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CHRISTIE’S
Valuable Books and Manuscripts
London auction
13 December
Find out moreChristie’s, Explore now
TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000Christie’s, Explore now
VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000Christie’s, Explore now
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000Christie’s, Explore now
A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000Christie’s, Explore now
AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
C.1311. £100,000–150,000 -
ABAA VBF: Holiday EditionNovember 30-December 2
abaa.org/vbfABAA VBF: Holiday EditionNovember 30-December 2
abaa.org/vbfABAA VBF: Holiday EditionNovember 30-December 2
abaa.org/vbfABAA VBF: Holiday EditionNovember 30-December 2
abaa.org/vbfABAA VBF: Holiday EditionNovember 30-December 2
abaa.org/vbfABAA VBF: Holiday EditionNovember 30-December 2
abaa.org/vbfABAA VBF: Holiday EditionNovember 30-December 2
abaa.org/vbfABAA VBF: Holiday EditionNovember 30-December 2
abaa.org/vbfABAA VBF: Holiday EditionNovember 30-December 2
abaa.org/vbfABAA VBF: Holiday EditionNovember 30-December 2
abaa.org/vbf -
Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Roberts (David) & Croly (George). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumae, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. Lond. 1842 - 1843 [-49]. First Edn. €10,000 to €15,000.Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Incunabula: O'Fihily (Maurice). Duns Scotus Joannes: O'Fihely, Maurice Abp… Venice, 20th November 1497. €8,000 to €12,000.Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: An important file of documents with provenance to G.A. Newsom, manager of the Jacob’s Factory in Dublin, occupied by insurgents during Easter Week 1916. €6,000 to €9,000.Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: WILDE (Oscar), 1854-1900, playwright, aesthete and wit. A lock of Wilde’s Hair, presented by his son to the distinguished Irish actor Mícheál MacLiammóir. €6,000 to €8,000.Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Heaney (Seamus). Bog Poems, London, 1975. Special Limited Edition, No. 33 of 150 Copies, Signed by Author. Illus. by Barrie Cooke. €4,000 to €6,000.Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Binding: Burke, Thomas O.P. (de Burgo). Hibernia Dominicana, Sive Historia Provinciae Hiberniae Ordinis Praedicatorum, ... 1762. First Edition. €4,000 to €6,000.Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: COLLINS, Michael. An important TL, 29 July 1922, addressed to GOVERNMENT on ‘suggested Proclamation warning all concerned that troops have orders to shoot prisoners found sniping, ambushing etc.’. €3,000 to €4,000.Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Scott Fitzgerald (F.) The Great Gatsby, New York (Charles Scribner's Sons) 1925, First Edn. €2,000 to €3,000.Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Yeats (W.B.) The Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2 vols. Lond. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949. Limited Edition, No. 46 of 375 Copies Only, Signed by W.B. Yeats. €1,500 to €2,000.Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of the Russian Empire, Description in English and French, Lg. folio London (S. Gosnell) 1803. First Edn. €1,000 to €1,500.Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of Turkey, Illustrated by a Series of Engravings. Lg. folio Lond.(T. Bensley) 1802. First Edn. €800 to €1,200.Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Mason (Geo. Henry). The Costume of China, Illustrated with Sixty Engravings. Lg. folio London (for W. Miller) 1800. First Edn. €1,400 to €1,800
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Sotheby’s
Fine Books and Manuscripts
8 December 2023Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane] — Isaac D'Israeli. Jane Austen's copy of Curiosities of Literature. 100,000 - 150,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition in boards of the author's debut novel. 70,000 - 100,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Brontë, Charlotte. "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me..." 100,000 - 150,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Eliot, George. The author's magnum opus. 25,000 - 35,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Whitman, Walt. Manuscript written upon the Death of Lincoln, 1865. 60,000 - 80,000 USD
Rare Book Monthly
Articles - September - 2010 Issue
Reference Books Can Help Set Value - Zoschak class earns a following in the trade
By Susan Halas
Why do book dealers need bibliographies? Why do book buyers and collectors need them too? Aren't those things that only benefit librarians and archivists?
Not so, says Vic Zoschak, 57, owner of Tavistock Books, an antiquarian bookseller in Alameda, Ca. He has gained quite a following with his annual class on using reference sources. Usually held in the spring, the free one day event will celebrate its seventh year in 2011. Space is filled on a first-come-first-serve basis and students arrive at his door from around the nation.
Zoschak is a firm believer in the "knowledge is power" approach. He advocates the use of the reference tools as a way to help set market value. "I see a lot of people making the transition from just selling used books to the antiquarian trade." In his opinion learning how to make good use of reference works is the fastest way to make upward progress in the world of bookselling.
"If people are going to spend serious money with you, they want the assurance you know what you're doing. One way to give that assurance is to cite a recognized authority."
Accurate citation important
That's where bibliography comes in - an accurate citation that you've actually looked up yourself from the appropriate source goes a long way toward establishing credibility. Perhaps more importantly, according to Zoschak, using and understanding the reference tools can go a long way toward setting accurate commercial value.
"On the internet everybody looks like an expert," he said. "But frequently they're not. I've had people sell me books with bibliographic citations that they've copied from somebody else. They didn't check it themselves; they were wrong. This kind of mistake hurts their credibility. The way I see it, the customer can get his money back, but the dealer will have a much harder time getting back his reputation."
The class is a fast tour through some of the basic reference works in Literature including Modern First Editions, Americana with an emphasis on California and the West, Children's Books, Hand-Printed Books, and On-Line Reference Sources.
Answers three questions
According to Zoschak students, dealers, collectors and librarians typically want the answers to three questions:
1. What is it? (usually edition, though not always).
2. Is it complete, i.e., all text, illustrations, maps, etc, present?
3. Why is it important?