Rare Book Monthly Articles - June - 2012 Issue

The Last Book Sale – Larry McMurtry to Auction 300,000 Books

Keep your eyes open for an enormous book auction in a very small town this summer. On August 10 and 11, Addison Sarova Auctioneers will be conducting an on-site sale of inventory from Larry McMurtry's Booked Up store in Archer City, Texas. Before anyone gets disheartened over Mr. McMurtry leaving the business, he isn't. As he explains, he is “just downsizing.” At the age of 75, he believes it's time to share the stock, although even after reducing it by two-thirds, he will still have one of the larger inventories in the book trade. Currently, the Booked Up inventory is housed in four larg...

Collecting Possibilities Beyond Books

Collecting in the works on paper category has over the years become both easier and more complex.  What was for many collectors once the collecting of rare books has become the collecting of rariti...

Sendak’s Death Spurs Interest in His Works

Not many creators of books for children get a front page obituary in the New York Times; but then there aren’t many who could match Maurice Sendak, the multi-talented illustrator and writer, who di...

Trends in Book Auction Prices Updated

AE has updated its “Trends in Book Auction Prices” providing evidence the muted recovery, as measured by median lot realizations, that took hold in March 2009 continues to find traction today.   Th...

For Sale – George Washington's Personal Copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights

On June 22, Christie's in New York will be auctioning one of those amazing pieces of Americana one would not ever expect to see up for sale. It is George Washington's personal copy of the United St...

A Deep Collection of English Church History to sell on June 3rd

An intense and very defined collection of English Church Architecture books, some of them folios with plates, will be sold without reserve at Carlsen Gallery in Freehold, New York on June 3rd.  Man...

Travel in Jamaica - Exploring the National Library in Downtown Kingston, in the year 2012

PART I : meeting Thomas Gage, the villain in a religious suit. Jamaica, home of Bob Marley and Usain Bolt, is a dream for many American tourists. It is also a nightmare for some of its inhabitant...

Is this any way to run an airline?

Software and site development is incremental accompanied once every two or three years with a major remake/rewrite.  During the past month we’ve been made several incremental changes worth noting. ...

Newspapers Receive a Heady Endorsement – from Warren Buffet

Newspapers, the long-suffering stepchild of the printing industry, received a surprising vote of confidence from one of the most successful investors ever – Warren Buffet. Buffet, generally believe...

The AED at 3.5 Million Records

The Americana Exchange Database of auction, bibliographic and dealer records of books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera crossed another threshold the other day:  3.5 million records.  Comparative sea...

Fine Books & Manuscripts at Bonhams June 19th

Book auctions have been for some time on an unfamiliar trajectory, arcing toward the ever-evolving nexus of old material, new tastes and evolving methodology.  This is not a world our Grandfathers ...

The War of 1812 - Observing Its 200th Anniversary

We saw great celebrations around the land when America observed the 200th anniversary of the Revolution. Similar events have been featured at notable anniversaries of Civil War events. This month, ...

Sixteen New Catalogues Up for Review

For June, we have 16 new catalogues up for review. M S Rare Books has a selection of early American works. The William Reese Company focuses on American manuscripts, while David Lesser Antiquarian...

AE Monthly:  Interesting eCatalogues in Section III

This month Section III of AE Monthly includes 16 presentations from dealers in North and South America, Europe and Australia.  These catalogues neatly fit between the world that was, the printed ca...

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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