Rare Book Monthly Articles - January - 2016 Issue

And Now... The Top 500 Prices Paid at Auction in 2015 for Books and Works on Paper

The close of another year gives us a chance to look back at the Rare Book Hub Top 500 prices paid at auction in the books, manuscripts and ephemera field for 2015. These annual lists help us understand what is popular today, particularly among the highest end of collectors, and to take the pulse of the market. Here are a few things we found.   For the first time since 2012, the top item fell just short of reaching eight figures. However, the most expensive piece is not indicative of much other than how badly someone wanted the most desired item offered. More indicative of the market is ho...

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A Year Like No Other

A year ago, in December, I had elective open-heart surgery.  Congenital issues were in play and my doctors felt they could intervene to alter the pattern of early death by heart disease that is epi...

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Valuable Map Stolen from Boston Library Returned. One Down, 34 To Go

This has been a difficult year for the Boston Public Library. There was the lost, feared stolen $600,000 print that turned out to be misplaced, the resignation of the library's president as a resul...

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2015: A Strong Year for RBH / AE

Two thousand and fifteen is now in the record books and most of the results in the fields of books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera have been recorded.  It was a busy year.   The RBH database incr...

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The Golden Calf – the First Pierre Bergé Sale

The first sale of Pierre Bergé’s collection was a success as it generated 11.7 millions euros. But are the exorbitant prices of these books a good omen for the future of old books?   «Yes, the sa...

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Selling books online - CARPE DIEM: Some tips for a better bottom line in 2016

Carpe Diem - "Seize the Day" was my mother's favorite piece of bookselling advice. A bookseller for 50 years she hung this motto over her desk and she found opportunity in many places. Here are som...

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AbeBooks Most Expensive Books of 2015 Includes Their Most Expensive Book Ever

We've all entered our credit card number into an online order form and then, with some trepidation, clicked "submit." How many of us have done so when the amount was $191,000? Someone placed such a...

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Book Fairs: an essential ingredient

The calendar of book, manuscript, map and ephemera fairs for 2016 is fast filling.  Bookstores may be closing and the bulk of sales shifting online but face-to-face contact remains an essential asp...

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Feb. 5-7: Miami International Map Fair gives map collectors a great reason to escape the cold

Are you a serious collector of maps? Do you perhaps live somewhere cold and want to escape the weather? Look no further than Miami, because this February 5th through 7th, the HistoryMiami Museum is...

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Coming to Auction at Auctionata: A Near Complete Run of La Gazette du Bon Ton

This February, Auctionata, the Berlin-based auction house, is giving collectors of fashion something to be excited about. They’re hosting a sale of Rare Books Ephemera, and its headline item is a ...

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A Very Special Edition of a Very Special Book Offered

A very special edition of the best selling novel of 2015 is now available. An edition limited to 500 copies of Harper Lee's Go Set A Watchman has been published by HarperCollins, with a price tag o...

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Fellowships at the New-York Historical Society, Deadline Extended

Fellowships at the New-York Historical Society, Deadline Extended   The New York Historical Society has extended the deadline to apply for fellowships for 2016-2017 that are designed “to encourag...

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Last Defendant in Killing of Comic Book Collector Pleads Guilty

Book theft is a crime most foul, but it is generally a genteel crime. Knowing how to quietly dispose of valuable books takes a degree of sophistication not possessed by the typical violent street t...

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Apple is Going to the Supreme Court to Argue They Did Not Fix E-Book Prices

In a strange continuation of the long-running Department of Justice antitrust claim against Apple and five book publishers for e-book price fixing, Apple has filed an appeal all the way to the Supr...

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Ten New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we review 10 new catalogues, and this time, most of them cover a variety of subjects, rather than being targeted to a specific area of collecting. The Brick Row Book Shop offers a miscel...

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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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