Rare Book Monthly

print Send Email to Friend Change Font Size Share Link

Articles - October - 2009 Issue

BookFinder's Top 10's: A Sign of the Times

- by Michael Stillman


Fiction and Literature is headed by a psychological novel, Ticket to Ride, by Dennis Potter. Last year's number 1, Once a Runner, also disappeared from the hard-to-find list as a result of a recent reprint. Nora Roberts' Promise Me Tomorrow is once again the bridesmaid in this category.

The category of History has seen a wide range of subjects at number 1. Three years ago it was the Civil War, two years ago a defunct New York Restaurant, and last year a New Orleans' French Quarter Hotel. This year continues the run of obscure, rather than major historical titles: Folklore of Hamilton County by Violet Morgan. That's Hamilton County, Ohio, that is described in this 1946 book.

Mysteries and Thrillers has a repeat atop its list: Legally Sane, by John Hahn and Harold McKenney. It is a story of a psychopathic killer who may be sane legally, but in no other way. There is also a repeat atop the Popular Science & Technology category where Carl Sagan lives on with his Murmurs of Earth. Other top ten titles include The Rifleman's Rifle Winchester's Model 70, The Rifle in America, and The Modern Gunsmith. Hopefully this means that in hard times people do more hunting for food, not something more ominous.

In Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror, Patricia Briggs' Masques replaces Stephen King's (as Richard Bachman) Rage, now number 2. This is the now-popular fantasy writer's obscure first work, published in 1993. Number 1 in the final category, Society and Culture, is Ray Garton's In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting. It is a haunted house story that despite the contractually obligated title, not even Garton believes is true. However, four of the next five, all new to the top ten, could well reflect concerns with today's economy: Wall St. Under Oath, Secrets of the Federal Reserve, The World Order: Our Secret Rulers, and The Future of Money.

You will find all of BookFinder's Top 10 lists at the following link: BookFinder's Top 10.

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.

Article Search

Archived Articles