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Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 567. One of the Earliest & Most Desirable Printed Maps of Arabia - by Holle/Germanus (1482) Est. $55,000 - $65,000Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 681. Zatta's Complete Atlas with 218 Maps in Full Contemporary Color (1779) Est. $27,500 - $35,000Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 347. MacDonald Gill's Landmark "Wonderground Map" of London (1914) Est. $1,800 - $2,100Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 1. Fries' "Modern" World Map with Portraits of Five Kings (1525) Est. $4,000 - $4,750Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 539. Ortelius' Superb, Decorative Map of Cyprus in Full Contemporary Color (1573) Est. $1,100 - $1,400Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 51. Mercator's Foundation Map for the Americas in Full Contemporary Color (1630) Est. $3,250 - $4,000Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 667. Manuscript Bible Leaf with Image of Mary and Baby Jesus (1450) Est. $1,900 - $2,200Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 226. "A Powerful Example of Color Used to Make a Point" (1895) Est. $400 - $600Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 290. One of the Most Decorative Early Maps of South America - from Linschoten's "Itinerario" (1596) Est. $7,000 - $8,500Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 62. Coronelli's Influential Map of North America with the Island of California (1688) Est. $10,000 - $12,000Old World Auctions (June 18): Lot 589. The First European-Printed Map of China - by Ortelius (1584) Est. $4,000 - $5,000
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Forum Auctions
A Sixth Selection of 16th and 17th Century English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library
19th June 2025Forum, June 19: Euclid. The Elements of Geometrie, first edition in English of the first complete translation, [1570]. £20,000 to £30,000.Forum, June 19: Nicolay (Nicolas de). The Navigations, peregrinations and voyages, made into Turkie, first edition in English, 1585. £10,000 to £15,000.Forum, June 19: Shakespeare source book.- Montemayor (Jorge de). Diana of George of Montemayor, first edition in English, 1598. £6,000 to £8,000.Forum, June 19: Livius (Titus). The Romane Historie, first edition in English, translated by Philemon Holland, Adam Islip, 1600. £6,000 to £8,000.Forum Auctions
A Sixth Selection of 16th and 17th Century English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library
19th June 2025Forum, June 19: Robert Molesworth's copy.- Montaigne (Michel de). The Essayes Or Morall, Politike and Millitarie Discourses, first edition in English, 1603. £10,000 to £15,000.Forum, June 19: Shakespeare (William). The Tempest [&] The Two Gentlemen of Verona, from the Second Folio, [Printed by Thomas Cotes], 1632. £4,000 to £6,000.Forum, June 19: Boyle (Robert). Medicina Hydrostatica: or, Hydrostaticks Applyed to the Materia Medica, first edition, for Samuel Smith, 1690. £2,500 to £3,500.Forum, June 19: Locke (John). An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding in Four Books, first edition, second issue, 1690. £8,00 to £12,000. -
ALDE, June 18: CHAPPE D'AUTEROCHE (JEAN). Voyage en Sibérie fait par ordre du Roi en 1761 contenant les mœurs…, Paris, 1768. €4,000 to €5,000.ALDE, June 18: HENNEPIN (LOUIS). Description de la Louisiane nouvellement découverte au Sud-Ouest de la Nouvelle France…, Paris, 1688. €3,000 to €4,000.ALDE, June 18: LA BOULLAYE-LE GOUZ (FRANÇOIS DE). Les Voyages et Observations, Paris, 1653. €1,500 to €2,000.ALDE, June 18: LE BRUN (CORNELIS DE BRUYN DIT CORNEILLE). Voyage au Levant, c'est à dire dans les principaux endroits de l'Asie mineure..., Delft, 1700. €6,000 to €8,000.ALDE, June 18: SAINT-NON (J.-CL. RICHARD, ABBÉ DE). Voyage pittoresque ou description du royaume de Naples et de Sicile, Paris, 1781-1786. €3,500 to €5,000.ALDE, June 18: (CALVIN JEAN). SÉNÈQUE. Annei Senecae..., Paris, 1532. €2,000 to €3,000.ALDE, June 18: ADRIEN LE CHARTREUX. De remediis utriusque fortunæ, [Cologne, vers 1470]. €5,000 to €6,000.ALDE, June 18: GAZA (THÉODORE). [...] Introductivæ grammatices libri quatuor. Ejusdem de mensibus opusculum sanequampulchrum, Venise, 1495. €8,000 to €10,000.ALDE, June 18: LACTANCE. De divinis institutionibus. De ira Dei. De opificio Dei. De phoenice carmen, Rome, 1468. €30,000 to €40,000.ALDE, June 18: LUTHER (MARTIN). Der Erste [– Achte und letze] Teil aller Bücher und Schrifften des thewren, seligen Mans Doct. Mart. Lutheri, Iéna, 1555-1568. €5,000 to €6,000.ALDE, June 18: POLITIEN (ANGE). Omnia opera, et alia quædam lectu Digna, Venise, 1498. €8,000 to €10,000.ALDE, June 18: SIDOINE APOLLINAIRE. Poema aureum ejusdemque Epistole, Milan, 1498. €3,000 to €4,000.
Rare Book Monthly
Articles - November - 2009 Issue
Daniel in the Lions' Den
By Bruce McKinney
The history of libraries and rare books came to San Francisco in the person of Terry Belanger to deliver a talk at the California Book Club on Monday evening, October 5th. Seventy-one souls, many fire breathing advocates of the world as Mr. Belanger sees it, came away rewarded with a strong dose of humor and perspective. Who ever said or thought that old books are dry has not seen them through Dr. Belanger's eyes nor heard them parsed and phrased into pauses and bon mots in the Belanger manner. He is himself a work of art. This is his fifth talk in San Francisco since he began his speaking tours in 1983.
Mr. Belanger's career has roughly ghosted the rise and now uncomfortable transition that institutional libraries, as the paramount collectors of works on paper in the United States, find themselves in today. In the heady ascent of books in the twentieth century from open shelves to open envy, locked doors and controlled access, Mr. Belanger years ago emerged as honorary mayor of rare book librarians by delivering, in a clear and consistent voice, perspective and advice. To the village of rare book libraries, their librarians and the dealers whose livelihoods have improved as budgets and institutional collecting have become, to quote auction description, highly significant, he is the important voice. In addressing a nice crowd at 800 Powell Street in San Francisco he spoke on the subject: Eating the Seed Corn: Reflections on Institutional Sales of Rare Books. He directly confronted the issue of deaccession, cautioning against short term thinking in a field judged long term.
Mr. Belanger's prepared remarks were 45 minutes and his after-speech Q & A another 55. In his talk he spoke of the role and responsibilities of institutions that receive books and related materials. He did so in a general way and in the follow-up question period called upon Father Stephen A. Privet, President of the University of San Francisco, to apologize for selling material from the University's Donohue Rare Book Collection to pay for improvements to the physical plant. For those unaware of the earlier controversy hell was raised giving Father Privet the opportunity to see Dante's Inferno up close. Dr. Belanger, in his remarks five months after The University of San Francisco's disputed sale of library material, called upon Father Privet to repent and publicly apologize for forgetting or ignoring the institution's obligation to keep that which it received as gifts, in perpetuity.
Dr. Belanger is perhaps today's foremost advocate in the United States of the rule that material, once gifted to a library, becomes subject to a higher standard than even the donor may have imposed. In his view material may later be deaccessioned only after careful review and then only in a prescribed way. To paraphrase his thinking, for material to enter a library is voluntary, to exit requires consideration of importance and access across the universe. Even for libraries themselves this is a potentially tough standard.