Rare Book Monthly Articles - July - 2006 Issue

For Printed Materials:  The Probability of Appearance

For Printed Materials: The Probability of Appearance

By Bruce McKinney It is becoming possible to estimate the print runs of perhaps 150,000 antiquarian items, whose printing histories were never recorded, based on formulas that compare detailed printing records provided by Joel Munsell to the number of copies found in the OCLC, appearances at auction and sightings on listing sites and eBay. The goal is a new statistical measure that projects "probability of appearance" for books and ephemera. The internet has made it possible for millions of items to be offered but what is the likelihood what you are looking for will show up? I think w...

Now Where Goes Alibris?

Now Where Goes Alibris?

By Michael Stillman On May 8, 2006, online bookseller Alibris announced the company had been sold to venture capital firm Oak Hill Capital Partners. Naturally, such a major acquisition set off a...

More on Partnerships and Parasitism

More on Partnerships and Parasitism

by Renée Magriel Roberts Well, looks like my last article (June AE Monthly) on partnerships and parasites struck a nerve. My mailbox was flooded with emails from booksellers (none from selling w...

The 16 cylinder Keyword Search

The 16 cylinder Keyword Search

By Bruce McKinney Online searches are in the midst of a tectonic shift. eBay has made an intelligent science of sequential keyword searches by providing a single search field and the ability to...

News From Around the Listing Sites

News From Around the Listing Sites

By Michael Stillman This past month, Abebooks announced some changes in their bookseller policies regarding print-on-demand books and multiple listings of single titles; Barnes and Noble reporte...

Can A Writer Be A Governor?

Can A Writer Be A Governor?

By Michael Stillman If an actor, or even a professional wrestler, can become a governor, why can't an author? Move over, Arnold. Move over, Jesse. Here comes Kinky Friedman, best-selling mystery...

Who Says Crime Doesn't Pay?

Who Says Crime Doesn't Pay?

By Bruce McKinney Dostoevesky must be rolling over in his grave as the connective tissue between crime and punishment has recently been whittled down to a thread in the guilty pleadings of Edwar...

A Tale of Two Auctions:  One Completed, One Cancelled

A Tale of Two Auctions: One Completed, One Cancelled

By Michael Stillman One of the most important book auctions of the year took place June 27 and 28 at Christie's in New York, and the prices garnered will bring nothing but joy to those who own i...

Phishing in the Amazon

Phishing in the Amazon

By Michael Stillman Phishing has become so widespread these days we generally ignore it. "Phishing" is the process whereby some unscrupulous individual sends you a message, purporting to be from...

Ten New Catalogues Reviewed In Section Two

Ten New Catalogues Reviewed In Section Two

Ten new bookseller catalogues are reviewed in section two of July's issue of AE Monthly. There must be something for everyone. English dealer Bernard J. Shapero offers fifty spectacular (but not in...

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.

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