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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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 ...
ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections Open for Bidding 2-17 April
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.
