Rare Book Monthly « April

Enigma, Seeking A Eureka

MORE THAN A YEAR AGO, I was contacted by a collector in Rhode Island. (He is now a member of the Rare Book Hub community of book specialists.) The collector had acquired from a used bookdealer in Pennsylvania a tantalizing document: a hefty, anonymous manuscript (quarto format), mostly in French, in a deluxe gold-tooled binding, with marble endpapers, high-quality watermarked paper, and valuably dated on the title-leaf “1691”. Overall condition fair, with damage to the boards and hinges; binding, strong and stable; watermarked paper with some water damage, but high-quality writing paper. Ov...

The Rare Book Transaction Database: Now on Your Phone

We live in a world increasingly dominated by databases and cell phones. Prices, for better or worse, now move in real time, and both buyers and sellers benefit from awareness. Rare books, manuscrip...

Massive Heist of Rare Books from Pittsburgh's Carnegie Library Valued at Millions of Dollars.

News of a massive theft from the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh has been revealed. The theft was originally discovered in April of 2017, though detailed information has only recently come out. A bo...

Looking to Import Old Books into the EU? Be Prepared for Much More Paperwork if These Regulations Are Adopted

Booksellers and collectors aren't known for being terrorists, but new regulations that may be adopted by the European Union to stop terrorists may do more to interfere with book collecting than ter...

Strength at the New York Shows

The New York Antiquarian Book Fairs have come and gone, delivering large crowds and excellent results to the more than three hundred exhibitors who participated in at least one of the three fairs: ...

The New York Antiquarian Book Fair: It’s a question of timing

There’s probably nothing to be done about it but the timing of the New York ABAA Fair in March, a concession to business and financial realities, is simply not as good as almost any April dates. A...

Credit Suisse Labels Rare Books a "Mediocre" Financial Investment

Rare books hit the news wires in an unflattering way last month. Credit Suisse, the major banking and financial institution headquartered in Zurich, released its annual Yearbook. They spoke of inve...

A New Look for Old World Auctions

Many of you have been members of Rare Book Hub for years now, and over that time, you have surely witnessed the site change and evolve. But we are certainly not the only business in the industry in...

Archives: The future arrives courtesy of Elvin Montgomery

Elvin Montgomery has been both an educator, dealer and appraiser for more than three decades and he increasingly has adjusted his focus as Black Americana, his category, has emerged from the shadow...

An Old Friend: calling it a day

Pensacola. King Queen Books has begun their going out of business sale. Long an active used and rare book dealer in west Florida, the surviving wife and partner of James Servies, Lana, is closi...

Froger's Travel - Nothing wrong with killing Spaniards... and English

Welcome on board the Faucon Anglois (or English Falcon), one of the six vessels led by Captain Jean-Baptiste de Gennes in 1695. You are about to embark on a three-year expedition that will take you...

The History of Jamaica 1494-1838 by Thibault Ehrengardt – This Book Captures Its Tragedy, Brutality, Pirates, Revolts, and Earthquake, All Sweetened by a Massive Dose of Sugar

Many of our readers have been enjoying and learning from the essays written by our French correspondent, Thibault Ehrengardt. Enhrengardt writes of both events current in the book world and reviews...