Rare Book Monthly Articles - July - 2010 Issue

Bolerium - Bookselling as Performance Art

Bolerium - Bookselling as Performance Art

By Bruce McKinney An interesting shop in the San Francisco barrio south of Market Street; this is Bolerium Books on Mission. The street is busy, the traffic young. From down the street a giant BOOKS sign, in the same type and size New York used a few years ago to salute the Yankees after winning their umpteenth baseball championship, is visible on the building front. Across the street an unusual combination of loiters suggest illegal activities. Passing by I pat my wallet. No one pays them or me any mind. This is San Francisco. One intersection over is Capp Street that ten years...

Amazon's Demand for "Price Parity" Has Dealers in an Uproar

Amazon's Demand for "Price Parity" Has Dealers in an Uproar

By Michael Stillman The recent application of Amazon.com's "price parity" policy to European booksellers has resulted in a great outcry from those countries' dealers. The policy has been in effe...

The History of Books, by the numbers

The History of Books, by the numbers

By Bruce McKinney Books are composed mostly of words, occasional numbers and infrequent images. The history of books on the Americana Exchange is the matter of description and the number of t...

EBook Reader Prices Drop - and They're Probably Not Done Yet!

EBook Reader Prices Drop - and They're Probably Not Done Yet!

By Tom McKinney Last month, Mike Stillman wrote about the new Kobo eBook reader which Borders is now selling for $149. Last month, that price was cheaper than the competition, but the price ma...

Bud Plant - Pop Culture Specialist Celebrates 40th Year

Bud Plant - Pop Culture Specialist Celebrates 40th Year

By Susan Halas "What a long strange trip it’s been...." This year Bud Plant celebrates the 40th year of Bud's Art Books. That's forty years since 1970, when he started in the mail order bo...

<i>Book 'em:</i> One Down, One to Go

<i>Book 'em:</i> One Down, One to Go

By Michael Stillman Maybe there's something in the water. England has become the site of two dramatic and unusual book theft cases. One involves the legendary "Tome Raider," who officially becam...

A Sale in the Fall to Test the Market

A Sale in the Fall to Test the Market

By Bruce McKinney In a few weeks Bonhams will announce they are handling my second sale - The American Experience - 1626 - 1850, the second auction of books, manuscripts and ephemera from the co...

Rose City Used Book Fair (Portland, Oregon June 11-12): "An Unpretentious book Fair"

Rose City Used Book Fair (Portland, Oregon June 11-12): "An Unpretentious book Fair"

By Lee Kirk, The Prints The Paper - www.kirksbooks.com This was the first show I have done in 7 years due to family and personal health issues, eldercare, etc. Since it was the 5th year for ...

Susan Heller:  A Lifetime of Ephemera- for sale

Susan Heller: A Lifetime of Ephemera- for sale

By Bruce McKinney Susan Heller of Pages 4 Sages of Beachwood, Ohio is a young 75+ and looking to wrap up her four-decade career in the book business. As is the experience of most booksellers sh...

What Can John Lennon Tell Us About The Book Market?

What Can John Lennon Tell Us About The Book Market?

By Michael Stillman Items in the books, manuscripts and ephemera field do not have to be antiquarian to bring in big money. Indeed, we are witnessing something of a changing of the guard in what...

Getting Down with MatchMaker: A Step by Step Guide

Getting Down with MatchMaker: A Step by Step Guide

By Tom McKinney This month I'm writing a step-by-step guide to the AE premium service MatchMaker. If you're already a premium member and don't use the service, maybe this will make it less intim...

Where "Coverless" and "Foxed" are Positive Selling Features

Where "Coverless" and "Foxed" are Positive Selling Features

By Michael Stillman When is a book more desirable after its covers have been torn from the pages? When are terms such as "foxed" and "faded" a positive selling feature? Welcome to the new world ...

14 Catalogues Reviewed This Month

14 Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Fourteen new catalogues are reviewed in Section Two this month. Travel and exploration are the subjects of catalogues from Peter Harrington and Gert Jan Bestebreurtje Rare Books. Autographs and man...

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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