<i>In The News:</i> The Most Expensive American Letter Ever Auctioned, BookFinder, Via Libri & More
- by Michael Stillman
Via Libri adds eight new sites to its search engine.
Via Libri, another multi-site book search engine, announced that it has added eight new sites to the group it searches. According to a news release from the firm, the additional sites searched "now establishes it [Via Libri] as the world's largest internet marketplace for old and rare books." Via Libri states it now reaches the online listings of over 20,000 booksellers with combined inventories of over 150 million books.
The multi-site search engines search the listings of numerous different book-listing sites and combine all of their results. The largest addition comes from five Amazon sites Via Libri now searches: American, Canadian, British, French and German. The other newly searched sites are IOBABooks, Spanish site Uniliber, and British based Biblion.
AbeBooks released its top 10 most expensive books for March, and while there is nothing on the level of a Lincoln letter here, any one of these sales would have made for a most pleasant day for the average bookseller. This month's subjects include math and chemistry, poetry, what was once the future, and a bridge to somewhere.
10. The Ascent of Everest by John Hunt, published in 1953, and signed by 40 climbers. One was Edmund Hillary, better remembered than expedition leader Hunt, because he made it to the top. $5,000.
9. Five Go to Smuggler's Top, a 1945 first edition of number four in author Enid Blyton's Famous Five series. $5,038.
8. Gmelins Handbuch der Anorganischen Chemie, a virtually complete set of 372 volumes of Leopold Gmelin's Handbook of Inorganic Chemistry, published from 1926-1984. No light reading here. $5,284.
7. Anthropos. Revue Internationale d'Ethnographie et de Linguistique. This set contains a mere 60 volumes of the International Journal of Anthropology and Linguistics. $5,458.
6. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell's look at the future from 1949, when this first edition, first printing was published. $6,780.
5. Merely Connect, a 1994 book with a very short print run by author Salmon Rushdie and artist Tom Philips, signed by both. $7,325.
4. An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Suspension Bridge Constructed over the Menai Strait in North Wales... an 1828 elephant folio first edition about a bridge linking the island of Anglesey with Wales, by Thomas Telford. $7,614.
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. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
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: 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…
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
