Rare Book Monthly

Articles - December - 2007 Issue

The AE Bookseller's Comet: Holidays Ideas on Paper

They arrive occasionally and make a big impression.

They arrive occasionally and make a big impression.


By Bruce McKinney

The magic of the printed word is on display this holiday season in the personal selections of a group of our Books for Sale listing members. These are their ideas of what is interesting, compelling and particularly worthwhile. They own between themselves hundreds of thousands of volumes. In this presentation they suggest one hundred.

We present this material in a form we expect to continue to use so we are giving it a name. We call it The AE Bookseller's Comet because it will appear from time to time. It will provide a focus and catalyst for combining selections of the printed word and image with events, subjects, types of publication, price range and certainly other parameters yet unnamed or considered. Listing members may freely participate subject only to the constraints of subject and whatever rules develop.

In this, the first effort, there is material of virtually every type but the common denominator is personal appreciation. Every person involved with books has volumes they value above all others, not necessarily because they command high prices. It can be a signed copy, a precious copy, a rare copy or simply any copy of a book that has made a difference. After all, all books and all copies of them are not the same. If you don't believe it consider the range of material that emerges here from a request to listing members for their thoughts and ideas. Even a comet does not range as far.

Click On AE Bookseller's Comet to take a step into a world of interesting possibilities!

Best wishes for the holidays!

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.

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