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 like low-hanging fruit, and I was lucky to h...
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 ...
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...
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...
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 want you...
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 underlyi...
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 a halt for...
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...
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 collectors will und...
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...
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 are included, covering a...
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...
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...
“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 wife, Abigail Adams...
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 safer h...
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...
Sotheby’s, July 14: Henry De La Beche. "Awful Changes," 1830. $6,000 to $9,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 11]. Flight Plan, Complete Original Printing Signed by Buzz Aldrin. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Thomas Alva Edison. Documents Establishing and Ending the Edison Electric Railway Company. $20,000 to $30,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Richard P. Feynman. Feynman's Lectures on Gravitation 1-16, Including the Original Transcriptions of Lectures 12-16 by Morinigo and Wagner, With Richard Feynman's Manuscript Notations, 1971. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 9]. A Group of Manuals and Mission Documents used by Stuart Roosa as a member of the Astronaut Support Crew. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [BYTE: The Small Systems Journal]. A collection of early foundational issues of Byte: The Small Systems Journal, with rare hardcover editions. $5,000 to $8,000.
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000
Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000
Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000
Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000
