Walking Tour Of New York’s Antiquarian Book Sellers-Part One: Midtown Manhattan
Book Store in New York City
A few notes: although we at ÆM usually have Americana as our central focus, for the purposes of this article we have chosen to broaden our horizons and have created a list of book dealers and firms who specialize in many areas including but also other than Americana, ranging from interior design and gardening to science, medicine, economics, Judaica, artists books, autographs, and many other fields or genres. Whenever possible, we have included additional details about the firms in question. Another editorial note: we have created this list by dedicatedly pruning through many guides and directories and by following leads passed on by others in the book world. If you are a used, rare, or antiquarian book dealer and find that your firm is not listed here, please tell us by writing a Letter to the Editor and including details about your firm and other contact information. Our list of Manhattan book dealers is an ongoing project and we would be more than happy to add your firm to our compilation. Finally, please consult the accompanying area map in order to locate the approximate location of any firm on our list. Happy book hunting to all of you this lazy summer.
Dealer Address & Contact Info.
Dealer Specialties and Additional Details
Argosy Book Store, Inc. 116 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022
Summer Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10-6
Telephone: (212) 753-4455
Fax: (212) 593-4784
Email: [email protected]
Website:argosybooks.com
Name of proprietor(s): Judith Lowry (Adina Cohen, Naomi Hample)
Out-of Print, Americana, Rare, Medical, Autographs, First Editions, Map & Prints, Modern First Editions.
Additional Details: Argosy Book Store, Inc. is a huge, 6-story structure and a wonderful place for any bibliophile to start his or her Midtown Manhattan journey.
As readers will see from the specialties listed above, Argosy carries stock in a broad variety of areas, but their Americana selection is particularly choice. According to Peter Jaffe, Director of their American Department (you’ll find him on the 5th Floor), “We have approximately 30,00 books in the American Department – about 20,000 on traditional Americana subjects and others on non-traditional areas. About 15,000 books in our American Department are on subjects like the states of the union, presidents, politics, modern black studies, all the major American wars, and Colonial America. We also carry books on the discovery, early explorers to the New World, the West Indies, and South America. Many of our American Department books are in the $15 to $60 range, though in our rare section prices can go up to about $5,000 for a book. In general, our American Department has a diverse subject base and small prices.”
Dominic Winter Auctioneers Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles 1500-1800 22nd July 2026
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 83 – Westall & Owen. Picturesque Tour of the River Thames, 1st edition, 1828. £2,000-3,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 88 – Blume. Rumphia, Botanicae de plantis Indiae Orientalis, 1835-1848. £2,000-3,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 101 – Michaux. Histoire des arbres forestiers de l'Amérique septentrionale, 1810-1812. £700-1,000.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles 1500-1800 22nd July 2026
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 102 – Miller & Shaw. Cimelia Physica, 1796 [but c. 1816]. £3,000-5,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 104 – Parkinson. Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants, London: Thomas Cotes, 1640. £800-1,200.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 159 – Plancius. Orbis Terrarum..., double hemisphere map, 1594-99. £5,000-8,000.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles 1500-1800 22nd July 2026
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 217 – Illuminated Medieval Manuscript. From a Breviary, 14th/15th c. £3,000-4,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 224 – The newe Testament … By Wylliam Tyndall…, 1549. £3,000-5,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 238 – Douay-Rheims Bible. 3 volumes, 1582/1609/1610. £7,000-10,000.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles 1500-1800 22nd July 2026
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 336 – Ashendene Press. A Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle, 1903. £1,000-1,500.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 393 – Sassoon. Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, signed limited edition, 1931. £800-1,200.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 402 – Dylan Thomas. Twenty-Five Poems, 1st edition in d.j., 1936. £400-600.
Case Auctions 2026 Summer Auction August 1st and 2nd
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Timberlake, Henry: A DRAUGHT OF THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY on the West Side of the Twenty Four Mountains, Commonly Called "Over the Hills". $18,000 to $22,000.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Manuscript orderly book detailing day to day activities of multiple Virginia regiments in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary,1776-1777. $7,000 to $8,000.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Cormac McCarthy, The Orchard Keeper, Random House, New York, 1965. Signed 1st Edition. $3,800 to $4,200.
Case Auctions 2026 Summer Auction August 1st and 2nd
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Battle of Kings Mountain Pamphlet by Isaac Shelby, April 1823, Signed. $1,800 to $2,200.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Large Tintype CSA Lt. Col. Thomas Coke Johnson, 19th GA, w/ Southern Cross, Book. $1,400 to $1,800.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Rare Civil War Ambrotype, 19th GA Infantry with Johnson Family of GA. $800 to $1,200.
Case Auctions 2026 Summer Auction August 1st and 2nd
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: A signed note written by Thomas Alva Edison to an unknown recipient, in which he shares his thoughts on Guglielmo Marconi, regarded as the inventor of the radio. $800 to $1,200.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Rare 1931 TN Grasslands Steeplechase Book, Gallatin. $800 to $1,000.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: War of 1812 related Broadside, Petersburg Volunteers. $700 to $800.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: 2 World War I Posters, “Our Colored Fighters” and “No Slacker”. $800 to $1,000.