Rare Book Monthly Articles - January - 2020 Issue

Time for the Annual Rare Book Hub Top 500 Prices at Auction for 2019

Time for the Annual Rare Book Hub Top 500 Prices at Auction for 2019

Another year has come to an end, meaning it is time to look back at the the annual Rare Book Hub Top 500 prices achieved at auction during the previous year. We cover sales of books, manuscripts, and various other sorts of works on paper. For an explanation of what sort is in and which is out for this list, please see the explanation at the end of this article.   What we have noticed over the years, and the trend continues, is more high dollar purchases of paper outside the realm of traditional books and manuscripts. Here are two that jump out – comic books (including their original artwo...

The Pie is getting Larger

The Pie is getting Larger

It’s difficult to be older in a world that is less certain but there is some good news!   No, you aren’t getting younger but there is evidence of an increase in the number of auction buyers in th...

Publishing and Bookselling Data going into the New Decade

Publishing and Bookselling Data going into the New Decade

Going into the new decade here is a collection of interesting data condensed from a variety of recent sources that indicates where books and bookselling may be headed and to a lesser extent how tha...

A Complete Audubon Comes to Graham Arader

A Complete Audubon Comes to Graham Arader

At the Sotheby’s sale in New York on 18 December, 2019   John James Audubon:  The Birds of America; from Original Drawings by John James Audubon.  London:  Published by the Author, 1827-1838   ...

Financially Squeezed College Is Selling Its Shakespeare First Folio

Financially Squeezed College Is Selling Its Shakespeare First Folio

The Oakland Raiders aren't the only cherished institution leaving Oakland. A much older one is also on its way out. William Shakespeare, or at least his most important book, is also bidding adieu t...

AbeBooks' Top 12 Prices for 2019

AbeBooks' Top 12 Prices for 2019

AbeBooks, the world's largest used and rare book selling website, has compiled their list of the highest prices achieved on their site for the year 2019. There are 11 books and one letter in the to...

We'll let the wine age . . .

We'll let the wine age . . .

There is a time to harvest and a time to wait.  The new version of Rare Book Hub will be delayed.  Its complexities are such that several months will be needed to make sure everything is right.  We...

In Original Color

In Original Color

Last summer I wrote Recently I was offered a second edition of Wade Croome’s Panorama of the Hudson River, printed in 1846.  I look to understand the evolving waterfront of the Hudson River during...

Richard Blome, Mapping Jamaica And Other Territories

Richard Blome, Mapping Jamaica And Other Territories

Richard Blome’s Description of Jamaica; with the other Isles and Territories in America to Which the English Are Related... (London, 1672) is a book of exception. Although a long time Jamaica speci...

Americana is a Creed

Americana is a Creed

The Clements Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, founded in 1923 at the University of Michigan holds collections of print and manuscript materials on the history of North America and the Caribbean, wit...

To Fine or Not to Fine – That Is the Question (But What Is the Answer?)

To Fine or Not to Fine – That Is the Question (But What Is the Answer?)

A hallowed tradition of library science could become an endangered species. We are talking about the ubiquitous practice of leveling overdue book fines on borrowers who do not return their books by...

Thirteen New Catalogues Reviewed to Start the New Year

Thirteen New Catalogues Reviewed to Start the New Year

We start the new year with 13 new catalogues to review. The Great American Cattle Co. offers the works of western/cowboy author and artist Will James. His western tales were based on personal exper...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    Year in Review
    Sotheby’s Year in Review: A Rare Hebrew Bible with Micrographic Masorah. Sold: 1,514,000 USD
    Sotheby’s Year in Review: "The Freedman's Primer.” Sold: 241,300 USD
    Sotheby’s Year in Review: Smith, William. "The Map that Changed the World." Sold: 139,700 USD
    Sotheby’s Year in Review: Psalter, C13th. Illuminated Psalter. Sold: 330,200 GBP
    Sotheby’s Year in Review: Lincoln, Abraham. The abolition of slavery. Sold: 13,697,500 USD
    Sotheby’s Year in Review: Vergilius. Opera, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, 1501. Sold: 1,041,400 USD
  • University Archives
    Rare Autographs & Books Including Lincoln & Space Exploration
    January 7, 2026
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Jefferson's Owned & Signed "Plutarch's Morals" Vol. 4. - 1st Time At Auction In Nearly 200 Years!
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Flown NASA Hasselblad 203S Space Camera On Endeavour STS-111, With Components, Data Module & Flown Film Magazine!
    University Archives, Jan. 7: One Of The Finest Lincoln Assassination Letters Extant, April 15, 1865 - Illustrated & Beyond Dramatic! 8pp.
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs & Books Including Lincoln & Space Exploration
    January 7, 2026
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Isaac Newton Highly Important Religious Manuscript With 85+ Words In His Hand, Ex-Bonhams
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Marilyn Monroe Gorgeous Signed & Inscribed Photograph, PSA Authenticated
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Rare Ernest Hemingway, 1 Of 10 Signed Presentation Copies Of "Farewell To Arms"
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs & Books Including Lincoln & Space Exploration
    January 7, 2026
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Ayn Rand 11pp Revised AMS "The Cold Civil War" For LA Times Newspaper- 900+ Words In Her Hand!
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Mary Todd Lincoln Calls Abe A "great & good man, who loved & served his country so well"
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Abraham Lincoln Gives Rebel Woman Pass To Visit Prisoner Of War Husband, Showing A Very Human Lincoln!
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs & Books Including Lincoln & Space Exploration
    January 7, 2026
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Babe Ruth PSA Type II Signed Conlon Photo, With Ruth Miniature Louisville Slugger, 16.25"
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Armstrong, Collins, Aldrin Signed Photo - Prime Crew Apollo 11 - PSA Authenticated
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Huge Abraham Lincoln Hesler Photo, Ca. 1880 - As If He Were In The Room!

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