Rare Book Monthly

Articles - February - 2025 Issue

Collecting Insights by Spencer W. Stuart

Spencer W. Stuart

Spencer W. Stuart

Here is one of the best ways to learn how to build a collection.  The old norm was to blunder in the dark and overpay for several years.  Spencer Stuart takes the pain out of becoming educated.

 

2 COLLECTING INSIGHTS February Registration Now Open

 

Registration for February programming of COLLECTING INSIGHTS is now open, below you will find session topics as well as testimony from participants.

 

EMERGING [Tuesdays - Feb. 4, 11, 18]

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/collecting-insights-emerging-feb-4-11-18-tickets-1148694960549?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

02/04  - What is collecting?

02/11  - Implementing a strategy

02/18  - Cataloguing & collection care

 

EXPANDING [Wednesdays - Feb. 5, 12, 19]

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/collecting-insights-expanding-feb-5-12-19-tickets-1148713245239?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

02/05  - Defining scope & scale

02/12  - On auctions & trade

02/19  - New collecting focuses

 

LEGACY [Thursdays - Feb. 6, 13, 20]

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/collecting-insights-legacy-feb-6-13-20-tickets-1148722954279?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

02/06  - Planning your collection’s future

02/13  - Where & how to sell

02/20  - Placing your collection in an Institution

 

Testimony from Participants:

 

"Spencer Stuart's Collecting Insights provides the discerning bibliophile a unique window into the dynamics at play in the world of book collecting. How does the shift from brick-and-mortar dealers to online, auction-based markets impact collectors? What is the best way to use such shifts to one's benefit? Those are some of the questions that will be answered through a series of three, one-hour sessions that are packed with insightful content. Highly recommended!"

Mehdi El Hajoui

Private Collector

COLLECTING INSIGHTS: Expanding (Summer '24)

 

 

"Spencer Stuart’s Collecting Insights sessions were an enriching experience that exceeded my expectations. Spencer is an engaging and knowledgeable presenter, and I was equally fortunate to experience the camaraderie of the other attendees – It was a lively community of fellow book enthusiasts and collectors.

 

Collecting Insights was terrific because it scales both broad and deep - it provided a comprehensive overview of collecting, tailored to the advanced stage of the collecting cycle where I find myself, and offered suggestions and resources that are valuable now and will be into the future.

 

Many thanks to Spencer for his expertise and for organizing an impactful series of classes."

 

Taylor Kirkpatrick

Private Collector and Founder of the Kirkpatrick Prize for Book Collecting 

COLLECTING INSIGHTS: Legacy (Spring '24)

 

 

"I found Spencer Stuart's class on the Legacy stage of collecting to be extremely helpful in understanding the different forces that act on a collection's future and how to deal with them. Highly recommended."

Reid Byers

Private Collector and author of The Private Library

COLLECTING INSIGHTS: Legacy (Spring '24)

 

 

“Each session of Collecting Insights has been invaluable for me as an "Expanding collector." Not only have I learned more about various aspects of the rare book trade, such as auctions and changing trends within the industry, but I have also been inspired to do so much more with my collection, like setting up a website. Ideas like these will surely come in handy as my collection grows and I look towards its future. I'm so grateful to have had the chance to learn from Spencer in these sessions.”

Stacy Shirk

Private Collector (recipient of the California Young Collectors Prize)

COLLECTING INSIGHTS: Expanding (Winter '24)

Rare Book Monthly

  • ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections
    Open for Bidding 2-17 April
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.

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