Good news for booksellers – California has repealed its hated new autograph law, at least as it applies to booksellers. The onerous requirements, which also could have affected out-of-state booksellers selling to California residents and participants in California trade shows, will no longer apply to those in the book trade. The same applies to those selling manuscripts, numbered prints and other forms of autographed ephemera not pertaining to the sports or entertainment media industries.
The old law, which took effect on January 1 of this year, was never meant to apply to booksellers. ...
The world of books, maps, manuscripts and ephemera seems to have always lived within its own reality. Decades ago rare and unusual examples were often obscure and required experts to first find, e...
There’s not much in the world of bookish pursuits that Nancy Pearl hasn’t tried. She’s been a Tulsa bookseller, a Seattle librarian, a highly regarded book reviewer with regular guest appearances o...
A record sale in the books and manuscripts field was completed late last month. A private sale between two churches saw the printer's manuscript copy of the Book of Mormon sold for $35 million. It ...
The Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair is now come and gone. It’s in its fourth year and by some accounts this year moved from start-up to established as evidenced by the type of material that sold be...
Regarded as the “first historical biography of Jesus”, Renan’s Vie de Jésus is a very emotional book. As such, it deeply irritated the historians, while selling like hot cakes. Historians and feeli...
You might have thought the world had come to an end. Comments from some booksellers that appeared on the internet expressed such dire sentiments, at least in regards to their livelihoods. Abe was d...
Over the weekend of October 14th and 15th in Seattle at the 1962 World’s Fair Grounds the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair will be held as it has been over the past four decades. The fair throughout ...
"Most people would not look for illustrations in law books." So begins the description of two exhibitions curated by the Yale Law Library in one of the greater understatements you will hear. The ex...
A fascinating companion volume to the exhibition of Law's Picture Books currently taking place in New York City is available for those who cannot (or can) make it to New York. It also bears the nam...
On Grand Avenue just down the street from Macalester College, in St. Paul Minnesota, the Against the Current used and rare Book Shop is busy preparing to open its doors to readers and bibliophiles....
London-based Forum Auctions is a relatively new player in the field, having formed last year, but their team is anything but new to the rare book business. Since their launch, they have been quite ...
An Australian scientist with a long resume of published works has pleaded guilty to defrauding the government of over half a million Australian dollars, primarily to purchase books. Dr. Daniel Mich...
The infamous "monkey selfie" case has come to an end without answering the major question – can a monkey copyright his original works? The parties to the lawsuit have come to a settlement which lea...
Seven new catalogues are up for review in this month's issue of Rare Book Monthly. The William Reese Company revisits the greatest Americana sale of the 20th century, by that century's greatest col...
On the University of Indiana website notice of the death of William R, Cagle, former Lilly Librarian, who died in Paris last week at the age of 83, was recently posted.
We provide here his In M...
SD Auctions, Apr. 16: Fredrik Kolstø. Aftenstemning ved Kysten. c.1890-t.
SD Auctions, Apr. 16: Knut Yran. OL-plakaten Oslo 1952.
Swann Fine Books Featuring Focus on Women April 23, 2026
Swann, Apr. 23: Thomas Heywood. An Apology for Actors. London: Printed by Nicholas Okes, 1612. $3,000 to $5,000.
Swann, Apr. 23: Illuminated Islamic Devotional Manuscript. 19th century. Approx. 90 leaves with gilt-decorated title and 2 full page miniatures of Mecca and Medina. $800 to $1,200.
Swann, Apr. 23: Antiphonal in Latin. Manuscript on Parchment. Cologne, early 16th century. $7,000 to $9,000.
Swann Fine Books Featuring Focus on Women April 23, 2026
Swann, Apr. 23: Mohammed ibn Jafir Albategnius. De Scientia Stellarum Liber. Bologna: Victor Benati, 1645. $8,000 to $12,000.
Swann, Apr. 23: Frank Herbert. Dune. Fine First Edition. Philadelphia: Chilton Books, 1965. $5,000 to $7,000.
Swann, Apr. 23: William Shakespeare. Five Plays from the Second Folio. London: Thomas Cotes for Robert Allot, 1632. $6,000 to $8,000.
Swann Fine Books Featuring Focus on Women April 23, 2026
Swann, Apr. 23: John Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men. New York: Covici-Friede, 1937. First edition, first issue. $800 to $1,200.
Swann, Apr. 23: Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities. With an A.L.S. London: Chapman and Hall, 1859. First edition, first issue. $1,200 to $1,800.
Swann, Apr. 23: Ursula K. LeGuin. The Left Hand of Darkness. Inscribed First Edition. New York: Walker and Company, 1969. $800 to $1,200.
Swann Fine Books Featuring Focus on Women April 23, 2026
Swann, Apr. 23: L. Frank Baum & Ruth Plumly Thompson. Five First Canadian editions including Ozma of Oz; The Emerald City of Oz; Glinda of Oz; [and others]. $1,000 to $1,500.
Swann, Apr. 23: Corita Kent. Different Drummer. 1967. Color screenprint; signed "Corita" in pencil on the lower edge. $1,000 to $1,500.
Swann, Apr. 23: Bible in English. Tyndale-Taverner Translation. The Bugge Bible. The Holye Bible. London: Imprinted by John Daye and Willyam Seres, 1549. $1,500 to $2,000.
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.
