Rare Book Monthly

Articles - June - 2024 Issue

Collectible paper, née Rare Books, is moving on

Auction Reports are a new choice. Then open the Advance Search. Voila!

Auction Reports are a new choice. Then open the Advance Search. Voila!

Collectible paper’s value has long depended on content and priority which is often subject to interpretation and argument.  When such material is offered at auction [and often but not always sold], by tradition, results have been published. Since the 19th century such results have been announced and occasionally been written about in newspapers, periodicals, and books.  Since 2002 Rare Book Hub, in response to the lack of broad, centralized record keeping of auction appearances and results, we made it our goal to build a complete record. 

 

This past month we added Auction Reports for all 8,700,000 lots in our Transaction History that were offered between 2002 to 2024.  This month we have further reorganized our 25,000 auctions to provide Search within the Search capability. To tap into this information we are providing two options.  On all pages where the Keyword Search appears, to the left is the new option:

 

Rare Book Transaction History

Upcoming Auctions

Auction Reports 

 

These reports are found by searching by house, date and or event name.

 

Once selected, these reports are treated as CURRENT Events as if they were being reported today with analysis of top lots, prices paid, and percentage of lots sold.  As well now, on this report we include a Search within the Search capability for those who wish to better understand how the entire event worked.  Particularly for single owner sales in the past, analogous or related material often appeared in volume.  This is one of the principal differences between current and past sales.

 

This enhancement to Auction Reports is also accessible on all Rare Book Transaction History Search Results via a link on each line of Preliminary Search Results under the Auction Details links.

 

8,700,000 of our results are currently accessible this way [2002-2024].  As to our other 5,300,000 pre-2002 results, we are going to quickly release enabling software house by house, completing this process within 6 weeks.

 

Welcome to the new world!

 

 

As we go to press we are providing 14,001,415 records reflecting offers and sales from 1848 up to last night.

 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Heritage Auctions
    Rare Books Signature Auction
    December 15, 2025
    Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Bram Stoker. Dracula. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., 1897.
    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…
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • 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.

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