Rare Book Monthly « September - 2020 « Rare Book Hub - Rare Books, Book Auctions, Antiquarian Book Collecting

Rare Book Monthly Articles - September - 2020 Issue

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David Lesser: The perspective of an experienced dealer who has earned his grey hair

I recently interviewed veteran bookseller David Lesser for his perspective on the trade during these difficult times. He’s been through the wars.

[Q] By way of background, how did you find yourself in this predicament?

[A] I became a bookseller in 1989— part time, in order to finish up my duties as a lawyer and also to continue making a living. I had been a lawyer since 1967, and spent my early years in the legal services program. It was the late 1960’s and early 1970’s— important constitutional issues affecting low-income people dangled...

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What Me Worry? Bookish Wisdom from the Dealer’s Daughter

Nu? Can you still make money in this business? Funny you should ask, I was wondering the same thing myself. My parents were in the book business for over 60 years (1946-2008). I followed them into ...

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The Philadelphia Print Shop Lives On

The Philadelphia Print Shop, a long time player in the maps and prints field, cashed their chips in late 2019 and sold the firm to David Mackey, a collector who is moving the reconstituted firm ope...

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A Loss of Airline Service Becomes a Major Loss for a City's Libraries

When an airline stops serving a city it is a loss for its citizens, both travelers and businesses that serve them. It can also be tough on civic pride. However, one institution that generally is ex...

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The Virtual Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair: September 11th -14th

It seems only a year ago that book fairs were in-person experiences. Ah, for the old days. Covid-19 changed the stakes and the rare book field has had to actually answer the question; you wan...

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Collecting is a Journey: The Lifecycles Program

It is in the nature of old books and collectibles that to successfully collect there is more needed than simply to be attracted, even consumed with the material. This other aspect is that und...

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Paradise Lost and Found - The Discovery of America

Was the discovery of America a blessing or a curse? In 1788, Louis Gentil wrote a book to answer this (rhetorical) question.

During the recent confinement, half of the world came to ...

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The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair is Going Virtual This Year

It will come as no surprise that the annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair will not be held at the Hynes Convention Center, nor anyplace else in Boston this year. Like all book fairs, i...

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Growing Up in New Paltz, NY in the 1950’s

I have written here many times about my collection, the challenges in finding the missing pieces, the joys when one place is filled and it’s on to searching for the next. All collecto...

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Scale Matters: Rare Book Hub Pricing

We have long felt our primary database, these days called Transactions+, will become the cornerstone that future dealers, institutions, and collectors will rely on to get past the many roadblocks t...

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Taking Bids: One of a Kind Collectibles offers autographs and books until September 10

Accepting bids now, One of a Kind Collectibles Auctions is hosting an online sale of Rare Autographs, Books and Sports until September 10th. Two hundred and eighty-two lots...

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The Million Book Project – Reaching the Least Likely Readers

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has set aside $5.25 million to bring books to people who are sorely lacking in access. These are real books, the physical type you can touch and handle, not some ele...

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Alfredo Breitfeld: friend, scholar and advocate

Alfredo Breitfeld, gentleman and bookseller, has completed his last catalogue and list and now leaves this responsibility to his son Gustavo to carry the Breitfeld name forward to future generation...

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Quincy Seeks to Bring John Adams' Library Home

“I read my eyes out and can’t read half enough neither. The more one reads the more one sees we have to read.” So wrote John Adams, second President of the United States, to his w...

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Bookwallets – a New Bookish Way to Hide Your Money

Hollowed out books in which you could hide your valuables have been made for centuries. I guess the idea was that no one would want to open a book, let alone steal it, so what could offer a sa...

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11 New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

After several months of receiving almost no new catalogues, an obvious effect of the coronavirus, someone just turned the spigot back on. We received 11 of them for the new month. Now all we need i...

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Rare Book Monthly

<b>Swann Auction Galleries, May 12:</b> <i>Westvaco–Inspirations for Printers,</i> 3 volumes, 1938-61. $200 to $300.

<b>Swann Auction Galleries, May 12:</b> Proef van Letteren, <i>Welk gegooten worden in de Nieuwe Haerlemsche Lettergietery,</i> 1768. $3,000 to $4,000.

<b>Swann Auction Galleries, May 12:</b> Paul Klee, <i>Bauhaus Ausstellung Juli – Sept.,</i> Weimar, 1923. $4,000 to $6,000.

<b>Swann Auction Galleries, May 12:</b> Michel Seuphor & Jozef Peeters, <i>Het Overzicht Nos.</i> 22-23-24, Antwerp, 1922. $3,000 to $4,000.

<b>Swann Auction Galleries, May 12:</b> Wolfrum & Co., <i>Modern Graphik, Serie I…,</i> complete portfolio, 1909. $1,200 to $1,800.

<b>Swann Auction Galleries, May 12:</b> <i>Gravure et Fonderie deC. Derriey: Specimen-Album,</i> Paris, 1862. $5,000 to $7,500.
<b><center>Sotheby’s<br>Science: Books and Manuscripts<br>15-25 May 2021</b>

<b>Sotheby’s, 15-25 May:</b> Mary Anning. Autograph letter signed, to William Buckland, 24 November 1834. £50,000 to £70,000.

<b>Sotheby’s, 15-25 May:</b> Bolyai. <i>Scientiam spatii absolute veram exhibens,</i> Maros Vásárhelyi, 1832-1833, 2 volumes, half calf. £50,000 to £70,000.

<b>Sotheby’s, 15-25 May:</b> Vesalius.<br><i>De humani corporis fabrica,</i> Basel, 1555, modern crushed burgundy morocco. £15,000 to £20,000.

<b><center>Sotheby’s<br>Science: Books and Manuscripts<br>15-25 May 2021</b>

<b>Sotheby’s, 15-25 May:</b> Copernicus.<br><i>De revolutionibus orbium coelestium,</i> Nuremberg, 1543, later boards, Rostock duplicate. £70,000 to £100,000.

<b>Sotheby’s, 15-25 May:</b> Payan-Dumoulin. Profusely illustrated manuscript of fossils, France, c.1875-1979. £15,000 to £20,000.

<b>Sotheby’s, 15-25 May:</b> Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to his son Albert, 4 November [1915]. £10,000 to £15,000.
<center><b>Forum Auctions<br>Images of Angling:<br>The David Beazley Collection<br>of Angling Prints<br>Online Sale<br>20th May 2021</b>

<b>Forum Auctions, May 20:</b> Alken (Henry), after. Salmon Fishing; Fishing in a Punt; Pike Fishing, three works, 1820. £600 to £800.

<b>Forum Auctions, May 20:</b> Early Images of Angling.- Hollar (Wenceslaus) Angling; River Fishing; and Salmon Fishing, after Francis Barlow, 3 engravings, [c. 1671]. £500 to £700.

<b>Forum Auctions, May 20:</b> Rolfe (Henry Leonidas). <i>Studies of Fresh Water Fish,</i> 1851. £500 to £700.

<center><b>Forum Auctions<br>Images of Angling:<br>The David Beazley Collection<br>of Angling Prints<br>Online Sale<br>20th May 2021</b>

<b>Forum Auctions, May 20:</b> Morland (George), After. A Party Angling; The Anglers' Repast, a pair, mezzotints, 1789. £400 to £600.

<b>Forum Auctions, May 20:</b> Pollard (James), After. Bottom Fishing; Anglers Packing Up, etchings with aquatint, 1831. £400 to £600.

<b>Forum Auctions, May 20:</b> Angling's Age of Romance.- Sayer (Robert, publisher) & J. Bennett. The Angelic Angler, mezzotint, 1781; and another. £300 to £400.

<center><b>Forum Auctions<br>Images of Angling:<br>The David Beazley Collection<br>of Angling Prints<br>Online Sale<br>20th May 2021</b>

<b>Forum Auctions, May 20:</b> Fishing Satire.- London.- Roberts (Piercy). Patience at Paddington or angling in the Junction Canal, etching after Woodward, 1807; together with Woodward's 'Angling at Sadler's Wells', and another, 1794. £300 to £400.

<b>Forum Auctions, May 20:</b> Fishing Satire - Cats Fishing.- Seymour (Robert). Waltonizing or - Green-land Fisherman, [c. 1830s]; together with 3 lithographs of cats fishing, [c. 1830s]. £300 to £400.

<b>Forum Auctions, May 20:</b> Fishing Portraits.- Zoffany (Johan), After. Master James Sayer, at the age of 13, mezzotint by Richard Houston, 1772. £300 to £400.

<center><b>Forum Auctions<br>Images of Angling:<br>The David Beazley Collection<br>of Angling Prints<br>Online Sale<br>20th May 2021</b>

<b>Forum Auctions, May 20:</b> Wilkinson (Norman). Come to Britain for Fishing, lithographic poster, [c. 1947]. £300 to £400.

<b>Forum Auctions, May 20:</b> Scottish Fishing.- Heath (William). Sporting in the Scottish Isles no. III. Salmon Fishing, 1835; and another. £150 to £200.

<b>Forum Auctions, May 20:</b> Simpson (Joseph). The Border Angler, drypoint, [c. 1927]. £150 to £200.

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