By Mike Stillman
“I want every thing and collect every thing.” That may sound like a quote from your four-year old, but in reality it comes from Christopher Columbus Baldwin, third librarian of the American Antiquarian Society (AAS). It succinctly describes the Society’s view of collecting. Within its field, printed Americana through 1876, the AAS literally wants a copy of everything. What is truly amazing is just how close the Society has come to pulling this ambition off. Today the Society holds two-thirds of all known material printed in what is now the United States from the 1640’s ...
By Abby Tallmer
eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY; http://ebay.com) is the world’s online marketplace.
Founded in September 1995, eBay is the leading online marketplace for the sale of goods and services by ...
By Abby Tallmer
It is a cold November morning in New York City. I am in a pristine white-walled office, high quality light toned wood shelves and easels everywhere, a central reception desk in ...
By Julie Carleton
Introduction
Since its formation in 1958, the University of Arizona Library Special Collections has developed an extensive collection of materials on Arizona and the Southwe...
By Abby Tallmer
Introduction:After a two hour long scenic train ride from Grand Central Station in New York, I emerge to the New Haven train station, a large building outside of which cabs are l...
By Everett Wilkie
Although there have been four known complete collections of first editions of the so-called Zamorano 80, only one has ever been sold publicly as an entire collection. The seco...
By Everett Wilkie
Americana Exchange in the course of a year reviews about 300 auctions from over twenty auction houses in both America and Europe. The results of those reviews are mounted on t...
by Bruce E. McKinneyWe now offer a revised and much improved Primary Search tool to identify records in the Americana Exchange Database. We have revised both the search field that comes up first o...
Auction Update August 2, 2009
Only about a thousand people in total, worldwide, comprise the community of active book and manuscript auction bidders. These bidders are divided by continent, l...
Sotheby’s Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana 27 January 2026
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary pair of books from George Washington’s field library, marking the conjunction of Robert Rogers, George Washington, and Henry Knox. $1,200,000 to $1,800,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary letter marking the conjunction of George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Benjamin Franklin. $1,000,000 to $1,500,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: Virginia House of Delegates. The genesis of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. $350,000 to $500,000.
Sotheby’s Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana 27 January 2026
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: (Gettysburg). “Genl. Doubleday has taken charge of the battle”: Autograph witness to the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, illustrated by fourteen maps and plans. $200,000 to $300,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: President Lincoln thanks a schoolboy on behalf of "all the children of the nation for his efforts to ensure "that this war shall be successful, and the Union be maintained and perpetuated." $200,000 to $300,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Jan. 27:</b> [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9d2762bc-9f26-47ef-96de-1c28070e19f6.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Jan. 27:</b> [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.")