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Articles - January - 2023 Issue

Rare Book Hub: New Services and New Pricing

- by Bruce E. McKinney

Clarity in a flash

Clarity in a flash

Rare Book Hub, née Americana Exchange has been a two decade project organized around the idea to building a bridge to the new collector.  In the 1990’s my collecting ambitions were being limited by lack of market information, and the outcome was our commitment to build a worldwide database of auction records.  Knowledge would empower collectors.  It started as a modest project and has turned out larger than we envisioned.  On day 1 on September 3rd, 2002 we launched with 151,400 records that has since become Rare Book Hub’s Transactions+, providing 12,609,268 records as of 12/29/22.  Started as a modest project it has become a long term commitment to provide clarity for collectible paper for libraries, collectors, dealers, auction houses and appraisers.

 

Scale involves costs and we have today increased our subscription and services prices to reflect today’s 12,000,000 searchable records:

 

Annual Pricing

Single User: $525

Two Users: $800

Five Users: $1,250

Institution-wide Access: $3,000

 

As well we have recently added a new service called Batch Valuation that enables members to submit catalogues or collections for matching to Transactions+. Collections of unlimited size can be matched and valued, generally within a day or two, up to a week for very large collections.

 

Annual memberships include free trials to use Batch Valuation, to be used during their current membership year.

 

We are also providing 10 day and 30 day Visitor memberships:

 

10 Days:  $65

 

30 Days $95

 

You can view a brief (two-minute) video about Transactions + at this link: https://vimeo.com/77127415

 

Contact us with questions or for more information at hello@rarebookhub.com, at 877.323.7273 or 415.823.6678. We will arrange Zoom sessions for those interested in a demonstration or a more detailed description.

 

Our best wishes for the New  Year!

 

Bruce Evan McKinney

Managing Partner

Rare Book Hub / AE

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Posted On: 2023-01-02 18:37
User Name: eav

Dear Sir,

I understand that a large database and new services require a new pricing, however, your database is quantity driven, not quality driven. So yes, you have many auction records, but often incomparable. The various auction houses that contribute to your database in their nature often are incomparable. Some follow the eBay format, some mainly sell prints under the titles of the books from which these prints have been taken and others are just online auctions where booksellers try to get rid of their excess - or unsalable stock. If I will have to find out the value of a certain book, then the price achieved for a very poor copy weighs just as heavy as the price realised for a fine copy. I just get the average price realised, which in many cases will not reflect the true value of a book, whether it being perfect or poor.

ABPC, history unfortunately as of last month, was a quality driven database and as such in many cases quite useful.

Also I am not interested in batch valuation. Apart from the question whether it will result in a reasonably accurate valuation, insurance companies often require a valuation by a certified expert.

As a small collector, with your new, steep price increase, I am not sure whether I will renew my subscription once it expires.

Perhaps you should reconsider your new pricing.

Kind regards,
Eric Veldhuizen

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026
    25 March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Andrews (H.C.) Coloured Engravings of Heaths, 4 vol. in 2, first edition, [1710,--94]-1802-1809-[1830]. £10,000 - £15,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- Cramer (Pierre) and Caspar Stoll. De Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie Waereld-Deelen…,, 5 vol., Amsterdam & Utrecht, 1779-91. £8,000 - £12,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Voyages.- Darwin (Charles) and others. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, 3 vol. in 4, including Appendix to vol.2, first edition, 1839. £8,000 - £12,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- de Graaf (Willem Diederik Vincent). [Inlandsche Kapellen in beeld], 170 fine original watercolours, [Enkhuizen], [1800-40]. £8,000 - £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026
    25 March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Dresser (Henry Eeles). A History of the Birds of Europe, 9 vol., including supplement, first edition, by the author, 1871-96. £6,000 - £8,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Zoology.- Felines.- Elliot (Daniel Giraud). A Monograph of the Felidæ or Family of the Cats, first edition, for the Subscribers, by the Author, [1878]-1883. £25,000 - £30,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Frisch (Johann Leonard). Vorstellung der Vögel Deutschlandes, 2 vol., first edition, Berlin, Friedr. Wilhelm Birnsteil, [1736]-1763. £40,000 - £60,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Gould (John). The Birds of Great Britain, 5 vol., first edition, by the author, 1862-1873. £30,000 - £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026
    25 March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 25: Pomology.- France.- Poiteau (A.) Pomologie Française. Recueil des Plus Beaux Fruits cultivés en France, 4 vol., Paris, 1846. £30,000 - £40,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- [Robin (Jean)]. Histoire des Plantes, nouvellement trouvées en l'Isle Virgine…,, 1620; with Geoffrey Linocier L'Histoire des plantes, second edition, 1619-20. £3,000 - £4,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Japan.- Siebold (P.F. von). Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan, 7 parts in 6 vol., first edition, Leyden, [1832]-1852. £35,000 - £45,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Valentijn (Francois). Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën..., 5 vol. in 8, first edition, Dordrecht [&] Amsterdam, 1724-26. £8,000 - £12,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Australia.- Redouté (P.J.).- Ventenat (Étienne Pierre). Jardin de la Malmaison, 2 vol.,, Paris, 1803-04[-05]. £30,000 - £40,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    26th March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 26: Book of Hours.- Heures a lusaige de Romme, printed on vellum, with 14 full-page illuminated miniatures, Paris, N. Higman for J. de Brie, [c.1521]. £20,000-30,000
    Forum, Mar. 26: France.- Book of Hours, perhaps Use of the Abbey of Saint-Gildas de Rhuys, with thirteen miniatures surviving from an original cycle of at least twenty, [c. 1430]. £15,000-20,000
    Forum, Mar. 26: Milton (John). Paradise lost. A Poem in Ten Books, first edition, Pforzheimer's sixth state, S. Simmons, 1669. £8,000-12,000
    Forum, Mar. 26: Blake (William). Illustrations of the Book of Job, one of 215 first issue "Proof" copies, this one of 65 copies on "French" paper, Published by the Author, March 8, 1825 [but March, 1826]. £15,000-20,000
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    26th March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 26: Christie (Agatha). The ABC Murders, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £15,000-20,000
    Forum, Mar. 26: Halley (Edmund). Astronomiae Cometicae Synopsis, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, no. 297, pp.1882-99, March 1705. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, Mar. 26: Haytham (Ibn al) [known as Alhazen]. Opticae Thesaurus...Item Vitellonis Thuringopoloni libri X..., first edition, Basel, August, 1572. £20,000-30,000
    Forum, Mar. 26: Kepler (Johannes). Dioptrice seu demonstratio eorum quae visui & visibilibus propter conspicilla non ita pridem inventa accidunt, first edition, Augsburg, David Frank, 1611. £12,000-18,000
  • Books & Autographs
    Wednesday 25 March
    Koller, Mar. 25: KAFKA, FRANZ, SCHRIFTSTELLER. Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift. Prag, 20. Oktober [19]15. CHF 30,000-40,000.
    Koller, Mar. 25: EINSTEIN, ALBERT. Zwei eigenhändige Briefe an Ernst Gabor Straus, unterschrieben "A.E" bzw. "A. Einstein". [Princeton], [19]45. und [1950]. CHF 30,000-40,000.
    Koller, Mar. 25: HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS, MUTTER VON NAPOLEON III. Album aus ihrem Besitz mit 69 Aquarellen und Pinselzeichnungen in Sepia oder Grau… CHF 14,000-18,000.
    Koller, Mar. 25: ZOOLOGIE - ORNITHOLOGIE - Seligmann, Johann Michael. Verzameling van uitlandsche en zeldzaame Vogelen. Teile 1-8 (von 9) in 2 Bänden. Mit 421 prächtig altkolorierten Kupfertafeln. CHF 14,000-20,000
    Koller, Mar. 25: BOTANIK - Berlèse, Lorenzo und Johann Jakob Jung. Iconographie du genre camellia... 3 Bände. Mit 300 Farbstichtafeln "a la poupée.” Paris, [1839-]1841-1843. CHF 12,000-18,000.

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