The year 2019 saw a modest decline in the prices of books and paper at auction, although the number of lots offered and percentage of lots sold both increased significantly. The why for the decrease in price is uncertain. Macro economic factors can play a significant role, but the economy in the western world was good, the stock market unusually strong. On the other hand, there is much uncertainty out there, impeachment in America, Brexit in Europe. Perhaps it was a good year to keep your money in the stock market, rather than buying physical assets.
The median price of all lots sold in...
For some years now the story of rare books and parts of others stolen from the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh has been devolving. To the outside world this was simply another multi-million dollar ...
By now the whole book world has heard that rare book librarian Gregory Priore, 63, who was the archivist and manager of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Library William R. Oliver Special Collections Room from...
The 53rd California International Antiquarian Book Fair returns to Pasadena, California February 7-9. It features booksellers from the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America and the Inter...
The New York Antiquarian Book Fair returns to New York March 5-8, 2020. This is, year in and year out, the most significant rare book fair in America and, many would suggest, the most important in...
There's always a certain amount of anticipation when you tear out the walls of an old building. Might there be something, perhaps trivial in its day, of substantial value now to be found within? Fo...
It’s been an interesting month to be collecting the history of the mid-Hudson Valley of New York State. Random searches online found a variety of broadsides and ephemera that fit into a project I’...
Devon Eastland has joined Swann Auction Galleries as a Senior Specialist in Early Printed Books after serving as Director of the Book Department at Skinner in Boston, Massachusetts since 2012. Devo...
A man has sued a shipping company for losing a highly valuable piece of collectible paper he recently purchased, according to the New York Post. The man's name is Marwan Al Khaja and he lives in Du...
The Executive Director of Salisbury House, a historic house in Des Moines, Iowa, suddenly resigned her post a short time ago. This story would not have been of interest to a rare book related site ...
With bidding already live, Old World Auctions’ first sale of 2020 will be accepting bids until February 12th. This is a sizeable sale—778 lots of maps and other cartographic material, books, prints...
Long before the days of Instagram, make-up was already seen as a way to hide the truth. A French poet once wrote: “Today, Lize is quite cute / But where shall she find such a beautiful face tomorro...
A coastal Maine library apparently has turned down a free offer of 5,000-6,000 books on sailing, plus funds to create the space to house them. In another time an offer like this would have been qui...
On Friday March 6th and Saturday March 7th, Marvin Getman brings his New York City Book and Ephemera Fair back to the venue where his first New York fair was held 7 years ago, Wallace Hall at the ...
The following is a news release from Live Auctioneers of New York. They had a good year. While they handle much more than books, manuscripts, maps, and ephemera they are now a principal source in...
This month we review eight new bookseller catalogues. Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Manuscripts features important books and manuscripts including private press and fine bindings. Samuel Gedge ...
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Andrews (H.C.) Coloured Engravings of Heaths, 4 vol. in 2, first edition, [1710,--94]-1802-1809-[1830]. £10,000 - £15,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- Cramer (Pierre) and Caspar Stoll. De Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie Waereld-Deelen…,, 5 vol., Amsterdam & Utrecht, 1779-91. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Voyages.- Darwin (Charles) and others. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, 3 vol. in 4, including Appendix to vol.2, first edition, 1839. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- de Graaf (Willem Diederik Vincent). [Inlandsche Kapellen in beeld], 170 fine original watercolours, [Enkhuizen], [1800-40]. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Dresser (Henry Eeles). A History of the Birds of Europe, 9 vol., including supplement, first edition, by the author, 1871-96. £6,000 - £8,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Zoology.- Felines.- Elliot (Daniel Giraud). A Monograph of the Felidæ or Family of the Cats, first edition, for the Subscribers, by the Author, [1878]-1883. £25,000 - £30,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Frisch (Johann Leonard). Vorstellung der Vögel Deutschlandes, 2 vol., first edition, Berlin, Friedr. Wilhelm Birnsteil, [1736]-1763. £40,000 - £60,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Gould (John). The Birds of Great Britain, 5 vol., first edition, by the author, 1862-1873. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Pomology.- France.- Poiteau (A.) Pomologie Française. Recueil des Plus Beaux Fruits cultivés en France, 4 vol., Paris, 1846. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- [Robin (Jean)]. Histoire des Plantes, nouvellement trouvées en l'Isle Virgine…,, 1620; with Geoffrey Linocier L'Histoire des plantes, second edition, 1619-20. £3,000 - £4,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Japan.- Siebold (P.F. von). Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan, 7 parts in 6 vol., first edition, Leyden, [1832]-1852. £35,000 - £45,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Valentijn (Francois). Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën..., 5 vol. in 8, first edition, Dordrecht [&] Amsterdam, 1724-26. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Australia.- Redouté (P.J.).- Ventenat (Étienne Pierre). Jardin de la Malmaison, 2 vol.,, Paris, 1803-04[-05]. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 26th March 2026
Forum, Mar. 26: Book of Hours.- Heures a lusaige de Romme, printed on vellum, with 14 full-page illuminated miniatures, Paris, N. Higman for J. de Brie, [c.1521]. £20,000-30,000
Forum, Mar. 26: France.- Book of Hours, perhaps Use of the Abbey of Saint-Gildas de Rhuys, with thirteen miniatures surviving from an original cycle of at least twenty, [c. 1430]. £15,000-20,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Milton (John). Paradise lost. A Poem in Ten Books, first edition, Pforzheimer's sixth state, S. Simmons, 1669. £8,000-12,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Blake (William). Illustrations of the Book of Job, one of 215 first issue "Proof" copies, this one of 65 copies on "French" paper, Published by the Author, March 8, 1825 [but March, 1826]. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 26th March 2026
Forum, Mar. 26: Christie (Agatha). The ABC Murders, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £15,000-20,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Halley (Edmund). Astronomiae Cometicae Synopsis, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, no. 297, pp.1882-99, March 1705. £10,000-15,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Haytham (Ibn al) [known as Alhazen]. Opticae Thesaurus...Item Vitellonis Thuringopoloni libri X..., first edition, Basel, August, 1572. £20,000-30,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Kepler (Johannes). Dioptrice seu demonstratio eorum quae visui & visibilibus propter conspicilla non ita pridem inventa accidunt, first edition, Augsburg, David Frank, 1611. £12,000-18,000
Books & Autographs Wednesday 25 March
Koller, Mar. 25: KAFKA, FRANZ, SCHRIFTSTELLER. Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift. Prag, 20. Oktober [19]15. CHF 30,000-40,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: EINSTEIN, ALBERT. Zwei eigenhändige Briefe an Ernst Gabor Straus, unterschrieben "A.E" bzw. "A. Einstein". [Princeton], [19]45. und [1950]. CHF 30,000-40,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS, MUTTER VON NAPOLEON III. Album aus ihrem Besitz mit 69 Aquarellen und Pinselzeichnungen in Sepia oder Grau… CHF 14,000-18,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: ZOOLOGIE - ORNITHOLOGIE - Seligmann, Johann Michael. Verzameling van uitlandsche en zeldzaame Vogelen. Teile 1-8 (von 9) in 2 Bänden. Mit 421 prächtig altkolorierten Kupfertafeln. CHF 14,000-20,000
Koller, Mar. 25: BOTANIK - Berlèse, Lorenzo und Johann Jakob Jung. Iconographie du genre camellia... 3 Bände. Mit 300 Farbstichtafeln "a la poupée.” Paris, [1839-]1841-1843. CHF 12,000-18,000.
