By Bruce McKinney
The human brain is in constant flux, caught between emotion and reason. On the day last spring I consigned my collection of the American Experience to auction at Bonhams for sale tomorrow, December 2nd, in New York, 'reason' was in charge. As the day, hour and minute approach it turns out that consignor emotions will be heard. They are now informing me that they weren't consulted and are now in an uproar. Oh well. Every consignor to auction faces a moment when the market will judge the material, house, timing, offer, estimates and reserves and if pleased leap to it...
By Susan Halas
Nancy Pearl - many readers, NPR listeners, library-goers and those who think fondly of librarians - already know her name.
This is the Nancy Pearl who started the city-wide bo...
By Michael Stillman
The first three weeks of December will be one of the busiest times we have seen in a while for the world of book and ephemera auctions. Then, the hammers will fall silent for...
By Bruce McKinney
The Americana Exchange Database of Auction records, bibliographical notices, important dealer and collector catalogues has reached three million full text records. Over the ...
By Tom McKinney
For those not familiar with Matchmaker, it is a service that lets Americana Exchange members input keywords phrases, and authors, titles dates, into our system. We then take yo...
By Michael Stillman
A book theft that turned deadly may lead to homicide charges depending on the outcome of forensic evidence. The books at issue were actually comic books, but the results were...
By Susan Halas
November's lead story on Better World Books of Mishawaka, Indiana, not only attracted a greater than usual number of readers, but also evoked quite a bit of response both directly...
By Bruce McKinney
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers of Chicago struck gold with 3,129 words which they sold for $79,300 or $25.34 each. These words were written in 1880 by Samuel Clemens in his hand, ...
By Michael Stillman
The Portland Area Used Booksellers Association (Portland, Oregon) two weeks ago announced the launching of a cooperative website for its members. According to PAUBA's Preside...
By Bruce McKinney
One of the storied seats in all of book auction selling is going to be filled on January 3rd. The seat is as Head of Books Manuscripts at Sotheby's in New York. The person s...
By Michael Stillman
Barnes Noble recently announced another new idea for its stores as the nation's number one bricks and mortar book retailer struggles to re-establish relevance in a changing ...
By Bruce McKinney
Skinner, the Boston auction house, for the second time in two years, has sold a Declaration of Independence and the price of freedom continues to be high. This copy is attri...
By Michael Stillman
The electronic reader knows no borders. The rapid rollout of Kindles and Nooks in America is being repeated with a group of locally produced electronic readers in Europe. On ...
By Bruce McKinney
Antiquarian Auctions of Laguna Beach, California will be posting its first sale for bidding beginning on December 9th and concluding its first sale on the 16th. Ed Postal, o...
This month we are reviewing 14 new bookseller catalogues. The American West is featured in catalogues from Gene Baade's Books on the West and the Argonaut Book Shop, while the William Reese Company...
