• Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - March - 2022 Issue

Adam Weinberger Creates Interesting Rare Book Content for Multiple Internet Platforms

Adam Weinberger- Rare Book Buyer makes use of many Internet platforms and fields several hundred email inquiries a day. One of his Instagram posts received 2.5 million hits.

My personal interest is more in discovering and buying than selling,” said Adam Weinberger, who does business under two names. On the Internet he is widely known as Adam Weinberger - Rare Book Buyer. Using that name he posts interesting and informative educational material about rare books on many platforms. His bricks and mortar persona is Adam Weinberger Rare Books (ABAA) based in New York City where he keeps an inventory of about 3,000 items focused on antiquarian items, ”all of it hundreds of years old.”



At 46 years he has been a part time bookseller since the age of 16 and a full time dealer since 2001. His command of the media is impressive. 



Over the years he has made multiple appearances on Pawn Stars, a reality TV series filmed in Las Vegas and considers himself a friend of the show. “I’ve known them since the beginning,” he said. He sees his guest shots as “not so much a way to promote my business as a way to make the field of rare books seem less remote. I think of myself as a person devoted to the popularization of the rare book trade. It’s amazing,” he continued, “how many people in the mainstream are interested, but lack exposure. They think of rare books as high brow, snooty, or ivory tower.”



His internet incarnation has produced 68 YouTube videos on his channel titled Adam Weinberger - Rare Book Buyer https://www.youtube.com/c/AdamWeinbergerRareBookBuyer?app=desktop

These generally are under 15 minutes. Each one concentrates on a specific aspect of the world of rare books and they are also more educational than promotional.

For example, his YouTube video on valuation, though not viral, has been very popular. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m-jU1KVq6c&t=794s



But it’s his use of Instagram (and the marketing potential he sees in this platform) that sets him apart from many others who use social media to promote their business. https://www.instagram.com/rarebookbuyer/?hl=en  and https://www.instagram.com/adamweinbergerbooks/



A few years ago he experimented with a trial Instagram book catalog, but, he commented, “that was not particularly successful.” Since then, he added, "Instagram has evolved to make direct purchases much easier.”



Even though the catalog didn’t sell a lot of books, it did make him think that the short visual clips characteristic of Instagram had more potential than most people realized. He mentioned a video snippet he posted on Instagram featuring a book about poison published in 1666 with green arsenic laced endpapers got 2.5 million hits. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CTqWfropKTR/?utm_medium=share_sheet  



Though there was no shortage of prospective buyers, Weinberger decided to keep that one.



Instagram’s hashtag keywords makes it easy for people who share common interests to find each other,” he said. This generates “a great sense of individual communities. I am able to engage with a lot of special collections and librarians. It also provides opportunities to buy and sell. On the educational side I can show interesting items, and focus in on detail.“



In the same vein Weinberger has two sites on Facebook - one as Rare Book Buyer and the other as Adam Weinberger Rare Books. He also shows up on Google and Etsy. However, he recently dropped out of eBay after more than 20 years on that platform. Looking forward he’s considering the possibilities of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), especially as they relate to rare books and exhibits.



By the sheer volume of his online presence you might assume that this is a fairly large operation, but Weinberger insists he is generating this wide array of content as “a one man circus. I’m not a professional, but I do it on a regular basis and find it easy to do.” 



For the videos I talk freely and there’s not a lot of editing … Most people today own a smartphone and that makes social media relatively easy - there is a low barrier to entry.” He finds Instagram “fast and easy.” Facebook has a different demographic and is “a more complicated unwieldy site”, while instagram is simpler. “Engagement is much higher on Instagram.“



All that media exposure means his inbox is flooded with hundreds of emails each day. “I have a canned response for some and some I will redirect, explaining it’s not for me, but I do try to answer everything. Yes, I know, I have to hire somebody, it's just the pandemic threw a wrench in my plans.”



Whether real or virtual, he finds, “there is a growing appreciation of older antiquarian material. When I put up a video lots of young people are really fascinated; even across the centuries it still has an appeal, be it old Latin manuscripts or publications by Elzevir. Exposure to this type of material is exciting, especially in situations like a show where it can be handled. Not everyone lives around the corner from the Morgan Library.” 



He stresses the importance of “fresh” in his comments, pointing out, “If you go into a shop and there are hundreds of books on the shelf, invariably the customer wants to see that box under the desk that isn’t out. People want stuff other people haven't seen, fresh to market. For that reason I pay higher prices for private sale items than the same book at auction.” 



In his videos Weinberger frequently recommends a variety of online reference sources for those researching rare books or trying to arrive at estimates of value. Some of the most frequently mentioned are:



  • The Rare Book Hub is a by-subscription database which allows members to search millions of book auction records to find out prices actually paid for specific books, both recently and historically. https://www.rarebookhub.com/pages/become_member,





  • Vialibri is a database for comparing the prices of books offered for sale. https://www.vialibri.net/  It bills itself as the world's largest search engine for old, rare & second-hand books worldwide.



  • The English Short Title Catalog is also a valuable, but more specialized resource. https://estc.ucr.edu/  This site is described as a vast database designed to include a bibliographic record, with holdings, of every surviving copy of letterpress produced in Great Britain or any of its dependencies, in any language, worldwide, from 1473-1800.



Weinberger makes his full time living as a rare book dealer. While he declined to state how much his business earns, he confirmed it was in the low six figures. In the past he has traveled widely to buy and sell and participate in trade events and fairs, but like many others “during the pandemic, I’ve gone practically nowhere.”



Currently he lives in San Diego with his wife and two young daughters, and commutes cross country to continue to run his business in Manhattan. The move, he said, was pandemic driven. 



The pandemic has been a difficult time for me. Many of my colleagues did very well. During the first year they had extraordinary sales. For me it was just the opposite: libraries and  special collections were closed, or had more important priorities. My business was down more than 50 percent.” As for his own health, “I was mostly OK, but I did get Omicron. Let me just say it’s not pleasant. It lasted five days and is definitely more than a cold.”



Weinberger’s plans for the rest of 2022 include an appearance at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, currently scheduled as a live event from April 21-24th at the Park Avenue Armory (between 66th and 67th St). https://www.nyantiquarianbookfair.com/



Additional link:

A 2019 ABAA biographical video on Adam Weinberger’s career is available on YouTube 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXzCbtXQDKg



Adam Weinberger - Rare Book Buyer 

also listed as Adam Weinberger Rare Books (ABAA)

Manhattan Arts Antique Center, (By appointment, please call ahead)

1050 Second Ave., Gallery 90,  (Between 54th and 55th St.) NY, NY 10022 

(646) 469-1851 cell/text

webuyrarebooks@gmail.com


Posted On: 2022-03-01 03:58
User Name: bukowski

I always figured this guy for a New Yorker. Enjoy his Pawn Star appearances.


Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD

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