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Articles - February - 2009 Issue

Wikis Add the AED and Prepare for Stage II

- by Bruce E. McKinney

Matches are one click away

Matches are one click away


Wikis do not compete with existing listing sites. They complement them. Buyers will simply use them to clarify what is logically included within a focus. Wikis will create open markets.

And this then takes us to the very heart of the issue that is most pressing for dealers - where is the new collector? The answer is they are waiting. The existing wholesale-retail model makes collecting financially unappealing. Collectors see material both priced high and stacked like cord wood and they instinctively know that what they buy will be very tough to sell. And so they step back. For them Wikis will provide an ongoing, never-ending window on the market that instills confidence AND it does by providing a place for buyers and sellers to learn about each other; in particular what the one side has and the other wants.

This month take a closer look at the Wikis. There is a new one prepared by Pia Oliver of Randall House of Santa Barbara, California. It's been created around the Zamorano 80, an interesting combination of California material that is both accessible and wildly elusive. Ms. Oliver has also included additional relevant material. It is an interesting collecting category. [Link to Zamorano 80].

We are currently matching all lots at traditional documented auctions worldwide, all material posted to Books for Sale, and all material referenced in the two million records in the Americana Exchange Database [AED]. Full Wiki searching as well as preliminary searches in the AED are free. Access to full search results requires AE Research membership that is $7.95 for a week, $14.75 by the month and $141.60 by the year. A commission-free annual Books for Sale listing subscription, including full access to research services, is for most members $240.

By March 1st we will add global searches for quicker evaluation of Wikis.

Click here to take a look at the Wikis.

Click here to suggest a Wiki subject.

Click here to sign-up as a research or listing member.

Click here to view the Zamorano 80 Wiki Bibliography

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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