Rare Book Monthly Articles - November - 2015 Issue

Collecting on a Budget

Collecting on a Budget

Passion and practicality coexist in human beings, in a relationship that shifts from second to second.  We are at once interested and disinterested, cost and value in constant flux, our interests and needs constantly juxtaposed leading to “I’d like it but…”.  Nevertheless many of sound mind and high spirits are inexorably drawn to collectible books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera that are hardly as certain as gold or as negotiable as currency, they of this persuasion some small percentage of the population that interprets the world through the lens of the printed form and deems they must no...

A $5 Million Photograph, Purchased for $2 in an Antique Shop

A $5 Million Photograph, Purchased for $2 in an Antique Shop

Miracles do still happen. Collectors scour yard sales, estate sales, auctions, eBay, unappreciated items in dealer inventories, hoping to find that gem lost among the rubble. One such collector may...

Old Books On-line, The Words of an eBay Bookseller

Old Books On-line, The Words of an eBay Bookseller

Vincent Pannequin is a professional bookseller who closed down his physical bookstore, Dioscures, in 2013 to sell books exclusively on eBay.fr. A good move, as the last year of exploitation had bee...

Booksellers Respond To RBH’s “Clearing the Backlog” Article

Booksellers Respond To RBH’s “Clearing the Backlog” Article

Last month, Rare Book Hub Monthly publisher Bruce McKinney posted an article titled “Clearing the Backlog” that has drawn a lot of reaction in the bookselling world. In his piece McKinney noted tha...

The Boston Book Fairs:  November 13-15

The Boston Book Fairs: November 13-15

Over the weekend of November 13-15 the Annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair returns to America’s cradle of democracy.  The venue is the Hines Convention Center.  Nearby Marvin Getman’s...

In The News:  Gems Found in Old Booksellers' Inventory, Edith's Rattle, and More

In The News: Gems Found in Old Booksellers' Inventory, Edith's Rattle, and More

Once in awhile, a surprising item can turn up in the inventory of some old booksellers. This news came out of Australia a few weeks back. Jim Elder, of Elder Fine Art and Auctioneers, was tasked wi...

10 New Catalogues Are Reviewed This Month

10 New Catalogues Are Reviewed This Month

Ten new bookseller catalogues are reviewed this month. Two catalogues are filled with unusual yet affordable material for everyone. Peter L. Masi Books has obscure, fascinating items from the 19th ...

The Worst Kind of Library Theft

The Worst Kind of Library Theft

The folks at the Literary Hub have informed us of an article they have published they believe will be of interest to readers of Rare Book Monthly. The Literary Hub is filled with articles about boo...

Dec. 1: Must-see Science & Medicine Books from Christie's London

Dec. 1: Must-see Science & Medicine Books from Christie's London

Technically not a November sale, Christie’s London’s December 1st sale of Science Medicine Books from the Royal Institution of Great Britain is close enough that we’re including it in our November...

Complex Intrigue in the Rooms at Doyle New York on November 23rd

Complex Intrigue in the Rooms at Doyle New York on November 23rd

Into the late fall book men and women of all persuasions, the amateurs and professionals, readers and librarians cast off their summer crusts in search of the stimulating and collectible works on p...

The Dallas Auction Gallery Features Items in the Works on Paper Field

The Dallas Auction Gallery Features Items in the Works on Paper Field

This month we welcome the Dallas Auction Gallery to the list of houses whose auctions we follow. Dallas Auction Gallery is not new to the field. They have been around since 2002, when the house was...

At Dirk Soulis:  The Harry Ruskin Sale

At Dirk Soulis: The Harry Ruskin Sale

On November 24th Dirk Soulis of 529 W. Lone Jack, Lone Jack, Missouri will complete a three week on online auction of antiquarian books, cased Limited Editions and Folio Society volumes, a large co...

Nov. 15: Fine Books & Manuscripts at Skinner

Nov. 15: Fine Books & Manuscripts at Skinner

Headlined by a first edition of Audubon’s The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, the auction house Skinner’s November 15th sale of Fine Books Manuscripts immediately asserts itself as one for...

One of a Kind Collectibles Auctions Features Amazing Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, and Sports

One of a Kind Collectibles Auctions Features Amazing Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, and Sports

One of a Kind Collectibles Auctions has an online auction this month that is filled with amazing rare autographs, manuscripts and sports. Bidding has already opened and will be accepted through Nov...

Nov. 4 and 5: Heritage Auctions' Sale for Every Book Collector

Nov. 4 and 5: Heritage Auctions' Sale for Every Book Collector

In what is shaping up to be a typically busy November for the industry, Heritage Auctions has taken a unique approach to making their November 4th and 5th sale dubbed Rare Books Signature Auction m...

Matisse and the Book Arts:  An Exhibition at the Morgan

Matisse and the Book Arts: An Exhibition at the Morgan

Henri Matisse is renown as one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. He is best known for his paintings, though his sculptures and drawings are also highly celebrated. Not quite as fami...

Thief Charged with Murder of Comic Book Collector Pleads Guilty

Thief Charged with Murder of Comic Book Collector Pleads Guilty

One of the defendants in the robbery and murder of an elderly comic book collector has pleaded guilty to the Rochester, New York, area crime. Donald R. Griffin, 37, was not the ringleader, but the ...

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.
  • Books & Autographs
    Wednesday 25 March
    Koller, Mar. 25: KAFKA, FRANZ, SCHRIFTSTELLER. Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift. Prag, 20. Oktober [19]15. CHF 30,000-40,000.
    Koller, Mar. 25: EINSTEIN, ALBERT. Zwei eigenhändige Briefe an Ernst Gabor Straus, unterschrieben "A.E" bzw. "A. Einstein". [Princeton], [19]45. und [1950]. CHF 30,000-40,000.
    Koller, Mar. 25: HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS, MUTTER VON NAPOLEON III. Album aus ihrem Besitz mit 69 Aquarellen und Pinselzeichnungen in Sepia oder Grau… CHF 14,000-18,000.
    Koller, Mar. 25: ZOOLOGIE - ORNITHOLOGIE - Seligmann, Johann Michael. Verzameling van uitlandsche en zeldzaame Vogelen. Teile 1-8 (von 9) in 2 Bänden. Mit 421 prächtig altkolorierten Kupfertafeln. CHF 14,000-20,000
    Koller, Mar. 25: BOTANIK - Berlèse, Lorenzo und Johann Jakob Jung. Iconographie du genre camellia... 3 Bände. Mit 300 Farbstichtafeln "a la poupée.” Paris, [1839-]1841-1843. CHF 12,000-18,000.

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