Rare Book Monthly Articles - September - 2008 Issue

Phillip Gennuso Purchases Zobel Inventory

Phillip Gennuso Purchases Zobel Inventory

By Bruce McKinney The remaining general stock of Zobel Book Service was recently sold to the Phillip Gennuso Book Company of Cornwall, New York. The company is located at 246 Main Street. The number of books included in the sale has been estimated at between 40,000 and 90,000 volumes. The material has, for decades, been stored in the Zobel's bookbarn, double-shelved on planks extending ten feet into the air. Because of the large quantity of shelves no one is quite sure of the exact number of books. Mr. Gennuso estimates it as north of 50,000. The price was $3,250 and the material ...

The Zobel Inventory Sold on Craig's List - A Perspective

The Zobel Inventory Sold on Craig's List - A Perspective

By Bruce McKinney More than a year ago I heard from Miriam Zobel of the Zobel Book Service that she had some books to sell. I did not initially know that she lives in upstate New York in Clinto...

Posting to Craig's List

Posting to Craig's List

By Tom McKinneyCraigslist is a free website that provides a collection of online resources including classified ads and discussion forums. In this article we'll be going over how to take advantage ...

eBay Slashes Fixed Price Listing Fees...<i>But Why?</i>

eBay Slashes Fixed Price Listing Fees...<i>But Why?</i>

By Michael Stillman Ebay has announced that it is slashing its charges, effective September 16, on fixed price listings. These are no small adjustments. In an August 20 posting on the eBay site,...

Book Collectors to See Stars

Book Collectors to See Stars

By Bruce McKinney If you are a movie buff or simply like movie stars in the buff I know where you'll be in early December - at the auction, close-out and house cleaning of the Collector's Bookst...

Amazon Purchases AbeBooks... The Book Community Yawns

Amazon Purchases AbeBooks... The Book Community Yawns

By Michael Stillman It was like the giant Sequoia tree which fell in the forest. No one knows whether it made a great sound because no one really cared enough to pay attention. A month ago, in w...

Bookselling: Making it Personal

Bookselling: Making it Personal

By Renée Magriel Roberts It is Tuesday morning and we have just finished printing up today's orders. Like most days, it is a mix of foreign and domestic orders. We have one book going out to a c...

A Traditional Cataloguer in Search of the New Collector

A Traditional Cataloguer in Search of the New Collector

By Bruce McKinney Thomas, Tom, Cullen, the upstate New York bookseller doing business as the Rockland Bookman in Orchard Park, has issued an interesting catalogue in both traditional and electro...

Bookseller Heaven; or The Thirtieth Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar

Bookseller Heaven; or The Thirtieth Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar

By Karen Wright When I wrote an essay about why I should be awarded a scholarship to the Thirtieth Annual Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar, way back last winter, I didn't really expect to get i...

Pierre Beres, Legendary French Bookseller, Dies at 95

Pierre Beres, Legendary French Bookseller, Dies at 95

By Michael Stillman One of the giants of the 20th century book trade died on July 28 in Paris. Pierre Beres was a bookseller and collector for the latter 75 years of the 20th century, and the so...

History on the Cheap

History on the Cheap

By Bruce McKinney Recently I searched Google for information about a book I purchased this past month - "A History of the Minisink Region" by Charles E. Stickney. It's the gift to posterity of...

BookFinder Announces the Most Sought After Books of the Year

BookFinder Announces the Most Sought After Books of the Year

By Michael Stillman Bookfinder.com recently released its fifth annual report of the most sought after old books on its book searching website. BookFinder's Top 10 reports are fascinating as the ...

The Civil War as Collecting Focus

The Civil War as Collecting Focus

By Bruce McKinney This month's issue of the Comet focuses on the American Civil War and by extension, all other such wars that are always occuring and seem to have always been occuring. The Civ...

11 New Catalogues Up For Review

11 New Catalogues Up For Review

Eleven new booksellers' catalogues are considered in this month's AE Reviews. Science, medicine, and natural history are the focus of BL Rootenberg Rare Books. Navigation and travel manuscripts are...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026
    25 March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Andrews (H.C.) Coloured Engravings of Heaths, 4 vol. in 2, first edition, [1710,--94]-1802-1809-[1830]. £10,000 - £15,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- Cramer (Pierre) and Caspar Stoll. De Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie Waereld-Deelen…,, 5 vol., Amsterdam & Utrecht, 1779-91. £8,000 - £12,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Voyages.- Darwin (Charles) and others. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, 3 vol. in 4, including Appendix to vol.2, first edition, 1839. £8,000 - £12,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- de Graaf (Willem Diederik Vincent). [Inlandsche Kapellen in beeld], 170 fine original watercolours, [Enkhuizen], [1800-40]. £8,000 - £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026
    25 March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Dresser (Henry Eeles). A History of the Birds of Europe, 9 vol., including supplement, first edition, by the author, 1871-96. £6,000 - £8,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Zoology.- Felines.- Elliot (Daniel Giraud). A Monograph of the Felidæ or Family of the Cats, first edition, for the Subscribers, by the Author, [1878]-1883. £25,000 - £30,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Frisch (Johann Leonard). Vorstellung der Vögel Deutschlandes, 2 vol., first edition, Berlin, Friedr. Wilhelm Birnsteil, [1736]-1763. £40,000 - £60,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Gould (John). The Birds of Great Britain, 5 vol., first edition, by the author, 1862-1873. £30,000 - £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026
    25 March 2026
    Forum, Mar. 25: Pomology.- France.- Poiteau (A.) Pomologie Française. Recueil des Plus Beaux Fruits cultivés en France, 4 vol., Paris, 1846. £30,000 - £40,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- [Robin (Jean)]. Histoire des Plantes, nouvellement trouvées en l'Isle Virgine…,, 1620; with Geoffrey Linocier L'Histoire des plantes, second edition, 1619-20. £3,000 - £4,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Japan.- Siebold (P.F. von). Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan, 7 parts in 6 vol., first edition, Leyden, [1832]-1852. £35,000 - £45,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Valentijn (Francois). Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën..., 5 vol. in 8, first edition, Dordrecht [&] Amsterdam, 1724-26. £8,000 - £12,000.
    Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Australia.- Redouté (P.J.).- Ventenat (Étienne Pierre). Jardin de la Malmaison, 2 vol.,, Paris, 1803-04[-05]. £30,000 - £40,000.
  • ALDE, Mar. 11: AUGUSTIN (Saint). De civitate Dei. Rome, Konrad Sweynheym et Arnold Pannartz, 1470. €20,000 - €30,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: [REGNART (LE LIVRE DE)]. [Le] Docteur en malice, maistre Regnard, demonstrant les ruzes et cautelles qu'il use envers les personnes… Rouen, 1550. €20,000 - €30,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: TRITHÈME (JEAN). Polygraphie et universelle escriture cabalistique. Paris, [Benoît Prévost pour] Jacques Kerver, 1561. €8,000 - €10,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: CAUS (SALOMON DE). La Perspective, avec la raison des ombres et des miroirs. Londres, John Norton, 1612.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: NICERON (JEAN-FRANÇOIS). La Perspective curieuse ou magie artificielle des effets merveilleux de l'optique. Paris, Pierre Billaine, 1638. €6,000 - €8,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: VONTET (JACQUES). L’Art de trancher la viande et toute sorte de fruits… S.l.n.d. [probablement Lyon, vers 1647]. €20,000 - €30,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: HUGO (VICTOR). [Paysage spectral avec une église], [vers 1837]. €20,000 - €30,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: [HERVEY DE SAINT-DENYS (LÉON D')]. Les Rêves et les Moyens de les diriger. Observations pratiques. Paris, Amyot, 1867. €3,000 - €4,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: GACHET (PAUL-FERDINAND). Les Chats de Gachet (Manuscrit). S.d. [avant mai 1873]. €6,000 - €8,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: [REDON (ODILON)]. PICARD (EDMOND). Le Juré. Monodrame en cinq actes… Bruxelles, Mme veuve Monnom, 1887. €7,000 - €9,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: [TOULOUSE-LAUTREC (HENRI DE) ET HENRI-GABRIEL IBELS]. MONTORGUEIL (GEORGES). Le Café-concert. Paris, [1893]. €4,000 - €5,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: [TERRY (EMILIO)]. Projet de fontaine. Dessin original au stylo et à l'encre noire. 1938. €2,000 - €3,000.
  • Chiswick Auctions
    Books & Works on Paper
    12th March 2026
    Chiswick, Mar. 12: Churchill: The World in Crisis. Inscribed in 4 vols. 1923-31. £18,000 - £22,000.
    Chiswick, Mar. 12: Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Inscribed. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Chiswick, Mar. 12: Ponting. Polar Photographs (2) 1910-11. £3,000 - £4,000.
    Chiswick, Mar. 12: Gray [Artist.] India. Album 40 original drawings. 1858 - 1862. £2,000 - £3,000.
    Chiswick, Mar. 12: Lane’s Celestial Globe, 1811. £600 - £800.

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