Rare Book Monthly

Articles - February - 2000 Issue

Invitation to an Open House Sunday February 15

New York in images

New York in images


By Bruce McKinney

On Sunday February 15th from 8:00 to 11:00 am, during the ABAA show weekend in San Francisco, the future of book, manuscript and ephemera collecting is on display in an exhibition as History Restored - 45 paintings, maps, broadsides and ephemera as well as 3,000 other items on shelves - collected and organized as Wiki Bibliographies. Bruce and Jenny McKinney of the Americana Exchange host the event. Wikis are online community building tools, organized around ever-evolving bibliographies that create an intense focus for collectors, dealers and scholars to follow in a quick and efficient manner all activity within a collecting area. The first examples are already on line and many more under development.

The book business has become increasingly dependent on listing sites as shops have closed and dealers issued fewer catalogues. Wikis reconstruct the person to person aspect of dealing and collecting by creating an intense subject-centric, always updating, view on material in the news, at auction and on listing sites. For both buyers and sellers this is the next big thing.

The open house takes place in the morning 8:00 to 11:00 am before the doors open on the final day of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association Book Fair at the Concourse Exhibition Center.

The material on display relates to the Hudson River Valley of New York and in particular the printings of Joel Munsell of Albany, 19th Century Rondout and Kingston, and Life on the River. The Munsell and Rondout collections are the current subject of Wiki Bibliographies. Life on and along the Hudson is under development. The logic and form of the collections are relevant to most types of collecting today.

These Wikis-in-the-flesh are the first substantive evidence of the effectiveness of creating on-line living bibliographies that are constantly matching new material introduced to the net over-night. Once found the Wiki bibliographer, and all who follow these emerging Wikis, have an ever-evolving standard collecting reference, a view of new material, the opportunity to remain current on changes, and optional access to pricing and frequency of appearance information in the Americana Exchange Database. A variety of Wikis are under construction. Wiki Bibliographers include dealers, auction houses, collectors and historical societies.

The address is 2723 Pacific Avenue, midway between Scott and Divisidero in the Pacific Heights section of San Francisco. The zip is 94115. Click here for directions from the ABAA Fair to the open house site at 2723 Pacific Ave.

The Americana Exchange develops databases and tools for integration of manuscripts, maps and ephemera into unified collecting focus.

RSVP is preferred but not required. By email its bmckinney@americanaexchange.com or by phone at 415.823.6678 Stop by. The future of bookselling is on display.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    September 11
    Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Exquemelin (Alexandre Olivier). The History of the Bucaniers of America..., 4 parts in one, 3rd edition, 1704. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Greenough (George Bellos). A Physical and Geological Map of England & Wales..., Geological Society, July 1865. £5,000-8,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Illuminated Psalter. Manuscript Psalter with Calendar, Flanders or North-East France, late 13th century. £7,000-10,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    September 11
    Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Book of Hours. Illuminated manuscript on vellum, Use of Rome, in Latin, Florence, c. 1470s. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Henry VIII (King of England). Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum, Antwerp: Michiel Hillen, 1522. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Binding for Queen Mary I of England and Ireland. Polydori Vergilii Urbinatis Anglicae..., 1555. £20,000-30,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    September 11
    Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Llwyd (Humphrey). The Breviary of Britayne..., 1st edition in English, 1573. William Lambarde's copy. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Embroidered Binding. The Whole Book of Psalmes..., Imprinted for the Company of Stationers, 1634. £700-1,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Astronomy Manuscript. [Shakerley, Jeremy (1626-c.1655). Tabulae Britannicae, the British tables…], late 17th c. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    September 11
    Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Elew (Jan Barend, publisher). Nederlandsch bloemwerk, Amsterdam: J.B. Elwe, 1794. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Vellucent Art Nouveau Binding [Book of Common Prayer] by Herbert Granville Fell, 1900. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Palladio (Andrea). The Architecture of A. Palladio; in Four Books, 2nd edition, 1721. £2,000-3,000
  • Sotheby’s
    10 September 2024
    The Shem Tov Bible
  • Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    18 September 2024
    Koller, Sep. 18: Cowper, William. Anatomia corporum humanorum ab excellentissimis… Utrecht, 1750. CHF 25,000 to 40,000
    Koller, Sep. 18: Bell, Thomas. A Monograph of the Testudinata. London [1836-1842]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000.
    Koller, Sep. 18: Gould, John. A monograph of the Trochilidae, or family of humming-birds [and] Supplement completed after the authors death…, London [1849-]1861 and [1880-]1887. CHF 50,000 to 80,000.
    Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    18 September 2024
    Koller, Sep. 18: Gould, John. The birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan Islands, including many new species recently discovered in Australia. CHF 50,000 to 80,000.
    Koller, Sep. 18: Levaillant, François. Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis et des rolliers, suivie de celle des toucans et des barbus. Paris [1801-]1806. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
    Koller, Sep. 18: Pfinzing, Melchior. Die geverlicheiten und einsteils der geschichten des loblichen streytparen…, Nürnberg, 1517. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
  • Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: HAMILTON, Sir William - Campi Phlegraei. Napoli: 1779. € 50,000 - 80,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: KIRCHER, Athanasius - Turris Babel. Amsterdam: 1679. € 3,000 - 5,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: EDWARDS, George.London - Gleanings of Natural History. Londra: 1758-1764. € 7,000 - 10,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: HEVELIUS, Johannes - Cometographia. Danzica: 1668. € 20,000 - 30,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: KUPKA, Frantisek - Quatre histoires de blanc et noir. Parigi: 1926. € 10,000 - 15,000
  • Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 732. Early Announcement of Continental Congress' Declaration of Independence (1776) Est. $12,000 - $15,000
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 361. One of Ortelius' Most Decorative Maps in Full Contemporary Color (1585) Est. $9,500 - $12,000
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 55. Early Edition of One of the Most Important 16th Century Maps of the New World (1545) Est. $6,000 - $7,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 27. Fascinating Japanese Satirical Map of the World Published After WWI (1924) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 637. Complete Example of De Bry's Petits Voyages, Part VIII (1606) Est. $4,750 - $5,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 50. Extremely Rare Uncut Sheet from Sylvanus's 1511 Edition of Ptolemy's Geographia (1511) Est. $2,000 - $2,300
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 399. One of the Most Desired Maps of Ireland by John Speed (1610) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 689. Pictorial Map of Melbourne in the Style of MacDonald Gill (1934) Est. $900 - $1,100
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 652. Blaeu's Carte-a-Figures Map of Africa in Full Contemporary Color (1663) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 729. Hand-Colored Image of David Handing the Letter to Uriah (1518) Est. $1,000 - $1,300
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 533. Eight-Volume Set Recounting Travels of Anacharsis in Greece (1789) Est. $800 - $950

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