atlas minor sive totius orbis terrarum contracta delineat ex conatibus. Amsterdam, circa 1649-95
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Andreas Vesalius. Anatomia. Addita nunc. Antiquorum Anatome. Venezia, 1604
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Tristan Tzara and Salvador Dalì. Grains et Issues. Parigi, 1935
June 25, 2026
Doyle, June 25: Houdini's biography, boldly signed. $3,000 to $5,000.
Doyle, June 25: A volume from Abraham Lincoln's library, signed just before heading to Washington for his inauguration. $20,000 to $30,000.
Doyle, June 25: A very early Confederate recruiting manual belonging to the chief commissary in Lee's Army. $600 to $800.
Doyle, June 25: Rare hand-colored lithographs of the life of Napoleon. $20,000 to $30,000.
Doyle, June 25: The "Holster Atlas" of the American Revolution. $5,000 to $8,000.
Doyle, June 25: Jewish ceremonies in fine hand-colored engravings. $7,000 to $10,000.
Doyle, June 25: A very rare work on Turkish military costume. $1,000 to $1,500.
June 25, 2026
Doyle, June 25: The most important illustrated work on the Mexican-American War. $10,000 to $15,000.
Doyle, June 25: The finest illustrated book on Afghanistan. $10,000 to $15,000.
Doyle, June 25: Henry Justice Ford St. George rescues the Princess from the horrible Dragon. $2,000 to $3,000.
Doyle, June 25: A rare work of Prussian Army uniforms under Frederick William II, with exquisite hand-colored engravings. $800 to $1,200.
Doyle, June 25: Lenny Bruce typed letter signed to a Village bohemian during his obscenity trials, with a manuscript note and drawing. $300 to $500.
Doyle, June 25: Schiff's scarce Shanghai Sketchbook. $300 to $500.
Doyle, June 25: The first accurate published representation of the American flag. $2,000 to $4,000.
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 123. Celebrate 250 Years of Independence with Original Stars and Stripes (1790) Est. $1,400 - $1,700
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 20. Keulen's Spectacular Chart of the World Featuring California as an Island (1728) Est. $12,000 - $15,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 42. Schedel's Ancient World Map with Fantastic Humanoid Creatures (1493) Est. $14,000 - $17,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 591. Matching Set of 3 Stunning Globe Gores of Eastern Asia from Coronelli's 3.5 Foot Globe (1688) Est. $5,500 - $7,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 9. Speed's Popular World Map with Allegorical Representations of the Elements (1651) Est. $14,000 - $17,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 168. First Separate Map of Kansas & Nebraska Territories (1854) Est. $5,500 - $7,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 43. Only Macrobius Map with Britain Attached to Europe (1515) Est. $800 - $950
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 250. Rare Map of Boston and One of the Earliest Maps of the Revolutionary War (1775) Est. $2,000 - $2,300
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 79. Schenk's Uncommon Map Featuring Two Figurative Title Cartouches (1696) Est. $1,200 - $1,500
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 681. Hand-Colored Image of the Annunciation to the Shepherds (1502) Est. $800 - $950
Sotheby's Book Week 2 June - 9 July
Sotheby’s, June 25: Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations, on its 250th anniversary. $180,000 to $250,000.
Sotheby’s, June 17: Fontana, Lucio. Concetto Spaziale. 1967. Leporello en papier doré. Bel exemplaire signé. €4,000 to $€,000.
Sotheby’s, June 25: Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”. $150,000 to $200,000.
Sotheby’s, June 25: Washington, George (as First President). Washington decries “an ostentatious imitation, or mimickry of Royalty” in his Presidency. $250,000 to $500,000.
Sotheby’s, June 17: Lope de Vega. Rare manuscrit autographe signé de la préface dédicatoire de "El Cardenal de Belen" (le cardinal de Bethléem), pièce composée en 1610. €40,000 to €60,000.
