The whole world, including your Hawaii correspondent, is working from home. At Rare Book Hub we reached out to some booksellers for comment. Those who responded included some friends in the San Francisco Bay area and other locations including Mexico and UK. Here are their responses, somewhat edited.
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Alexander Akin- Bolerium Books - Social Movements, San Francisco
Before the shelter-in-place order, I was already taking precautions in the shop, using disinfectant wipes on shared surfaces, etc. Because I have family and friends in East Asia I saw a lot of this stuff coming...
An Oxford University professor has been arrested in connection with the theft of some ancient Egyptian biblical fragments. The mostly papyrus fragments belonged to the Egyptian Exploration Society ...
With the disruption of Covid-19 Marvin Getman, show promoter, is developing a fresh approach to fairs that work around the current prohibitions for gathering of groups. For many dealers shows are ...
The book listing sites have been around for more than two decades and once upon a time there were many. But not so. eBay saw the number of listing sites shrinking and shifted, in books anyway, to...
The usually small, independent bookstore has been under great pressure for decades. It goes all the way back to the 1960s when chain stores, notably B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, began spreading aroun...
A fundraiser to help British booksellers struggling through the coronavirus epidemic received a surprising £250,000 (US $310,000) contribution from a mystery donor. Who was that mystery donor? The ...
There are many ways for dealers and customers to connect. For dealers, shows have been for years important, even vital. This category of sales however is being battered by limitations based on he...
Was this a good deed to help students in particular when they are locked out of their schools in the time of the coronavirus, or a blatant stealing of authors' copyrighted works with no payment in ...
Recently I received a message from Scott DeWolfe of DeWolfe and Wood and mentioned they had a Poughkeepsie imprint that is shabby but intact and wondered if I would accept it if sent to me. And I ...
AbeBooks has released their list of the Top 10 highest prices paid for books and related material on their website during the first three months of 2020. The items are as different as can be, cover...
Doyle has landed on their feet as the field has been adjusting to the changing market and the Coronavirus catashrophe. Net net the company is stronger and I believe Doyle will be PLAYERS. Based o...
As travelling has now become almost impossible due to the Covid-19 pandemic, let’s take a trip across the island of Jamaica in 1823. Meet our guide, Cynric R. Williams! A British subject, he travel...
A truly superlative copy of the first edition of Newton’s Opticks, 1704, given by the author to Nicolas Fatio de Duillier will appear at auction for the first time in its history as part of Forum A...
The personal collection of Al Benting, comprising 210 lots of Revolutionary and War of 1812 material, is to be sold at Morphy’s in Denver, Pennsylvania on May 27th. Winning bidders will be ecstati...
Circuses are an obscure footnote and been part of the human landscape for a millennium. Even in remote backwaters such as the Hudson Valley in New York State in the 19th century, such entertainmen...
The past few years have not been the easiest for antiquarian booksellers. The last thing anyone needed was a crisis that forced shops to close, people to retreat behind the walls of their homes and...
When last month began, with much of the world under lock down, we didn't know what to expect. With storefronts closed, and people shut in their homes all day, would booksellers issue more catalogue...
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today These are the Times that Try Men's Souls. Paine, Thomas. Sold for US$152,900.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today The First Printed Work on Political Economy. Sold for US$127,000.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today Signed Lincoln Photograph with Son Tad. Sold for US$76,700.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today First Expanded Edition of Common Sense. Paine, Thomas. Sold for US$76,700.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today Presentation Copy of Hemmingway's First Book. Sold for US$70,350.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today St. John's Gospel on Vellum, A Fragment in Greek, 5th Century. Sold for US$70,350.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today Only A Handful of Surviving Copies. Joyce, James. Ulysses. Sold for US$58,880.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today A Pivotal Step in Einstein's Development of General Relativity. Sold for US$51,200.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today A Fine Jewelled Binding Signed by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Sold for US$56,320.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today Joyce's Annotated Typescript Draft for Finnegan's Wake. Sold for US$48,640.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today One of 30 Pre-Publication Copies, Inscribed by Hemingway to Spencer Tracy, Who Played "The Old Man". Sold for US$83,050.
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
