Rare Book Monthly Articles - October - 2020 Issue

Clarence Wolf: a personal history and perspective

Clarence Wolf: a personal history and perspective

This is the story of bookseller Clarence Wolf.  He’s possesses the spirit of the great booksellers, exemplifying why the field is so compelling.    I have been a bookseller for over fifty years. It’s the only thing I’ve ever done, and for that matter ever really seriously considered. Books have always been a constant throughout my life. Both of my parents were bookish; my father was an artist and writer, and my mother was an editor. There were famous bookmen in my family, one of whom was Edwin Wolf II. Edwin was my cousin and mentor. He began his career working for A.S.W. Rosenbach in the...

Books Located from $3 Million London Warehouse Heist in 2017

Books Located from $3 Million London Warehouse Heist in 2017

One of the largest and most mysterious of book heists in recent memory finally unraveled last month with the discovery of the books under the floorboards of a Romanian garage. The remarkably sophis...

The Discovery: Rare Books Stolen in London Recovered in Romania

The Discovery: Rare Books Stolen in London Recovered in Romania

Early last month (September), the Italian police arrested a 40-year-old Romanian national in Turin, Italy. The suspect was wanted in the UK for the formidable theft of 260 rare books in 2017. He’s ...

America at a Crossroads

America at a Crossroads

This is not a political statement. Many of you do not appreciate political thoughts on a rare book website, and that is understandable. This is not about politics. It is way more important. It's ab...

WOMEN GET THE VOTE: Celebration of 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage on View in Stunning Online Exhibit at SMU in Dallas

WOMEN GET THE VOTE: Celebration of 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage on View in Stunning Online Exhibit at SMU in Dallas

Southern Methodist University hosts a stunning centennial exhibit titled “Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes” now on view at the website of the DeGolyer Library in Dallas. The display offers an intellec...

An Arader Gallery Auction:  Dr. Seymour Schwartz In memoriam

An Arader Gallery Auction: Dr. Seymour Schwartz In memoriam

Graham Arader became a book and map dealer while an undergraduate at Yale. From the outset, he had the resources, imagination and exceptional memory characteristic of the greatest players in the fi...

Sometimes you encounter old friends:  Prized Sang material at Sotheby’s ending October 14th

Sometimes you encounter old friends: Prized Sang material at Sotheby’s ending October 14th

Even when the Elsie and Phillip Sang Collection was consigned to a series of auctions forty years ago there was a sense that history was being made when so many remarkable examples were offered in ...

How Do You Downsize Thousands of Books?

How Do You Downsize Thousands of Books?

An article recently appeared in the Chicago Tribune titled Where to begin downsizing when you have thousands of books? The unnamed writer isn't the only one with this problem, although the quantity...

Christies Announces its Fall Various-Owner Books & Manuscripts Sale Online

Christies Announces its Fall Various-Owner Books & Manuscripts Sale Online

Christies Announces its Fall Various-Owner Books Manuscripts Sale Online Christie's New York is very pleased to announce its fall various-owner online sale, Fine Printed Books Manuscripts Includ...

Update from the far side of the moon

Update from the far side of the moon

Marvin Getman, the rare book fair impresario has some good news to report:  The Brooklyn Virtual Antiquarian Book Fair opened on September 4th, 2020 as proxy for what was a year ago an already a st...

Map Collector and Historian Dr. Seymour Schwartz, 92

Map Collector and Historian Dr. Seymour Schwartz, 92

Dr. Seymour Schwartz, age 92, of Rochester, New York, passed on August 28, 2020. Dr. Schwartz was a world-renowned surgeon. He practiced surgery from the 1950s until his retirement at age 72. He is...

Encouraging Outcomes at Doyle New York

Encouraging Outcomes at Doyle New York

Doyle held its first rare book auction of the Fall 2020 season, Fine Literature featuring The Library of Duncan Cranford, on September 30. 186 lots were offered in an Internet-only auction format, ...

A Very Unusual Way of Preserving Ancient Texts and Manuscripts

A Very Unusual Way of Preserving Ancient Texts and Manuscripts

There is a process for preserving ancient books and manuscripts taking place in northern India that is unlike any other I have seen before. It is being done at Dar-ul-Uloom, an Islamic seminary in ...

Library Flooded by Hurricane Sally

Library Flooded by Hurricane Sally

These are difficult times for everyone. Covid 19 has brought much of the world to its knees. In America, climatic disasters seem to have become the norm. Hurricanes and tropical storms in formerly ...

Two New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Two New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This was another slow month for new catalogues. The coronavirus has changed all sorts of businesses, with the question being, will it ever return to “normal” when the virus goes away? Most likely, ...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    September 11
    Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Exquemelin (Alexandre Olivier). The History of the Bucaniers of America..., 4 parts in one, 3rd edition, 1704. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Greenough (George Bellos). A Physical and Geological Map of England & Wales..., Geological Society, July 1865. £5,000-8,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Illuminated Psalter. Manuscript Psalter with Calendar, Flanders or North-East France, late 13th century. £7,000-10,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    September 11
    Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Book of Hours. Illuminated manuscript on vellum, Use of Rome, in Latin, Florence, c. 1470s. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Henry VIII (King of England). Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum, Antwerp: Michiel Hillen, 1522. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Binding for Queen Mary I of England and Ireland. Polydori Vergilii Urbinatis Anglicae..., 1555. £20,000-30,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    September 11
    Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Llwyd (Humphrey). The Breviary of Britayne..., 1st edition in English, 1573. William Lambarde's copy. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Embroidered Binding. The Whole Book of Psalmes..., Imprinted for the Company of Stationers, 1634. £700-1,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Astronomy Manuscript. [Shakerley, Jeremy (1626-c.1655). Tabulae Britannicae, the British tables…], late 17th c. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    September 11
    Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Elew (Jan Barend, publisher). Nederlandsch bloemwerk, Amsterdam: J.B. Elwe, 1794. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Vellucent Art Nouveau Binding [Book of Common Prayer] by Herbert Granville Fell, 1900. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Palladio (Andrea). The Architecture of A. Palladio; in Four Books, 2nd edition, 1721. £2,000-3,000
  • Sotheby’s
    10 September 2024
    The Shem Tov Bible
  • Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    18 September 2024
    Koller, Sep. 18: Cowper, William. Anatomia corporum humanorum ab excellentissimis… Utrecht, 1750. CHF 25,000 to 40,000
    Koller, Sep. 18: Bell, Thomas. A Monograph of the Testudinata. London [1836-1842]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000.
    Koller, Sep. 18: Gould, John. A monograph of the Trochilidae, or family of humming-birds [and] Supplement completed after the authors death…, London [1849-]1861 and [1880-]1887. CHF 50,000 to 80,000.
    Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    18 September 2024
    Koller, Sep. 18: Gould, John. The birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan Islands, including many new species recently discovered in Australia. CHF 50,000 to 80,000.
    Koller, Sep. 18: Levaillant, François. Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis et des rolliers, suivie de celle des toucans et des barbus. Paris [1801-]1806. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
    Koller, Sep. 18: Pfinzing, Melchior. Die geverlicheiten und einsteils der geschichten des loblichen streytparen…, Nürnberg, 1517. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
  • Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: HAMILTON, Sir William - Campi Phlegraei. Napoli: 1779. € 50,000 - 80,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: KIRCHER, Athanasius - Turris Babel. Amsterdam: 1679. € 3,000 - 5,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: EDWARDS, George.London - Gleanings of Natural History. Londra: 1758-1764. € 7,000 - 10,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: HEVELIUS, Johannes - Cometographia. Danzica: 1668. € 20,000 - 30,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: KUPKA, Frantisek - Quatre histoires de blanc et noir. Parigi: 1926. € 10,000 - 15,000
  • Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 732. Early Announcement of Continental Congress' Declaration of Independence (1776) Est. $12,000 - $15,000
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 361. One of Ortelius' Most Decorative Maps in Full Contemporary Color (1585) Est. $9,500 - $12,000
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 55. Early Edition of One of the Most Important 16th Century Maps of the New World (1545) Est. $6,000 - $7,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 27. Fascinating Japanese Satirical Map of the World Published After WWI (1924) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 637. Complete Example of De Bry's Petits Voyages, Part VIII (1606) Est. $4,750 - $5,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 50. Extremely Rare Uncut Sheet from Sylvanus's 1511 Edition of Ptolemy's Geographia (1511) Est. $2,000 - $2,300
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 399. One of the Most Desired Maps of Ireland by John Speed (1610) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 689. Pictorial Map of Melbourne in the Style of MacDonald Gill (1934) Est. $900 - $1,100
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 652. Blaeu's Carte-a-Figures Map of Africa in Full Contemporary Color (1663) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 729. Hand-Colored Image of David Handing the Letter to Uriah (1518) Est. $1,000 - $1,300
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 533. Eight-Volume Set Recounting Travels of Anacharsis in Greece (1789) Est. $800 - $950

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