Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2003 Issue

Analysis: Is the Internet Making the Book Fair Obsolete?

Analysis: Is the Internet Making the Book Fair Obsolete?

Or Is It Just Bad Weather, Military Karma And Economic Uncertainty? By Abby Tallmer At first glance, the answer to this question might be “of course not.” There are still book fairs and plenty of them, national and international, big and small. But let’s look further into what has actually happened at the book fairs attended by members of the AE staff over the past few months, most recently the New York Antiquarian Book Fair which I attended this past weekend. As seasoned book people will know, the New York Book Fair is traditionally one of the largest and most successful vehicles, i...

Shakers, Maine, and Everything Else A Visit with DeWolfe and Wood

Shakers, Maine, and Everything Else A Visit with DeWolfe and Wood

By Michael Stillman There are books everywhere. If the image of an old bookshop is shelf upon shelf of books, books in boxes, books in piles, room after room of books, then this is the quintesse...

Capturing Valuable Information:  The Key to Reselling

Capturing Valuable Information: The Key to Reselling

All these options begin by simply entering your books into your personal database. That is your first step. From there the world opens up to you. Now join me in a tour of the Collector’s Data...

The Collaborative Project Part II Using Databases and the New “Wants List” Software

The Collaborative Project Part II Using Databases and the New “Wants List” Software

By Michael Stillman Knowledge is power. That observation is as true today as it was when Sir Francis Bacon wrote it over four centuries ago. However, what there is to know has increased at least...

Westerly Women in America: A Journey Through the AE Database

Westerly Women in America: A Journey Through the AE Database

By Julie Carleton Introduction: For my part of the TCP project, I chose to collect Women’s Western Travel Narratives. I had an interest in this subject for several reasons. For one, this i...

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

By Bruce McKinney As a long term collector of Hudson River Valley material I have learned not to have my heart set on any particular acquisition. Buying on the net in particular is an uncertai...

Oregon Trail</i> Part II Finding Gems Along the Trail

Oregon Trail</i> Part II Finding Gems Along the Trail

Now that we’ve discovered this title, we do a specific “Primary Search” and come up with 28 records just for Palmer. With these, we learn a lot about Joel Palmer and his book. Particularly helpful ...

An Addict Is Born:   AE Database Dabbler To Immersed Wants List Junkie In Less Than 10 Easy Steps

An Addict Is Born: AE Database Dabbler To Immersed Wants List Junkie In Less Than 10 Easy Steps

The work that took me more than a week under the old “cut and paste” system (and was nearly impossible for me to read and manage) has now been accomplished more fully using the “Wants List” technol...

Dealers of South Americana:  An Interview with Alfredo & Gustavo Breitfeld

Dealers of South Americana: An Interview with Alfredo & Gustavo Breitfeld

When we started the interview Alfredo was at the counter dealing with a potential client, so his son Gustavo sat next to me on the bench and started chatting. (Even though they both protested thro...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    29th May 2025
    Forum, May 29: Darwin (Charles). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, first edition, John Murray, 1859. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Forum, May 29: Astronomy.- Apianus (Petrus). Cosmographicus Liber a Petro Apiano Mathematico Studiose Collectus., first edition, Landshut, 1524. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum, May 29: Bound for Jean Grolier.- Negri Stefano. Stephani Nigri Elegantissime è Graeco authorum subditorum translationes, uidelicet., first edition, first issue, Milan, 1521. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, May 29: Gill (Eric). Eve, number 1 of 50, hand-coloured wood-engraving, signed at foot in pencil, [1926]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    29th May 2025
    Forum, May 29: America.- Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, Dickinson & Co., 1848. £25,000 to £35,000.
    Forum, May 29: Wodehouse (P.G.) Psmith USA, autograph manuscript of his novel "Psmith Journalist", signed and dated at end and dated "11 November 1909, Hotel Earle, 103 Waverley Place". £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, May 29: Women.- Wollstonecraft (Mary). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, first edition, uncut in original boards, 1792. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, May 29: Mathematics.- Whitehead (Alfred North) and Bertrand Russell. Principia Mathematica, 3 vol., first editions, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1910-13. £20,000 to £30,000.
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
  • Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Peter Max, Portrait of Mary Tyler Moore (Versions 1,2, 5, 6), 2001. Estimate $10,000-15,000
    DOYLE: The iconic screen-used wall-mounted "M" from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Estimate $5,000-8,000
    DOYLE: The Mary Tyler Moore Show by Al Hirschfeld. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Annie Leibovitz presents Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke for Vanity Fair. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    DOYLE: Al Hirschfeld presents Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke in the CBS Wednesday Night Lineup. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    DOYLE: Richard McKenzie, Portrait of Mary Tyler Moore. Estimate $1,000-2,000
    Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Three Original Bill Hargate Costume Designs for The Mary Tyler Moore Hour. Estimate $600-800
    DOYLE: The famous Bonnie and Clyde "Wanted" broadside. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE: Ticket to the Final Episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show Estimate $400-600
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • One of a Kind Auctions
    Rare Autograph and Documents
    Ending May 29th, 2025
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: George Washington Three Language Ship's Paper West Indies Trade Voyage.
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: An Extraordinary Archive of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry: Over 60 Historic Documents, Naval Commissions, Family Papers, and Photographic Material Spanning the 19th Century.
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Abraham Lincoln Appointment for Vice-Consul of Russia.
    One of a Kind Auctions
    Rare Autograph and Documents
    Ending May 29th, 2025
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: John Adams Signed Mediterranean Scalloped Top ship's passport.
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Thomas Jefferson and James Madison Signed Ships Paper.
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Herman Melville RARE -ALS (Moby Dick Author).
    One of a Kind Auctions
    Rare Autograph and Documents
    Ending May 29th, 2025
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Apollo 10: Flown Flag and Patch Display with Crew-Signed Covers from the Collection of NASA Engineer Clark C. McClelland.
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: James Garfield Rare Signature as President - Possibly the largest Autograph as President almost 6 inches long!
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Walt Disney Autograph over 7 inches in Length.

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