Rare Book Monthly Articles - August - 2015 Issue

Thinking about Selling

Thinking about Selling

I have suggested to collectors for years that they plan to dispose in their lifetimes.  Collections in the books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera fields now fall into the traditional form of known, well documented material or, as is the case increasingly, into a more sprawling, complex form that is built at least in part on ephemera, letters and other previously unknown material that have no pricing history.  My first two collections fell clearly into the traditional form, my current collection into the latter.   Over the past month I’ve been trying to understand how my current collection ...

One-Two Punch – Independent Report Critical of Boston Public Library

One-Two Punch – Independent Report Critical of Boston Public Library

The Boston Public Library has released the results of a year-long review of its Print Department. It was something of a one-two punch, coming on the heels of June's strange and embarrassing case of...

Wanted:  A Collector with Ambition

Wanted: A Collector with Ambition

Because booksellers' catalogues randomly appear and because there are thousands of booksellers the sheer magnitude of catalogue production has long gone unrecognized and unreported.  There have bee...

Twenty Years Ago, the Book World Was Turned Upside Down

Twenty Years Ago, the Book World Was Turned Upside Down

It's been just 20 years. On July 16, 1995, a buyer purchased a copy of the ever-popular Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought. The book was...

Electronic Catalogues:  their day has come

Electronic Catalogues: their day has come

The wheels of progress turn slowly.  Over the long haul change can appear inevitable but nearer by seems much less conclusive.  Such are the changes in cataloging that have been transforming the ra...

FEET OF CLAY: Harper Lee and/or Atticus Finch? "Go Set A Watchman" sells over a million copies its first week

FEET OF CLAY: Harper Lee and/or Atticus Finch? "Go Set A Watchman" sells over a million copies its first week

Whoever said "There are no second acts in American literature," was not working for the marketing department of Harper Collins which released "Go Set a Watchman" on July 14. The publisher introduce...

In The News:  Tons of Old Books Thrown Away; Two Stolen Manuscripts Recovered

In The News: Tons of Old Books Thrown Away; Two Stolen Manuscripts Recovered

Libraries lose books, sometimes through theft, sometimes through carelessness, never for a good reason. A library in Thailand lost tons of books, quite literally, for the worst reason we've come ac...

A Baker's Eight Dozen Plus Four

A Baker's Eight Dozen Plus Four

Will [W. C.] Baker is, among other things, a graduate of the William Reese Rare Book School.  He worked there for several years and gained a perspective on scholarship, presentation, and rarity tha...

Abbé Prades, the Little Heretic. Or, Muddy Chaff and Golden Wheat

Abbé Prades, the Little Heretic. Or, Muddy Chaff and Golden Wheat

I love eBay in the summer. Just the other day, I bought a very nice copy of Abbé Fleury's Histoire Ecclésiastique abrégée (Berne, 1767)—a handsome two volumes sets bound in full contemporary calf, ...

Prints Stolen from French National Library Recovered – It was an Inside Job

Prints Stolen from French National Library Recovered – It was an Inside Job

Forty-three prints, stolen from the Richelieu-Louvois branch of the French National Library, have been recovered. The prints have been valued at roughly $200,000. The thief reportedly has confessed...

August 5th: Leslie Hindman Auctioneers presents Fine Books & Manuscripts

August 5th: Leslie Hindman Auctioneers presents Fine Books & Manuscripts

This month Leslie Hindman Auctioneers is pleased to present a sale of Fine Books and Manuscripts. Taking place in Chicago on August 5th, the auction includes 276 lots of books, maps, manuscripts, a...

August 5th: A Pirate's Bounty at the Arader Galleries Auction

August 5th: A Pirate's Bounty at the Arader Galleries Auction

On August 5th Arader Galleries will be holding an auction on site at their Madison Avenue location. Featuring sixty five lots, The History of Caribbean Pirates Treasure as told through Maps, Atlas...

Apple Loses Its Legal Appeal (No Pun Intended) – Will Pay Ebook Buyers $450 Million

Apple Loses Its Legal Appeal (No Pun Intended) – Will Pay Ebook Buyers $450 Million

Apple Inc., the computer/iPhone maker that is now the world's most valuable company, lost its appeal of a lower court ruling that it had engaged in price fixing of electronic books with five publis...

Twelve New Catalogues Reviewed for August

Twelve New Catalogues Reviewed for August

This month 12 new bookseller catalogues are reviewed. Some are highly targeted, others feature a wide variety of material. A few are location centered. The William Reese Company and David M. Lesser...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby's Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Balthus, Emily Brontë. Wuthering Heights, New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1993. 6,600 USD.
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. Complete Works, Philadelphia & London: J.B. Lippincott Company & Chapman & Hall, LD, 1850. Limited Edition set of 30 volumes. 7,500 USD.
    Sotheby’s: John Lennon, Yoko Ono. Handwritten Letter from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to their Chauffer. 1971. 32,500 USD.
    Sotheby’s: Winston Churchill. First edition of War Speeches, Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1941. Set of 7 volumes. 5,500 USD.
    Sotheby’s: Andy Warhol, Julia Warhola. Holy Cats First Edition, Signed by Andy Warhol. 1954. 30,000 USD.
  • 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.
  • Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803) - Campi Phlegraei. Napoli: [Pietro Fabris], 1776, 1779. € 30.000 - 50.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: [MORTIER] - BLAEU, Joannes (1596-1673) - Het Nieuw Stede Boek van Italie. Amsterdam: Pieter Mortier, 1704-1705. € 15.000 - 25.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: TULLIO D'ALBISOLA (1899-1971) - Bruno MUNARI (1907-1998) - L'Anguria lirica (lungo poema passionale). Roma e Savona: Edizioni Futuriste di Poesia, senza data [ma 1933?]. € 20.000 - 30.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: IL MANOSCRITTO RITROVATO DI IPPOLITA MARIA SFORZA. TITO LIVIO - Ab Urbe Condita. Prima Decade. Manoscritto miniato su pergamena, metà XV secolo. € 280.000 - 350.000

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