• Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    A Superb Extra-illustrated Copy of Nicolay and Hay’s Work About Lincoln. $50,000 – 70,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    The First Volume of De Bry's Great Voyages, Thomas Hariot's Description of Virginia. $50,000 – 70,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    An autographed cabinet card of Custer as lieutenant colonel. From his last sitting. $800 – 1,200.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    The Congressional Committee, Lincoln's Funeral Springfield Illinois, 3 May 1865. $4,000 – 6,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    A remarkable ninth plate daguerreotype of an interracial couple. $30,000 – 50,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    What may be the earliest known images of an identified plantation and enslaved African Americans posed with their owner. $20,000 – 30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    Through Tickets to All Principal Points West Via Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad For Sale at This Office. $500 – 700.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    15th New York Infantry / Regiment of Engineers GAR regimental colors. Ca 1880. $1,500 – 2,500.
  • Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1556. Senghor, Les Élégies Majeures. Geneve 1978.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1572. Lew Tolstoy. Anna Karenina. First Edition, Moscow, 1878.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 49. Petrarca. Das Gluecksbuch, Augsburg, 1536.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1060. Immanuel Kant, Critik der reinen Vernunft. First Edition, Riga, 1781.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 585. Bonaparte, Iconografia della fauna Italica. Rome, 1832f.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 548. Robert Fludd. Utriusque cosmi maioris, Frankfurt, 1617f.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1496. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 571. Christian von Wolff. Works, Halle 1741f.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 969. Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Dekorationen innerer Raeume. Berlin 1874.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1457. Goethe. Das Tagebuch. Print on Vellum. Berlin, Officina Serpentis. 1934.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1316. Tolouse-Lautrec. Dessinateur. Duhayon binding, 1948.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 30. Michael de Hungaria. Sermones praedicabiles, Strasbourg, 1494.
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    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
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  • Sotheby’s
    Bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé : le dernier chapiter
    28 October 2024
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: Gide, André. Les Cahiers d'André Walter, 1891
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: Flaubert, Gustave. Salammbô. Paris, Michel Lévy frères, 1863. Édition originale
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: Scève, Maurice. Microcosme. Lyon, Jean de Tournes, 1562. Maroquin vert de Lortic fils. Rarissime édition originale.
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, 1855. Édition originale, imprimée par Whitman lui-même et reliée sur ses instructions. Avec un exemplaire de "Calamus", Boston, 1897
    Sotheby’s
    Bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé : le dernier chapiter
    28 October 2024
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: García Lorca, Federico. Poema del cante jondo. Madrid, 1931. Édition originale. Exemplaire offert par Lorca au journaliste basque Pedro Mourlane Michelena
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: Ronsard, Pierre de. Les Amours. 1553. [Suivi de:] Continuation des amours. 1557. In-8. Vélin. Troisième édition des Amours et deuxième édition de la Continuation
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: Vivaldi, Antonio. L’Estro Armonico... Amsterdam [1712]. Édition originale. Rares partitions de 12 concertos, gravées sur cuivre

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - July - 2024 Issue

Should Books Be Placed on a Gluten-Free Diet?

Illustration form the Journal of Proteome Research.

Illustration form the Journal of Proteome Research.

As with people, there are a number of afflictions that wear down our books as they age. Torn and yellowing pages, loose bindings, worn covers, are among them. Then, there are bookworms. Not the people who read them, though they certainly can damage books, but here we're talking about literal ones. These are the critters that eat holes through the pages, leaving them holier than the Bible. But, why do they pick books? Aren't there more desirable forms of vegetation to gorge on?

 

Fortunately, science can answer anything if we give it enough time, and it has now given us an answer to this question. It's all in the glue. A recent study by Rocio Prisby and others, published in the April 4, 2024 issue of the Journal of Proteome Research (citation: J. Proteome Res. 2024, 23, 5, 1649–1665) determined the type of paste used to hold the bindings of old books together. It found that flour-based pastes were used.

 

There are two varieties of wheat-derived pastes used to hold books together. One is flour paste, the other starch paste. The former is made from wheat flour as is, the latter removes most of the glutens, resulting in starch. When the researchers conducted chemical examinations of old books, they found the presence of flour-based paste used to bind them.

 

They determined wheat flour paste possessed 1,942 proteins across 749 groups. Starch paste had only 218 proteins across 58 groups. In other words, starch paste greatly reduced the glutens present. When you think of gluten-free foods, the chances are you don't like the taste as much. The bookworms evidently feel the same. They look for books that taste better.

 

Of course, people with Celiac Disease eat gluten-free foods anyway. They have reactions to gluten that cause intestinal distress, requiring they avoid these foods. In a way, the same can be said for books. Their health is also compromised by the presence of gluten, though in a very different way. It attracts pests.

 

That is not to say gluten lacks any positives when it comes to holding bindings together. It does have adhesive properties. Unfortunately, as with sufferers from Celiac Disease, the negatives outweigh the positives. Loose bindings can be repaired like new, but damage to a book's pages and covers is permanent. You can patch a hole, but it is not quite the same, not original condition. While nothing can be done at this late date to undo such damages to old books, it is a useful lesson for those who rebind old books. Stay away from tasty glue. Bland is better.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: CATESBY, MARK. 1683-1749. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. $100,000 - $150,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. 1785-1851. The Birds of America, from Drawings Made in the United States and their Territories. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: ADAMS ON HIS PEAR TREES AND A LOST PORTRAIT BY SALEM ARTIST HANNAH CROWNINSHIELD. ADAMS, JOHN. 1735-1826. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: EARLIEST MAP DEVOTED TO NORTH AMERICA. FORLANI, PAULO. fl.1560-1571. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: HAMILTON DEFENDS THE CONSTITUTION. HAMILTON, ALEXANDER. 1757-1804. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION BROADSIDE. Boston, September 14, 1768. $5,000 - $8,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: ONE OF THE EARLIEST ILLUSTRATIONS OF A SURGICAL PROCEDURE. BARTHOLOMAEUS ANGLICUS. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: RICHARD FEYNMAN'S ANNOTATED COPY, WITH TWO EARLY FEYNMAN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPTS. $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN COMPUTING. TURING, ALAN MATHISON. 1912-1954. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: FINE OIL PORTRAIT OF ALBERT EINSTEIN BY EUGEN SPIRO. $40,000 - $60,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: PENICILLIN MOLD MEDALLION INSCRIBED BY ALEXANDER FLEMING. FLEMING, ALEXANDER. 1881-1955. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: APPLE "TWIGGY" MACINTOSH PROTOTYPE USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMONSTRATION SOFTWARE. $80,000 - $120,000
  • Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 31: William Shakespeare, Second Folio, 1632. $120,000 to $180,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 175: Agostino Nifo’s De Regnandi Peritia ad Carolum VI, 1523. $25,000 to $35,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 263: Johannes Hevelius, Selenographia: Sive, 1647. $15,000 to $20,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 32: William Shakespeare, Poems, 1640. $15,000 to $20,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 230: Ernest Hemingway, in our time, Limited First Edition; One of 170 Copies Printed, Paris: Three Mountains Press, 1924. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 43: Amadis de Gaule Story Cycle, Various Authors, El Octavo Libro and El Noveno Libro, 1526 and 1542. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 25: John Milton, Poems of Mr. John Milton, 1645. $7,000 to $9,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 259: William Griffith Wilson, Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More than One Hundred Men Have Recovered, 1939. $15,000 to $20,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 242: Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 69: Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote in Spanish, Ibarra's Academy Edition, 1780. $6,000 to $8,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 9: Elizabeth I, Queen of England, The Historie of Guicciardin, 1599. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lor 103: Francisco Lopez de Ubeda, Libro de Entrentenimiento de la Picara Justina, 1605. $6,000 to $8,000.

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