In Southern California, over the weekend of September 9th and 10th, The Santa Monica Book, Print,
Photo & Paper Fair sought to welcome, under a single banner, collectors of various persuasions.
Books of all types, ephemera, images and manuscripts were on display. The following weekend, the
Thirteenth Annual Antiquarian Book Fair was staged in Sacramento. This month the 2006 Seattle
Antiquarian Book Fair & Book Arts Show will be held on the 1962 Seattle World's Fair grounds on the
14th and 15th. The fall west coast show season is underway. Shows are an integral and important
aspect of the book business and their performance mirrors the changes and upheaval in the world of
collectibles.
In Santa Monica the show, with 82 participants, was promoted by Bustamante Enterprises who have
successfully staged collector events for years and as recently as June staged a successful Antiques
fair at Pasadena. This effort however fell short of many participating dealers' expectations for
sales and traffic. Reasons are difficult to gauge. The venue was good and the parking plentiful.
Even to out-of-towners the site was easy to find.
Many dealers, even if disappointed, have a sanguine view as shows are hardly the only sales channel
that has been increasingly difficult in recent years. Every aspect of the business, from finding
attractive material to connecting with motivated buyers, has become more challenging. Ken
Karmiole, an experienced generalist who exhibited successfully, explained it this way. "At shows I
hope to meet new customers but I expect to make most of my sales to other dealers whose clients
will want my material." John Howell, a new comer, had a tougher time and explained it this way.
"I've worked for other dealers and worked their booths in past years. This year I'm on my own.
Saturday was quiet so on Sunday I adjusted my prices and closed enough deals with dealers to pay
the tuition on my ongoing dealer education."
In Sacramento the following Saturday Bill Ewald staged The Thirteenth Annual Sacramento Antiquarian
Book Fair as a one day event September 16th. This show had a much more upbeat feel. Fifty
dealers, selling material of every description, found happiness while making show visitors
genuinely pleased. The show had a more blue collar feel than Santa Monica but the material and
prices offered was a good fit with the receptive audience. Four hundred and ninety-four admissions
were recorded.
At this fair AE conducted an exit survey of 30 random buyers who agreed to spend a few minutes
talking about this show, their motivation for attending, and their approach to collecting. What we
learned is worth discussing.
If dealers are frustrated in their efforts to find buyers they are not alone. Collectors feel
exactly the same way. More than half those surveyed said they attended prior incarnations of this
fair and indicated they were prompted about this year's fair by the promoter's postcard mailing.
About 25% said they learned of the fair in the Sacramento Bee, the local daily newspaper. A few
said they saw an advertisement that day and came over for a look.
Koller, Mar. 26: Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
Koller, Mar. 26: Merian, Maria Sibylla. Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung, und sonderbare Blumennahrung. Nürnberg, 1679; Frankfurt a. M. und Leipzig, 1683. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
Koller, Mar. 26: GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON. Faust. Ein Fragment. Von Goethe. Ächte Ausgabe. Leipzig, G. J. Göschen, 1790. CHF 7,000 to 10,000
Koller, Mar. 26: Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
Koller, Mar. 26: BIBLIA GERMANICA - Neunte deutsche Bibel. Nürnberg, A. Koberger, 17. Feb. 1483. CHF 40,000 to 60,000
Koller, Mar. 26: HORAE B.M.V. - Stundenbuch. Lateinische Handschrift auf Pergament, Kalendarium französisch. Nordfrankreich (Rouen?). CHF 25,000 to 40,000
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
Swann Printed & Manuscript African Americana March 20, 2025
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 7: Thomas Fisher, The Negro's Memorial or Abolitionist's Catechism, London, 1825. $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 78: Victor H. Green, The Negro Travelers' Green Book, New York, 1958. $20,000 to $30,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 99: Rosa Parks, Hand-written recollection of her first meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., autograph manuscript, Detroit, c. 1990s. $30,000 to $40,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 154: Frederick Douglass, Autograph statement on voting rights, signed manuscript, 1866. $20,000 to $30,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 164: W.E.B. Du Bois, What the Negro Has Done for the United States and Texas, Washington, circa 1936. $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann Printed & Manuscript African Americana March 20, 2025
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 263: Susan Paul, Memoir of James Jackson, Boston, 1835. $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 267: Langston Hughes, Gypsy Ballads, signed translation of García Lorca's poetry, Madrid, 1937. $1,500 to $2,500.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 274: Malcolm X, Collection from Alex Haley's estate, 38 items, 1963-1971. $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 367: Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, Auburn, NY, 1853. $2,500 to $3,500.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 402: Anna Julia Cooper, A Voice from the South, Xenia, OH, 1892. $2,000 to $3,000.
![<b>Koller, Mar. 26:</b> Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/2214ca86-0dc9-47be-8bc5-99d9f1c2aa1f.jpg "<b>Koller, Mar. 26:</b> Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000")
![<b>Koller, Mar. 26:</b> Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/b8b6a630-a01a-4220-ae77-38540d6c898d.jpg "<b>Koller, Mar. 26:</b> Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.")
