Rare Book Monthly Articles - October - 2015 Issue

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Clearing the Backlog

Weakness at the lower levels of the rare book market is widely discussed.  The market tends to take solace from the continuing strength at the upper end while generally avoiding, for lack of a solution, the significant declines below $600.  I want to make a proposal.
 
At a guess some 99% of all rare and collectible books are worth $600 or less.  Ninety-five percent of these books, maps, pamphlets and ephemera are worth $150 or less.  They may once have been worth more but there are too many items and too few buyers to maintain current prices.
 
So how will...

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10 More Tips from an e-Bay Power Seller

Here are 10 bookish tips for those who sell books and antiquarian paper online. Perhaps the best way to summarize these suggestions is by saying anyone can have a book, magazine, map, photo or othe...

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Libraries and Booksellers Take On the NSA

The battle against spying by the NSA (National Security Administration) recently brought organizations representing libraries and booksellers into the fray. Libraries and booksellers have often fou...

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Marvin Getman's Brooklyn Fair is over, but the memories remain

Susan Heller, long time and now emeritus ABAA member and her closest friend, Gerry, recently retraced the early American explorations, travelling from Ohio across the great expanse of Pennsylvania,...

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The British Library Rejects a Collection... For the Wrong Reason

Libraries don't accept everything offered to them. Indeed, much of what is offered is declined, even though it may be of significant value. Storing and maintaining material in perpetuity is expensi...

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019d49a2-43d9-473d-b62d-fd73b2dc1471

How Not to Get Rid of Too Many Old Books

The man dubbed by police the "literary litterbug" has been fined and sentenced to community service after pleading guilty to three counts of littering. Glenn Pladsen of Arvada, Colorado, entered hi...

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The 2015 Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair

In Seattle at the site of the 1962 World’s Fair the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair will open its doors to the field over the October 10th-11th weekend.  It is consistently a major booksel...

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Animation & Comic Art: Auctionata makes a splash with their first auction on the subject

This month one of the sales Rare Book Hub is covering deals in a more contemporary and focused light. The name of the sale is Animation & Comic Art, and the auction house is Auctionata, an onli...

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Louise Labé, Head Corner Stone.

This is the kind of book that you’ll see once in a lifetime. Or, more likely, that you’ll never see in a lifetime. This is the fiery and disturbing testimony of a one of a kind woman, w...

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The Boston Public Library's Summer of Discontent: One More Problem - Mold

This has been a tough summer for the rare books and prints departments of the Boston Public Library. It seems that pretty much everything that can go wrong did go wrong. The issues they have experi...

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The Daughters of the Republic of Texas Win a Momentary Victory in the Battle of the Alamo Library

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas won at least a temporary victory over the Texas General Land Office in the Battle of the Alamo Library. The Daughters (DRT) operated the Alamo itself for over...

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To Kill A Legacy – No Third Novel Yet for Harper Lee

There will not be a third Harper Lee novel published, at least not yet. So was the news from an expert called in to examine some old typescripts found with Ms. Lee's second novel, Go Set A Watchman...

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Eight New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we review 8 new booksellers' catalogues. High Ridge Books features atlases, directories, maps, and other material with a geographic orientation. Hordern House Rare Books focuses on a par...

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Rare Book Monthly

  • F0e650da-89b6-4e3e-88d0-d8ee75daeffd 5f0f427c-502c-49ba-9383-c77e701d6d1f 859622c2-f32b-4452-abab-2a44f497b309 750ba05f-32e4-4da9-aaa6-640839ee135d 5ceb2ea6-291d-4c5c-b7ce-a11487953e59 1491509f-e302-4ad8-a700-fdb3a63ad3bd 311ae3af-e5b4-4ae2-aeab-d659ba9bef56 6bcde413-7590-4b5d-a1ad-1072b0c78874 37900042-e6ac-46f1-909b-38064ad1c46e 8d43117f-4caa-410a-84bb-ee0adc3e7031 661296de-f6c1-48dc-ad4b-5ec7280d05ed 4ded0067-668a-4801-869c-4629535a15ba 15b85754-4abc-45e9-860f-2c73e201a3eb 6c9e933c-3576-4153-8376-f52c73562010 367568a8-4774-436a-a84f-4c75e8d09afd 574fb217-0643-4d46-811b-72ca35c2e4da
    <center><b>The Collectors’ Sale<br>March 3, 2021</b>
    <b>Fonsie Mealy, Mar. 3:</b> Verlag, Luzern, Publishers: <i>The Book of Kells,</i> the most precious illuminated manuscript of the early Middle Ages, now reproduced, the FIRST AND ONLY COMPLETE FINE ART FACSIMILE EDITION. €5,000 to €6,000.
    <b>Fonsie Mealy, Mar. 3:</b> Rowling (J.K.) <i>Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone,</i> 8vo, L. (Bloomsbury) 1997, First Deluxe Edn., Signed by the Author on title page. €4,000 to €5,000.
    <b>Fonsie Mealy, Mar. 3:</b> Gilbert (John T.) Account of Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Ireland, from the earliest extant specimens to A.D. 719. €2,000 to €3,000.
    <center><b>The Collectors’ Sale<br>March 3, 2021</b>
    <b>Fonsie Mealy, Mar. 3:</b> <i>The Georgian Society Records of Eighteenth-Century Domestic Architecture in Dublin [-Ireland],</i> 5 vols. lg. 4to D. 1909 - 1913. Limited Editions. €1,500 to €2,000.
    <b>Fonsie Mealy, Mar. 3:</b> Yeats (W.B.) <i>The Poems of W.B. Yeats,</i> 2 vols., roy 8vo, L. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949, Limited Edn., No. 185 (of 375 copies). Signed. €1,500 to €2,000.
    <b>Fonsie Mealy, Mar. 3:</b> Crone (John S.)ed. <i>The Irish Book Lover, A Monthly Review of Irish Literature and Bibliography.</i> Vol. I No 1 August 1909 - Vol. XXXII No. 6, September 1957. €1,250 to €2,000.
    <center><b>The Collectors’ Sale<br>March 3, 2021</b>
    <b>Fonsie Mealy, Mar. 3:</b> Yeats (John Butler) <i>An original self-portrait Sketch,</i> Signed and dated April 1919, N[ew] York. €1,200 to €1,500.
    <b>Fonsie Mealy, Mar. 3:</b> Photograph Album. Entitled ''A Souvenir of the Visit to Jeypore Samasthanam of His Excellency the Right Hon'ble Viscount Goschen of Hawkhurst… 14th December 1927''. €1,000 to €1,500.
    <b>Fonsie Mealy, Mar. 3:</b> Pistolesi (Erasmo) <i>Il Vaticano,</i> 8vols. large atlas, folio Rome (Tipografia della Societa..) 1829. €500 to €600.
    <center><b>The Collectors’ Sale<br>March 3, 2021</b>
    <b>Fonsie Mealy, Mar. 3:</b> Chagall (Marc)illus., Legmarie (Jean) comp., <i>The Jerusalem Windows,</i> folio N.Y. (George Braziller) 1962. €400 to €500.
    <b>Fonsie Mealy, Mar. 3:</b> Bullitt (Thos. W.) <i>My Life at Oxmoor,</i> Life on a Farm in Kentucky before the War. Roy 8vo Louisville, Kentucky, 1911. Privately Printed No. 86 of 100 Copies Only. €300 to €400.
    <b>Fonsie Mealy, Mar. 3:</b> Popish Plot: Oates (Titus) <i>The Popes Whore House or The Merchandise of The Whore of Rome,</i> folio L. 1679. First Edn. €100 to €150.
  • 8fa0d218-edb9-4e38-9542-43c5c5c93f91 1c498925-78b2-4771-9f4b-dd288e504883 F5a6cf9d-8497-4ab8-91cb-f0e8686e6912 A9b1d91a-92a6-4432-8e28-b2310d380c27 1dce566f-6c6a-43a3-b949-da97dc69b66c 89b039bd-e8f7-4e47-a74a-994b46af8cdf 67df2a69-dcda-4a55-8625-6e5c49a4d17d 2605e5fe-980c-4b5f-b790-ad4e74975bbc Cb93c840-98b3-4672-9aff-4d8a78e1fe32 86d5c774-7d5a-44f3-9f76-1ed5bffdc324 B93962de-ba85-40d4-bf74-bed6f8b64403 1578ab07-2ba7-46a7-84ec-e86465daa880 0634d7ce-2ab5-4341-aaaf-323cbea9efed
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 25:</b> Frederick Douglass, ALS recruiting help for his paper after schism with Garrison, Rochester, 1851. $20,000 to $30,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 25:</b> James Dean, photograph by Sanford H. Roth, signed & inscribed by Dean. $7,000 to $10,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 25:</b> Richard Wagner, ALS requesting confirmation that the Grand Duke received his letter, 1863. $3,000 to $4,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 25:</b> Benjamin Rush, ALS, doctor’s note for a Revolutionary soldier, 1780. $2,500 to $3,500.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 25:</b> Lord Byron, ALS to Cambridge classmate, “your friendship is of more account to me than all these absurd vanities,” c. 1812. $3,000 to $4,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 25:</b> Ernest Hemingway, <i>Three Stories & Ten Poems,</i> first edition of the author’s first book, Paris, 1923. $20,000 to $30,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 25:</b> Ralph Ellison, <i>Invisible Man,</i> first English edition of the author’s first novel, signed, London, 1953. $1,800 to $2,500.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 25:</b> Margery Lawrence, <i>The Madonna of Seven Moons,</i> first edition in unrestored dust jacket, Indianapolis, 1933. $800 to $1,200.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 25:</b> Joseph Albers, <i>Interaction of Color,</i> 80 color screenprints, Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 1963. $4,000 to $6,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Feb 25:</b> Albert Einstein, autograph manuscript, unsigned, likely a draft discarded while working toward a unified field theory. $10,000 to $20,000.
  • A8daf7db-8078-4043-9dae-78438a37999b 2847bcf9-4f78-4598-a625-671f0a4d3f48 72737ec2-7c9d-4fdc-9909-14c4f3c77c96 1844ac95-79cc-4942-879f-b187987fb397 F54bbb5e-a823-44df-87f7-2838821402a8 1f934675-0d5a-48eb-a499-9863a4a1ae31 Ab315286-ac16-4630-9243-53747216e340 2e70db25-a57b-46e8-b7e9-31e152641e07 A4296707-8681-4fe2-9527-44a8eaa5d1fd 08528532-143d-42d0-8b4c-c1d37855c2fe 83723749-eb13-4220-96a1-4067ae0e3cd0 A30a9cbf-6600-460b-a2a9-711d59cc69ce D97723c6-01b7-441e-b7fb-471ba9000192 34dbc284-0545-4008-ae6f-0f6cc973b983 78b938b6-19a2-44bf-96ea-3195980fc35e 04d41c1f-4124-421a-9491-0fcb8a38b1bb
    <b><center>Hindman Auctions<br>Literature from a Private New Orleans Collection<br>March 19, 2021</b>
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Mar. 19:</b> STEINBECK, John (1902-1968). <i>The Pastures of Heaven.</i> New York: Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1932. $10,000 to $15,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Mar. 19:</b> FITZGERALD, F. Scott (1896-1940). <i>Tender is the Night.</i> New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934. $6,000 to $8,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Mar. 19:</b> STOKER, Bram (1847-1912). <i>Dracula.</i> Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company, 1897. $5,000 to $7,000.
    <b><center>Hindman Auctions<br>Literature from a Private New Orleans Collection<br>March 19, 2021</b>
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Mar. 19:</b> GOLDING, William (1911-1993). <i>Lord of the Flies.</i> London: Faber and Faber, 1954. $4,000 to $6,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Mar. 19:</b> SALINGER, J. D. (1919-2010). The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1951. $4,000 to $6,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Mar. 19:</b> HEMINGWAY, Ernest (1899-1961). <i>The Torrents of Spring.</i> New York: Scribner's, 1926. $3,000 to $4,000.
    <b><center>Hindman Auctions<br>Literature from a Private New Orleans Collection<br>March 19, 2021</b>
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Mar. 19:</b> HUXLEY, Aldous (1894-1963). <i>Brave New World.</i> London: Chatto & Windus, 1932. $3,000 to $4,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Mar. 19:</b> WELLS, H.G. <i>The Time Machine, an Invention.</i> New York: Henry Holt, 1895. $3,000 to $4,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Mar. 19:</b> DAHL, Roald (1916-1990). <i>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.</i> New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964. $2,000 to $3,000.
    <b><center>Hindman Auctions<br>Literature from a Private New Orleans Collection<br>March 19, 2021</b>
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Mar. 19:</b> HERBERT, Frank (1920-1986). Dune. Philadelphia: Chilton Books, 1965. $2,000 to $3,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Mar. 19:</b> KESEY, Ken (1935-2001). <i>One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.</i> New York: The Viking Press, 1962. $2,000 to $3,000.
    <b>Hindman Auctions, Mar. 19:</b> VONNEGUT, Kurt, Jr. (1922-2007). <i>Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade.</i> New York: Seymour Lawrence Delacorte Press, 1969. $2,000 to $3,000.

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