Rare Book Monthly Articles - October - 2018 Issue

Going Home to the Place I Never Left

Jenny and I flew to New York on Tuesday 4 September and drove up to Lake Mohonk at New Paltz in Ulster County. From age 5 to 21 New Paltz was my home town.  We’re going for a week; for the chance to visit my brother who lives there still and who’ll be 77 this fall.  My sister Linda who has lived in Maine for the past thirty years is also joining us.  We get together at Mohonk several times a year.   Two years ago, when I reached 70, I set aside $150,000 to support various projects near and around New Paltz that my family, newspaper publishers in their prime, supported during their lifetim...

Two Professors Believe They Have Cracked the Code of the Mysterious Voynich Manuscript

Two university professors believe they have cracked the code to the Voynich Manuscript (or Codex). If so, they will have succeeded in solving a riddle that has stumped all sorts of researchers for ...

Is There Money to be Made in Rare Books? Reader's Digest Says "Yes"

For those who get their financial advice from Reader's Digest, you just got a "yes" on buying rare books, first editions in particular. Reader's Digest recently came out with a list of 8 Cheap Item...

FIRSTS - Bibliography Made Easy

You'd think that 20 years into the digital age there would be no place for a printed magazine devoted mostly to bibliography of books, mostly from the late 19th century to the present day, but you'...

The Lubranos, Music Antiquarians, Test the Auction Field on 6 October

John and Jude Lubrano, the husband-and-wife team of J J Lubrano Music Antiquarians, have long held an important, even unique, place in the field of antiquarian music.  They specialize in historica...

Paris Will be Paris, Update 18.01

Before Mercier’s LeTableau de Paris (Neuchatel, 1780), books about Paris were mostly catalogues of monuments and compilations of historical anecdotes or satirical writings. Mercier, focusing on the...

Rare Books & Collectibles: Fake News

Lincoln would have something to say about this and it would be witty if this was a laughing matter.  But it’s not and he wouldn’t.  The story goes, and various images show, that President Lincoln a...

The Carnegie Library Theft Serves as a Reminder of Another Major, as Yet Unsolved, Book Theft

The recently revealed theft of some $8 million worth of rare books from the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh serves as a reminder of the most notable unresolved book theft still out there. It is now ...

The Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair: October 13-14, 2018

Book fairs are annual events that come and go with a rapidity that startles the aging even as they encourage the young. These events seem to say “we’ll be back soon,” even as the older participants...

Eric Caren’s “How History Unfolds on Paper" next auction to be held at Bonhams In New York in March 2019

Eric C. Caren of The Caren Archive recently announced to Rare Book Hub that he will be holding his 7th single owner auction of ephemera at Bonhams. This will be their 3rd collaboration and accordin...

Huge Fire Destroys Most of the Collections in the National Museum of Brazil

A tragedy of immense proportions struck Brazil on the night of September 2. Its National Museum was consumed by flames, a fire so great that almost nothing was left but the shell of the building. F...

Eight New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we review eight new bookseller catalogues. Bjarne Tokerud Bookseller has a catalogue of the bird book collection of J. Fenwick Lansdowne. Lansdowne was an artist and illustrator speciali...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Isaac Newton on chemistry and matter, and alchemy, Autograph Manuscript, "A Key to Snyders," 3 pp, after 1674. $100,000 - $150,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Exceptionally rare first printing of Plato's Timaeus. Florence, 1484. $50,000 - $80,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: On the Philosophy of Self-Interest: Adam Smith's copy of Helvetius's De l'homme, Paris, 1773. $40,000 - $60,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: "Magical Calendar of Tycho Brahe" - very rare hermetic broadside. Engraved by Merian for De Bry. c.1618. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Author's presentation issue of Einstein's proof of Relativity, "Erklärung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie." 1915. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: First Latin edition of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed. Paris, 1520. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: De Broglie manuscript on the nature of matter in quantum physics, 3 pp, 1954. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Tesla autograph letter signed on electricty and electromagnetic theory. 1894. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Heinrich Hertz scientific manuscript on his mentor Hermann Von Helmholtz, 1891. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: The greatest illustrated work in Alchemy: Micheal Maier's Atalanta Fugiens. Oppenheim, 1618. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Illustrated Alchemical manuscript, a Mysterium Magnum of the Rosicurcians, 18th-century. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Rare Largest Paper Presentation Copy of Newton's Principia, London, 1726. The third and most influential edition. $60,000 - $90,000
  • Doyle, May 1: Thomas Jefferson expresses fears of "a war of extermination" in Saint-Dominigue. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An exceptional presentation copy of Fitzgerald's last book, in the first issue dust jacket. $25,000 to $35,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The rare first signed edition of Dorian Gray. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The Prayer Book of Jehan Bernachier. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Van Dyck's Icones Principum Virorum Doctorum. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The magnificent Cranach Hamlet in the deluxe binding by Dõrfner. $7,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, May 1: A remarkable unpublished manuscript of a voyage to South America in 1759-1764. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Bouchette's monumental and rare wall map of Lower Canada. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An rare original 1837 abolitionist woodblock. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An important manuscript breviary in Middle Dutch. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An extraordinary Old Testament manuscript, circa 1250. $20,000 to $30,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD

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