Rare Book Monthly Articles - October - 2007 Issue

A Specialist Inventory to be Sold as a Single Lot at Auction

By Bruce McKinney On October 6th the remaining stock of Zobel Book Service, a specialist in scholarly and out-of-print materials, will be sold at auction in Kingston, New York by JMW Auction Gallery. The auction will be simulcast on eBay. Their entire 90,000 item inventory will be sold as a single lot. The opening bid will be $1,000 with no reserve. For 66 years Zobel has provided material to thousands of students, educators and collectors. The imprint dates span most of the 20th century. Almost every "ology" is represented. Psychology, sociology, education, some technical boo...

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A Bookseller's Dream, A Book Seller's Nightmare

By Michael Stillman A story recently came out of England that brings an ethical issue no one in the book trade enjoys facing to the forefront. It is a story that may not have bad guys, but it ce...

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A Strong October Auction Schedule

By Bruce McKinney If summer is a receding memory then the books, manuscripts and ephemera auction season must be upon us. A glance at the October auction calendar confirms it. As of September...

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In The News: Burned Books, George Washington Baseball Cards, and the Alibris Nickel

By Michael Stillman Artist Charles Merrill recently announced that he had burned a valuable rare manuscript copy of the Koran. No stranger to controversy, Merrill had previously taken a pair of...

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The Declining Value of Inventory

By Bruce McKinney In the biblical story of Noah and the ark the emphasis is always placed on the miracle of survival. A male and female of each animal are marched up into the boat to float for ...

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Rose's Books and the Cistercians

by Renée Magriel Roberts As booksellers, we've certainly all experienced moments of serendipity -- the chance meeting that results in a wonderful buy or a still better sale, or the good luck of...

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My “I have a dream” speech

By Bruce McKinney If you are looking for a reworking of Martin Luther King's speech in 1963 on the Washington D. C. Mall you are in for a surprise. It isn't that. It's much better. Through an...

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What's Atop BookFinder's Top Ten This Year?

By Michael Stillman BookFinder has issued its annual report of Top Ten Lists of the most searched for books, and as always, they are a curious mix of the popular and the hard-to-find. There are...

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A Book Fair in San Francisco in February 2008

By Bruce McKinney Every other year Walter Larsen Associates of Alameda, California, stage a San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print, Paper Fair. In February, 2008, over the weekend of the 9th a...

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Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair October 13th and 14th

By Bruce McKinney The Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair, the annual opportunity for book manuscript and ephemera dealers to visit Seattle in October to display wares, visit old customers and meet ne...

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Book Review: Al Gore's <i>The Assault On Reason</i>

By Michael Stillman The latest book from environmental crusader and former Vice-President Al Gore, The Assault on Reason, is now on the shelves. Gore combines sharp insight, strong political vi...

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<i>A Farewell to Alms</i> -- a book considered

By Bruce McKinney This is a brief economic history of the world with a focus on the Industrial Revolution. It is written by Dr. Gregory Clark. In it he offers a fresh perspective on re...

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Fifteen Catalogues Reviewed In Section Two

This month we review fifteen new booksellers' catalogues in Section Two. Quite a few in the field of Americana recently arrived. David Lesser Antiquarian Books offers his 100th catalogue of rare Am...

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Rare Book Monthly

  • Fonsie Mealy’s
    Summer Rare Book
    & Collectors’ Sale
    July 30-31, 2024
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: U.S. / European Shipping Archive 1800-1814. The Widow Bermingham & Sons Collection. €7,000 to €10,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Bunreacht na hÉireann. Constitution of Ireland. An important copy of the First Printing of De Valera’s new Constitution, approved in 1938. Signed by the Constitution Cabinet. €7,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: A Rare Complete Run of the Cuala Press Broadsides. €7,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s
    Summer Rare Book
    & Collectors’ Sale
    July 30-31, 2024
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Grose (Francis). The Antiquities of Ireland, 2vols. folio London (for S. Hooper) 1791. Magnificent Hand-Coloured Copy - Only 25 Copies. €3,000 to €5,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Cantillon (Richard). Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General, Traduit de l'Anglois, Sm. 8vo London (Fletcher Gyles) 1756. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Gregory, (Lady Augusta). Spreading the News: The Rising of the Moon: The Poorhouse (with Douglas Hyde). Being Vol. IX of the Abbey Theatre Series. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s
    Summer Rare Book
    & Collectors’ Sale
    July 30-31, 2024
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Lavery (Lady Hazel). A moving series of three A.L.S. and a Telegram to Gen. Eoin O'Duffy, July-August 1927, expressing her grief at the death of Kevin O'Higgins. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Dampier (Wm.) Nouveau Voyage Autour du Monde, ou l'on descrit en particulier l'Isthme de l'Amerique…, 2 vols. in one, Amsterdam, 1698. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Howell (James). Instructions for Forreine Travel Shewing by what Cours, and in what Compasse of Time…, London, 1642. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s
    Summer Rare Book
    & Collectors’ Sale
    July 30-31, 2024
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Rowling (J.K.) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 8vo, L. (Bloomsbury) 1999, First Edn., First Printing of Deluxe Collectors Edn. Signed. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: James (Wm.) A Full and Correct Account of the Military Occurrences of The Late War Between Great Britain and The United States of America. 2 vols. Lond. 1818. €650 to €900.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: The Laws of the United States, Published by Authority, 3 vols. Philadelphia (Richard Folwell) 1796. €600 to €800.

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