In the rare book business a few names resonate down through the ages, their quotes, collections, statements, catalogues and books so substantial that even their ephemera and paraphernalia become collectible. Often their hard edges and hard truths dissolve in the alchemy of death that transforms careers into dirges of praise. Bill Reese is the latest of such men, one of the very few who can be mentioned in the company of Streeter, Eberstadt, Rosenwald, Rosenbach and Huntington. As collectors and/or dealers they had their strengths and weaknesses but in the fullness of time have emerged as...
The U. S. Supreme Court reached an important, not particularly unexpected decision on sales taxes that potentially effects everyone who sells anything into a state other than their own. The court h...
Columbus has sailed back home, in a manner of speaking. A Columbus Letter, one of the high points of any collection of Americana, has been returned to its rightful home. That home is in the Vatican...
Reading primarily from printed forms, as a fundamental skill to engage with the world, seems to be under some pressure. The issue isn’t that people can’t read. Rather it’s that the forms of readi...
As a child I would accompany my book buying dad on his frequent rounds to the various basements and sub-basements of Goodwill Industries in Detroit, where the books were not shelved, but piled ...
Editor's note: Rupert Powell, the International Head of Books at Forum Auctions, has been part of the book world since 1985 (longer than I've been alive). After a long career at Bloomsbury, he has ...
As they have for many years, the C. H. Booth Library in Newtown, Connecticut is holding their annual Book Sale on July 7-11. You have been to book fairs but you have not been to one on the grand s...
At the end of the 1st century, Pliny the Younger wrote to Suetonius: “Do me a favour, let me read your name at the frontispiece of a book.” Two thousand years later, Suetonius’ Lives of the 12 Caes...
No, it’s not the depression and it’s not the Mafia [although for safety sake [mine] I’m capitalizing it]. The Bookies, for the second year are gathering in Detroit for their Bookfest aka the Annua...
John R. Payne, bookman and appraiser, has cut the collecting apple in an unusual way. He has written a folio volume about the best, preferred, and desirable cataloguers and catalogues he happened ...
This month, Chicago-based Potter Potter Auctions is hosting a July 28th sale of Fine Books Manuscripts comprising 619 lots of diverse material. Books and manuscripts certainly make up a large por...
The Library of Congress has received an enormous book donation, though not the sort of books one might expect to see in Congress' library - comic books. Perhaps, these are what our Congressmen and ...
The San Francisco Map Fair will take place in the Lodge at the Regency Center, 1290 Sutter St. in San Francisco, California.
Opening night Reception and Preview: September 21st, 5:00 pm - 7:30...
Law’s Picture Books: The Yale Law Library Collection, a book published to accompany an exhibition of illustrated legal texts, recently won the 2018 Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award from the...
This month, we review 16 new bookseller catalogues. The variety is deep and wide. Several focus on travels and explorations. Maggs Bros. has a catalogue devoted to travels and voyages. Shapero Rare...
