Rare Book Monthly Articles - December - 2021 Issue

William P. Barlow, Gone but remembered

Bill Barlow, collector extraordinaire, slipped away on October 21st, looking forward to his 88th birthday soon after the New Year.  An accountant by trade, he was by avocation a collecting savant, his interests broad and intense.  As a stamp collector he had a gift for the unusual and irregular and as a book collector his goal was inevitably to be complete.  He had exceptional intellectual capability married with the patience of Job.  Simply stated, he was one of a kind.   His collections, once started, went on and on.  He had eclectic interests insuring there was something, somewhere he ...

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IN MEMORIAM: Richard Lan

Richard Lan, 74, a respected dealer in early printed books and maps, passed away on November 4, 2021 in New York City, from complications from Leukemia. Forty years ago, he and his wife, Seyla Mart...

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Growing Up in the Trade - Bookseller Nostalgia from the Dealers’ Daughter

Those of you who entered the world of bookselling in the digital age mostly followed the path laid down by Interloc or Amazon. For you 1998 is a long time ago. But there are some of us who go farth...

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Fire at Another British Bookseller Totally Destroys Shop

Another terrible fire has struck a British bookseller and the losses are devastating, a total loss. Just last month, we wrote another such story about Cosmo Books in Wem, where losses were practica...

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A World Record Price Set for an item in the Books, Manuscripts, Maps and Ephemera Category

World records are born to die and Bill Gates’ purchase of Leonardo da Vinci’s Leicester Codex for $30.8 has been the gold standard in the category of books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera since 199...

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Einstein is Appreciated and has Appreciated

Christie’s in Paris:  sells a rare manuscript featuring early calculations that led to Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity.   The emergence of the scientific revolution is often dated ...

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Shapero Rare Books' Parent Once Again Turns Profitable

In a sign that the rare book trade is heading up again, Scholium Group recently announced that the company has turned a profit again for its most recent half-year. Scholium is the parent of Shapero...

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Buying, Selling and Collecting in Complicated Times

Covid19, the economic downturn and resurgence, offer few if any precedents for economists and the book trade to feel comfortable about the future.  Certainly the recovery is noticeable, even shocki...

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Arrest Made in $1.5 Million Book Fraud Scheme

A Michigan man has been arrested in one of the more amazing book fraud operations we have ever seen. Geoffrey Mark Hays Talsma, 36, of Portage, Michigan, allegedly “borrowed” 14,000 books, valued a...

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Arader Galleries announces their Winter Auction December 11th

Arader Galleries is excited to announce a wonderful Winter Auction on December 11th, 2021 including profoundly important icons of natural history and cartography such as beautiful examples of Audub...

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Of Salaberry And Men

Travel books will make you explore unknown territories, including their narrators’ minds—the latter sometimes being even more fascinating. This is the case with Mr Salaberry’s travel to Constantino...

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House Sold with Very Large Library in Place

A house was sold recently in Liverpool which must have had just about the largest “library” included with a home. An exact count is unknown but it was certainly a large number. The unnamed owner mu...

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Defendant in Large Comic Book Theft Turns Down Plea Deal

A man charged in a large comic book theft from a Shelton, Connecticut, storage unit has declined the prosecution's offer of a plea bargain. Thirty-four year old Saul Salazar turned down the offer o...

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Four Catalogues Reviewed For December

This month we have four new catalogues to review. Ursus Rare Books features artists books modern and contemporary. David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books offers a new selection of rare Americana (a...

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Rare Book Monthly

  • Fonsie Mealy’s
    Summer Rare Book
    & Collectors’ Sale
    July 30-31, 2024
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: U.S. / European Shipping Archive 1800-1814. The Widow Bermingham & Sons Collection. €7,000 to €10,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Bunreacht na hÉireann. Constitution of Ireland. An important copy of the First Printing of De Valera’s new Constitution, approved in 1938. Signed by the Constitution Cabinet. €7,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: A Rare Complete Run of the Cuala Press Broadsides. €7,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s
    Summer Rare Book
    & Collectors’ Sale
    July 30-31, 2024
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Grose (Francis). The Antiquities of Ireland, 2vols. folio London (for S. Hooper) 1791. Magnificent Hand-Coloured Copy - Only 25 Copies. €3,000 to €5,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Cantillon (Richard). Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General, Traduit de l'Anglois, Sm. 8vo London (Fletcher Gyles) 1756. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Gregory, (Lady Augusta). Spreading the News: The Rising of the Moon: The Poorhouse (with Douglas Hyde). Being Vol. IX of the Abbey Theatre Series. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s
    Summer Rare Book
    & Collectors’ Sale
    July 30-31, 2024
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Lavery (Lady Hazel). A moving series of three A.L.S. and a Telegram to Gen. Eoin O'Duffy, July-August 1927, expressing her grief at the death of Kevin O'Higgins. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Dampier (Wm.) Nouveau Voyage Autour du Monde, ou l'on descrit en particulier l'Isthme de l'Amerique…, 2 vols. in one, Amsterdam, 1698. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Howell (James). Instructions for Forreine Travel Shewing by what Cours, and in what Compasse of Time…, London, 1642. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s
    Summer Rare Book
    & Collectors’ Sale
    July 30-31, 2024
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: Rowling (J.K.) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 8vo, L. (Bloomsbury) 1999, First Edn., First Printing of Deluxe Collectors Edn. Signed. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: James (Wm.) A Full and Correct Account of the Military Occurrences of The Late War Between Great Britain and The United States of America. 2 vols. Lond. 1818. €650 to €900.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, July 30-31: The Laws of the United States, Published by Authority, 3 vols. Philadelphia (Richard Folwell) 1796. €600 to €800.

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