Midway through 2016 the world is decidedly different than it was as recently as a year ago. Domestic violence in the United States, Europe and Africa, slowing growth in many parts of the world, Brexit, the rise of isolationism, and the presidential election in the United States are spelling hard times for the world of collectibles. I asked six dealers the following question, “Looking back five and ahead five years, where have you come from, where are you now, and where will you be?
I spoke with John Doyle of Crawford Doyle in New York, Bill Reese of the William Reese Company, Jim Cumm...
For the past 50 years, I have, from time to time, visited the principal graveyard on Plains Road in New Paltz, New York where I grew up. I today live on the west coast and New Paltz is on the e...
AbeBooks has released its list of the top 10 most expensive items sold on their site for the second quarter of 2016. These lists give us an anecdotal but interesting look at what is selling for the...
I became a reader of the Missionary Herald because it was an excellent primary source in English of information about Hawaii in the early 19th century. As a dealer in Hawaii and the Pacific I found...
A few months ago, a team from the University of Lyon-2, France, made an audio reconstruction of Paris in the 18th century. Though captivating, the video (news.cnrs.fr/articles/sound-18th-century-pa...
Two years ago, on eBay, an item was offered that looked interesting. It was “Guide Book to Lake Mohonk – New Paltz, Ulster Co., N. Y.” and its date marked it as very early in the history of the S...
The second part of what may well be the greatest book sale of the 21st century so far has been scheduled for November 8 and 9 this year. It will be held in Paris at the famed auction site, the Hote...
Steven Eisenstein has a talk show about rare books on the online radio station WDBF Radio. He and I have spoken a few times, and I’ve agreed to be a guest on Saturday, August 20th. The show will b...
July has come to a close, and this means a couple things. One, summer’s almost over. And two, Comic-Con International in San Diego just ended. This year marked the 47th year of the comic-based extr...
Book theft is never pretty, but sometimes it's even uglier than usual. Some thief unknown reached new depths with the theft of a prayer book from an English church. It was not any prayer book. The ...
For almost 20 years the Keno brothers, Leigh and Leslie, have been stars of Americana and valuable cars. They came to these fields with fine pedigrees, Leigh a noted specialist at Christie’s, Lesl...
We have all heard a police officer reciting the Miranda Rights. Hopefully, we have heard it on a crime drama on television, rather than from having a police officer recite them to us personally. Yo...
For August, we review ten new bookseller catalogues. Maggs Bros. and John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller offer catalogues of travel and voyages. Several booksellers target books about America. The W...
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.
