Another year has come to a close, meaning it's time to look back at the Rare Book Hub Top 500 auction prices in the field of books and paper for the year 2017. The high end of sales was a little softer this time. Nothing matched last year's high price of $5.6 million, let alone previous years when the Bay Psalm Book and Audubon's Birds of America pushed the top price into double digit millions. This year, the best that could be mustered was $1.8 million, the lowest high in many years.
At the bottom, the slippage was more modest. Number 500 took in $71,700, a drop of 1.2% from $72,576 in...
For those involved in the world of books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera 2018 will be complex. This is nothing new but we’ll probably see continuation of the widening market split between the worl...
How can we help in 2018?
Change is now embedded in the fields of rare books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera. Knowledge continues to increase, even explode, and as it does, the value and relati...
"I am" seem to be the magic words for the AbeBooks annual Top 10. Last year, it was "Sam I am," this year "I think, therefore I am." Who knew Dr. Seuss and Rene Descartes had so much in common? We ...
1) KINDLE TURNS 10 - SALE OF e-BOOKS PLATEAU
Kindle, Amazon’s e-reader first introduced in 2007 turned ten in 2017. Though Kindle is credited with bringing portability and broad based popularity t...
There was a post on Facebook the other day about the new evil of our times, fake news. Spreading through social networks, it has become a worldwide weapon of misinformation. This reminded me of an ...
AbeBooks recently announced to their participating booksellers that they will discontinue listing eBooks on all of their websites. This will be welcome news to those who use their site to find coll...
It is okay, even fine, if as a life ends, few mourn. Most people are neither well known, nor well understood. Hell, we often don’t know ourselves very well so thinking that others understan...
This month, Potter Potter Auctions is hosting a sale of Fine Books Manuscripts comprising 563 lots. The sale boasts an impressive range of material including Presidential autographs and documents...
Letters and books from the libraries of President George Washington and his early biographer and friend, the U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, constitute key lots in the Winter Case Antique...
Recently I purchased an obscure Munsell imprint. Such imprints were the production of Joel Munsell of Albany. His was a modest printing establishment, initiated in 1834, that would run beyond his...
It wasn't the best of publicity for the antiquarian book trade. Actually, it wasn't particularly a book trade issue. Every type of business has its good and its bad. Still, a story about a booksell...
There are few "manuscripts" (but not works on paper) from antiquity more important than the Rosetta Stone. Discovered in Egypt in 1799, the Rosetta Stone was the key to deciphering the meaning of E...
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The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd
30 Antiquarian Items: Canon, Civil, Common, Ecclesiastical, Rabbinical and Roman Law
E-List 30 Items
Catalogue Link
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The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd
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This month we take a look at 12 new catalogues in our Reviews section. Primary Sources Uncharted Americana has published their first catalogue. Their specialty is unique or rare material in the fie...
One of a Kind Auctions Tesla, Einstein & The American Presidency: Rare Historical Documents Ending April 30, 2026
One of a Kind Auctions, Apr. 30: The Republican Court; Autographs of George Washington, (Signers) Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, John Dickinson, Charles Carroll of Carrollton and More!
One of a Kind Auctions, Apr. 30: Nikola Tesla Signed Holograph Manuscript Page from "Tidal Wave to Make War Impossible," Describing the World's First Conceived Remotely Operated Weapon of Mass Naval Destruction.
One of a Kind Auctions, Apr. 30: Albert Einstein — Incredible possibly Unique Signed & Inscribed Einsteins hand “Relativitätstheorie / A. Einstein” Booklet: Relativitätstheorie, 10th Ed., 1920, Original Wrappers.
One of a Kind Auctions Tesla, Einstein & The American Presidency: Rare Historical Documents Ending April 30, 2026
One of a Kind Auctions, Apr. 30: James Joyce Personal Copy of Finnegan's Wake (With Signature).
One of a Kind Auctions, Apr. 30: Buster Keaton Flamingo Films / Kennedy Productions Archive Group, 1933–1937.
One of a Kind Auctions, Apr. 30: Extremely rare Josiah Henson (Uncle Tom) Signature & Harriet Beecher Stowe Cabinet Card.
One of a Kind Auctions Tesla, Einstein & The American Presidency: Rare Historical Documents Ending April 30, 2026
One of a Kind Auctions, Apr. 30: William Livingston (Signer of DOI), the New Jersey State Convention had unanimously ratified the Federal Constitution.
One of a Kind Auctions, Apr. 30: Complete 1927 Tunney-Dempsey "Long Count" Fight Ticket Signed by George Getz, with 1923 Dempsey-Firpo Dinner Card and Jack Dempsey Signed Photograph.
One of a Kind Auctions, Apr. 30: James Buchanan Cabinet Signed Autograph album
One of a Kind Auctions, Apr. 30: CHARLES LINDBERGH SIGNS HIS NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL BANQUET INVITATION, JUNE 14, 1927 — THREE WEEKS AFTER THE TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: APRÈS de MANNEVILLETTE, Jean-Baptiste d’- Le Neptune Oriental.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: DELISLE, Guillaume – Atlas françois,1725.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: HONTER. SOPHOCLE - Recueil composite réunissant deux ouvrages.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: PHÉROTÉE DE LA CROIX, A. - Algemeene weereld-beschryving.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: LA PÉROUSE, Jean-François de Galaup de - Voyage autour du monde.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: BLAEU, Guillaume & Jean -Septième volume de la Géographie Blaviane.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: TATIKIAN, Boğos - Figures et costumes du Levant.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: GIRAULT DE PRANGEY, Joseph-Philibert -Monument arabes et moresques de Cordoue, Séville et Grenade.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: CHAMPOLLION le jeune. Monuments de l’Egypte et de la Nubie.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: CASSAS, Louis-François. - Voyage pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phénicie, de la Palestine et de la Basse Egypte.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: SONNERAT, Pierre. Voyage aux Indes orientales et à la Chine.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: GARNIER, Francis. Voyage d'exploration en Indo-Chine.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: SUBERBIE, Alix (E. SMITH). Dessins et aquarelles de Madagascar.
Gros & Delettrez, May 5: BYRON -Viage del comandante Byron.
Sotheby’s Précieuses reliures d’une bibliophile Collection Georgette J. Salles Open for bidding 8-29 April
Apr. 8-29: Delaunay, Sonia — Blaise Cendrars. La Prose du Transsibérien. 1913. €120,000 to €180,000.
Apr. 8-29: Picasso, Pablo — Georges Hugnet. La Chèvre-feuille. 1943. €80,000 to €120,000.
Apr. 8-29: Schmied, François-Louis ─ Joseph-Charles Mardrus. Cantique des cantiques. 1925. €30,000 to €50,000.
Apr. 8-29: Bonnard, Pierre — Paul Verlaine. Parallèlement. 1900. €30,000 to €50,000.
Apr. 8-29: Derain, André — Guillaume Apollinaire. L’Enchanteur pourrissant. 1909. €20,000 to €30,000.
Heritage, May 13: Isaac Asimov. I, Robot. The dedication copy, inscribed to John W. Campbell, Jr.
Heritage, May 13: Aldous Huxley. Brave New World. A fine copy, in a brilliant dust jacket.
Heritage, May 13: Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author.
Heritage, May 13: Robert A. Heinlein. Stranger in a Strange Land. A fine copy, signed by the author.
Heritage, May 13: Jules Verne. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. Exceedingly rare true first American edition, first issue.
Bonhams, May 5 and Apr. 27 – May 6: 1481 ❧ THE FIRST VIEW OF VENICE. ROLEWINCK, WERNER. 1425-1502. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, May 5 and Apr. 27 – May 6: 1496 ❧ GREEK INCUNABLE. MANUTIUS, ALDUS. 1449-1515. $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, May 5 and Apr. 27 – May 6: 1544 ❧ THE SQUARING OF THE CIRCLE. FINÉ, ORONCE. 1494-1555. $4,000 - $6,000
Bonhams, May 5 and Apr. 27 – May 6: 1544 ❧ ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SCIENTIFIC BOOKS OF THE RENAISSANCE. $12,000 - $18,000
Bonhams, May 5 and Apr. 27 – May 6: 1544 ❧ RENAISSANCE CYPHERS AND REBUSES. PALATINO, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. 1515-1575. $3,000 - $5,000
Bonhams, May 5 and Apr. 27 – May 6: 1588 ❧ "ONE OF THE MOST ELEGANTLY PRODUCED OF ALL TECHNOLOGICAL TREATISES." $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, May 5 and Apr. 27 – May 6: 1618 ❧ THREE DUTCH EMBLEM BOOKS BY DANIEL HEINSIUS BOUND IN ONE. $5,000 - $8,000
Bonhams, May 5 and Apr. 27 – May 6: 1710 ❧ A BEAUTIFULLY COLORED "PRINT BIBLE". BASNAGE, JAKOB. 1653-1723. $12,000 - $18,000
Bonhams, May 5 and Apr. 27 – May 6: 1818 ❧ EARLY COLOR LITHOGRAPHY. BARTH, JOHANN AUGUST. 1765-1818. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, May 5 and Apr. 27 – May 6: 1896 ❧ KELMSCOTT CHAUCER: THE FINEST BOOK SINCE THE GUTENBERG BIBLE. $60,000 - $90,000
Bonhams, May 5 and Apr. 27 – May 6: 1903 ❧ DOVES PRESS MAGNUM OPUS: THE DOVES BIBLE. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, May 5 and Apr. 27 – May 6: 1680 ❧ FREIBERG FÊTE BOOKS FROM THE GOURARY COLLECTION. $1,000 - $1,500
