Rare Book Monthly Articles - June - 2017 Issue

Print on Cloth

Ephemera is a very large category.  By some estimates it’s at least a hundred times larger than old books.  More likely, it’s five hundred to a thousand times larger.  And it is a broad category that includes many sub-categories that are themselves significant.  Books require commitment and planning, ephemera a press and a few words to communicate.  For those who love books some ephemera is relevant.  Announcements of events and publications, letters by or to an author, as well as sundry related images are often appealing.  Such ephemera however, taken together, probably represents .001 of ...

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California Bookseller Goes to Court to Overturn Hated Autograph Law

A California bookseller has gone to court to overturn a law detested by many sellers of autographed books in the state. On January 1, a new law went into effect that places what many consider onero...

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“Codex Conquest” teaches Western Book History as a Board Game

Codex Conquest is a board game using cards designed to teach European book history to audiences ranging from high school to graduate level players. It is being developed by Amy Chen, 32, special co...

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Collections Evolve: Ulster County in New York State

Many years ago, I began to collect books of the mid-Hudson Valley of New York State.  The focus was the printed word both because it was around and somewhere between “un” and “underappreciated.”  D...

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IOBA Offering $750 Scholarship for Book Collectors to a Rare Book Seminar. Deadline to Apply is June 4.

The Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA) is offering, for the first time, a $750 scholarship for collectors to attend any one of five notable rare and antiquarian book seminars and sch...

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Massive Rare Book Theft Uncovered in Brazil

In October 2016, Laéssio Rodrigues de Oliveira and another man were arrested in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on suspicion of theft of and receiving rare books. They were suspected of taking a few books from ...

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First Printings at Christie's on June 15th

Eric Caren, the remarkable collector of first and important printings, after two sales at Swann and two more at Bonhams has given his sale of very important material to Christie’s to be sold on Jun...

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"Despicable" Book Thief Sentenced to Two Years in Jail, But the Book is Still Missing

The judge described the book theft as a "despicable offense" in sentencing the thief to two years in prison earlier this year. Stealing the personal memento of her war-hero husband from a 93-year-o...

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June 7 thru 14: Evolution of a Nation: The David J. Morgan Collection at Old World Auctions

The following article is a feature from guest writer, Eliane Dotson of Old World Auctions.   The evolution of the United States could be described as a series of discoveries, settlements, wars, t...

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London International Antiquarian Book Fair: June 1st to 3rd

If you are interested, consumed, or obsessed with rare books and have a yen to visit London you are in luck because Rare Book Week which features book fairs, lectures and discussions, tours, and au...

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June 28th: Third sale of La Bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé - Musique et Poésie

In our December 2015 issue of Rare Book Monthly, I wrote about the first of a series of important sales being held in association with Sotheby’s comprising La bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé, the 1600...

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The Wreck of The Medusa, a Political Parable.

It is a gigantic painting, displayed in the Louvre Museum, Paris. It has darkened over the years, which makes the scene it depicts even more dreadful: this is Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa. A ...

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June 7: Fine Books & Manuscripts at Bonhams

Less than a week from the time of Rare Book Monthly’s June 2017 release, a Bonhams’ sale on June 7th will be taking place in New York. With 359 lots, Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Illustrat...

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Two Sales of Books and Ephemera Coming Up Soon at Cowan's

Cowan's Auctions of Cincinnati has two auctions coming this month of great interest to those who collect in the books and works on paper field. The first, a live auction scheduled for Friday, June ...

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Three Stolen Ancient Books and Manuscripts Returned to Italy by Boston Library

Three antiquarian books and manuscripts, stolen from Italian collections years ago, have been returned to their homeland by the Boston Public Library. They had been "acquired in good faith via repu...

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An Audio Interview with an Exhibitor of Pop-Up Books

Here is a link to a podcast for those with an interest in a very specific type of book – pop-up books. These are three-dimensional books, the ones where you open them up and some elements "pop up" ...

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Nine New Catalogue Reviewed This Month

For June there are 9 new bookseller catalogues under review. Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books Manuscripts offers a selection of fine books in magnificent bindings. John Windle Bookseller has a select...

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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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