Rare Book Monthly Articles - June - 2007 Issue

Book Fairs: An Endangered Species?

By Bruce McKinneyTwo hours north of San Francisco, on a recent beautiful May day, John and Susie Hardy, for the 7th year hosted the Gold Rush Book Fair at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley. It was a trip well worth making. It was also a melancholy adventure for it provided a measure of the drought that plagues the world of rare and collectible books these days. Those selling, 50 dealers in all, were mostly from California with the occasional otherlander thrown in. They brought their best material, met many dedicated collectors and yet did not encounter the next generatio...

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Google Introduces Universal Search -- What's the Difference?

By Michael Stillman Google took a quantum leap forward in its search listings this past month, though it was a stealth leap. One look at Google's very simple search page, virtually unchanged in...

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Superman was Missing at Gotham City

By Bruce McKinney The motto was 'wise men fish here' but apparently buyers long ago scaled back their purchases at the Gotham Book Mart, a New York book seller since 1920. On 23 May, 2007 the ...

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Abe Institutes Seller Ratings

By Michael Stillman Abebooks announced the soon-to-come launching of their long-anticipated seller ratings on May 29. This will undoubtedly be controversial with some booksellers, but one susp...

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Looking for Economical Shipping? The Answer May be UPS Mail Logic©

By Renée Magriel Roberts Last month I discussed -- somewhat heatedly I admit -- the downward spiral of services from the United States Post Office, particularly with respect to the elimination ...

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Libraries: Dinosaurs of the Modern Era

By Bruce McKinney Libraries in America are a hot topic these days, deer in the headlights of both cost cutters and the next generation of technologists. They are easy prey. Twenty-seven years...

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Forbes Auction Completes After $40 Million in Sales

By Michael Stillman The record-setting Forbes book and manuscript auction came to a conclusion this past May 22. Auctioneer Christie's described it as setting "a record total for any collection...

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In The News: Bookseller Burns Books; Librarian's Sentence Reduced; Stolen Book Found

By Michael Stillman There was a book burning in Kansas City Sunday, May 27, 2007, but it was not in protest of their content, as is usually the case. No extreme fundamentalist preachers or fri...

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A Serious Book Auction in Chicago

For book buyers in Chicago and the Midwest evidence of resurgence in the book auction market is apparent in the upcoming sale at Leslie Hindman in downtown Chicago. The sale will take place on Jun...

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Yahoo Closing Auction Site -- Did Anyone Notice?

By Michael Stillman The auction arm of the world's most visited website (according to Alexa rankings), Yahoo, is closing down. That would seem to be astonishing news. Online auctions appear to ...

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The Swami Speaks

By Bruce McKinney Change is the order of the day not only in politics but also in book selling; the reactions and responses just as emotional and visceral. For those who became booksellers to ...

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Twelve New Book Catalogues Reviewed in Section Two

There are twelve new book catalogues reviewed in Section Two of AE Monthly for June. Several catalogues with new selections of Americana recently arrived, from Almagre Books, William Reese Compa...

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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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