Rare Book Monthly « July

Defendants in the $8 Million Carnegie Library Book Theft Receive Home Confinement, But No Prison Time

In one of the most egregious book theft cases in recent memory, two Pittsburgh men received sentences that many thought gave them reason to be thankful, including one of their lawyers. Gregory Priore, 64, former archivist and head of the rare book room at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Library, received a sentence of three years of home confinement with electronic monitoring and 12 years of probation. John Schulman, 56, co-owner of Caliban Books, received four years of home confinement with electronic monitoring, 12 years of probation, and must make restitution of $55,731. They also must turn over a...

Virginia Man Sentenced to 3 Years 7 Months in Prison in Book Theft

A Virginia man has been sentenced to 3 years and 7 months in prison for the theft of some books along with collector cards, some jewelry, cash and rolls of coins. The variety of types of stolen goo...

Who owns this damn thing anyway?

In August 2019 I made a run at auction at some paintings of 19th century Hudson River vessels and simply ended up raising other people’s winning bids. There were three paintings and they all went ...

Doug Johns: the Auction Man

Doug Johns, the auction man, has been reported to have passed away. I received a call from his daughter but haven’t encountered a confirmation. Nevertheless, I’m writing a notice as I think there...

A Brief Update on the field of books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera

Not long ago, dealers, using their own websites, databases, printed catalogues and eCatalogues have had a relatively strong market position with shows as the variable component. For at least the n...

Dark Books Matter

Without Sanctuary; Lynching Photography in America (Twin Palms Publishers) by James Allen is a dark book; so dark you will never forget the first time you opened it nor the terrible 98 pictures it ...

The Perry Expedition to Japan: Always a Good Story

As a dealer specializing in the Pacific I have handled and sold many voyages over the last 40 years: Cook, Vancouver, Wilkes and Harriman, to name a few. They all ventured out into the Pacific and ...

J. Wilson Poucher and Paul Blue Quietly Nearby

Along a walk within the New Paltz Rural Cemetery on Plains Road at New Paltz there are hundreds, I suppose thousands, of stones, some almost 200 years old, randomly time-worn, others resistant, see...

What Are Book Sales Telling Us About the Racial Crisis?

These past few weeks and months have been momentous ones in American history – a pandemic, job losses unseen since the Great Depression, and America's 400-year-old race problem suddenly coming to a...

Who Owns Slave Photographs?

In March of 1850, a father and daughter took their places in front of the camera of J. T. (Jacques) Zealy of South Carolina. This story is not as heartwarming as that introduction sounds. They were...

Four Publishers Sue the Internet Archive and its “Open Library” for Copyright Violation

Four publishers1 have finally taken their beef with the Internet Archive to court. They want to shut down the Archive's digital Open Library of 1.3 million books, most fairly recent in publication ...

PSA Enters The Rare Book and Historical Paper Field. Sotheby´s Does My 8th Auction of “How History Unfolds On Paper.” Online Auction Begins July 6 and Bidding Ends on July 21.

Coins were dead, comic books were dead, baseball cards were not much more than cardboard memories; Then PSA grading and certification entered those fields and the dead sprung back to life! Many...

Four New Catalogues Reviewed for July

A few more intrepid booksellers have published printed catalogues recently, after a virtual shut down due to the coronavirus. Perhaps some have noticed that auction sales have been brisk despite th...