By Bruce McKinney
Book fairs serve many purposes. They are site, catalyst and barometer, a place for booksellers and book buyers to cross paths, find material, exchange ideas, and access the changing playing field. The recent ABAA book fair in New York was all of this and more, many of the leading dealers and collectors meeting at the storied 7th Regiment Armory at 643 Park to see old friends and old books and explore new possibilities. The world of printed material is rapidly changing but for a few days it felt like life as it has been even as it becomes life as it will be.
Two...
By Michael Stillman
Last month we offered a proposal to jumpstart book fairs, in the doldrums for several years, and included a survey to see whether you liked our idea. That idea was to require...
By Bruce McKinney
The weekly auction reports, introduced a year ago, have been revised. Members who have signed up for the free weekly reports will see a revised report when they receive the ne...
By Karen Wright
This year's first annual Sacramento Spring Book Fair was quite a success, according to Jim Kay, the show's promoter.
I asked Jim how the show went. "Pretty well, we actually ...
By Tom McKinney
This month, I was struggling to think of topics to write about. I 'm supposed to be a tech expert, but tech isn't always on the forefront of the rare book industry. There's the ...
By Susan Halas
One of the oldest wisdoms of the antiquarian trade is: "If it was considered beautiful once, it will be considered beautiful again." The problem is how long do you have to wai...
By Michael Stillman
A case pitting online auction giant eBay against luxury jeweler Tiffany's in the Second Circuit U.S. Appeals Court has all kinds of implications for sellers and buyers in the...
By Bruce McKinney
Frank Benevento did not buy his first important map ten years ago with the idea of becoming a canary in the coal mine in 2010 but circumstances make his sale of 71 important [p...
By Michael Stillman
It may be a comic, but this story is no joke. If you weren't mad at your mother for throwing out your old comic books before, you may be now. A copy of an old comic sold on t...
By Bruce McKinney
There's Books in Them There Hills
On Saturday May 15th the Gold Rush Book Fair will reprise its long history of successful events with its annual day-long show at the Nevada...
By Michael Stillman
The Bookseller, the British book magazine, has announced the winner of its annual Oddest Book Title of the Year award. The books selected for this award may be serious, but t...
By Tom McKinney
Two months ago I
wrote about Apple's iPad. It hadn't actually been released yet, and now it has. It's done very well, with analysts suggesting over a million have already be...
By Michael Stillman
It seems that time trashes the memory of even our greatest heroes. First we learned that Thomas Jefferson slept with one of his slaves, had children, and allowed his own chil...
This month 17 new bookseller catalogues are reviewed in Section II of AE Monthly. The topics this month are as varied as the books themselves. Nineteenth century America is the focus of Seneca Book...
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
