Rare Book Monthly Articles - September - 2021 Issue

Rare Books:  fair thee well

Rare Books: fair thee well

As Covid plays cat and mouse, the rare and collectible paper field adjusts to the day to day reality of health and regulation.  The field has long relied on in-person fairs but alas, not right now.  The ABAA, mindful of concerns about health, quickly cancelled the in-person ABAA Fair that was to take place September 9-12 at the New York Armory.  That fair was expected to see 6,000 to 8,000 visitors and many will be disappointed.  Literally days after cancelling the in-person fair, the association announced their next electronic book fair to provide a safe opportunity for collectors and inst...

A Valuable Book Disappeared from a Library...or Did It? A Sign of the Times

A Valuable Book Disappeared from a Library...or Did It? A Sign of the Times

A valuable book disappeared from the collection of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Was it stolen, maybe lost? A rabbi set about to unravel this mystery. The answer turned out not to be what he exp...

The Ephemera Society of America: Strong Visuals, Nice People, Good Value

The Ephemera Society of America: Strong Visuals, Nice People, Good Value

In years past ephemera was often seen as a stepchild to book collecting. Today interest in this field continues to increase, especially ephemera with strong graphic and design elements. Book collec...

Ken Karmiole, ABAA, downsizing

Ken Karmiole, ABAA, downsizing

Ken Karmiole, after 45 years in the trade and 18 years in his current office in Santa Monica, he’s now 75, and moving, making room for the next generation of Hollywood stars.  To relocate, he’s dow...

Mark Funke, ABAA, expanding

Mark Funke, ABAA, expanding

Elsewhere we’re learning that Ken Karmiole is slowing down and downsizing.  Here you’re finding confirmation that old books have many lives and Ken’s inventory has now moved 400 miles joining Mark ...

Is This the Long-Distant Future of Collecting?

Is This the Long-Distant Future of Collecting?

There was an article in Forbes recently that addresses the issue of changes in patterns of long-term collecting. This is not one of those will people be more interested in fiction or non-fiction, o...

A Rare Photograph of Susan B. Anthony is going up for Auction with 199 other lots

A Rare Photograph of Susan B. Anthony is going up for Auction with 199 other lots

One Source Auctions of Canandaigua, New York is in the news because they are going to sell a rare photograph of Susan B. Anthony, the early and important American suffragette.  Stories about it hav...

Thomas Anburey, Half A Dozen Pamphlets and A Pair Of Scissors…

Thomas Anburey, Half A Dozen Pamphlets and A Pair Of Scissors…

The first time I caught a glimpse at the frontispiece of Thomas Anburey’s Travels through the Interior Parts of America… (London, 1789), it was love at first sight. Entitled “An Indian Warrior Ente...

Overdue Library Book Returned... 300 Years Later

Overdue Library Book Returned... 300 Years Later

It took a while...   A package showed up in the mail at the Sheffield Cathedral in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, recently. Inside was a book. It was being returned to the cathedral library, which s...

A 100-Year Secret in San Francisco’s Sunset District

A 100-Year Secret in San Francisco’s Sunset District

These days houses in the Bay area are bought and sold rapidly.  If your house hasn’t been rebuilt within 5 years it’s called tired.  It’s almost inevitable that recently purchased homes will be reb...

New York International Antiquarian Book Fair Announces Cancellation

New York International Antiquarian Book Fair Announces Cancellation

NEW YORK CITY (August 2021): The New York International Antiquarian Book Fair (NYIABF)—officially sanctioned by Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA) and International League of An...

Sep. 15: Five Centuries of History at Old World Auctions

Sep. 15: Five Centuries of History at Old World Auctions

Over 800 items representing more than five centuries of history will be offered at Old World Auctions’ September 15 sale. Although the core focus of the sale is cartography, historical documents, p...

Christie's:  The Exceptional Literature Collection of Theodore B. Baum

Christie's: The Exceptional Literature Collection of Theodore B. Baum

Christie's New York is pleased to announce The Exceptional Literature Collection of Theodore B. Baum, which will take place in two parts, live and online, this September. Part One will commence as ...

Yet Another Record Price for a Baseball Card - $6.6 Million

Yet Another Record Price for a Baseball Card - $6.6 Million

Are we in the midst of a bubble but don't realize it? The only way we can positively know that rapidly rising prices are a bubble is if they fall back down to Earth. Sometimes they do, sometimes th...

Nine New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Nine New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we review nine new bookseller catalogues. Shapero Rare Books features illustrated natural history. Librairie Clavreuil offers medicine, voyages, science, and literature. The Veatches Art...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Peter Max, Portrait of Mary Tyler Moore (Versions 1,2, 5, 6), 2001. Estimate $10,000-15,000
    DOYLE: The iconic screen-used wall-mounted "M" from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Estimate $5,000-8,000
    DOYLE: The Mary Tyler Moore Show by Al Hirschfeld. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Annie Leibovitz presents Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke for Vanity Fair. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    DOYLE: Al Hirschfeld presents Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke in the CBS Wednesday Night Lineup. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    DOYLE: Richard McKenzie, Portrait of Mary Tyler Moore. Estimate $1,000-2,000
    Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Three Original Bill Hargate Costume Designs for The Mary Tyler Moore Hour. Estimate $600-800
    DOYLE: The famous Bonnie and Clyde "Wanted" broadside. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE: Ticket to the Final Episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show Estimate $400-600
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • One of a Kind Auctions
    Rare Autograph and Documents
    Ending May 29th, 2025
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: George Washington Three Language Ship's Paper West Indies Trade Voyage.
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: An Extraordinary Archive of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry: Over 60 Historic Documents, Naval Commissions, Family Papers, and Photographic Material Spanning the 19th Century.
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Abraham Lincoln Appointment for Vice-Consul of Russia.
    One of a Kind Auctions
    Rare Autograph and Documents
    Ending May 29th, 2025
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: John Adams Signed Mediterranean Scalloped Top ship's passport.
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Thomas Jefferson and James Madison Signed Ships Paper.
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Herman Melville RARE -ALS (Moby Dick Author).
    One of a Kind Auctions
    Rare Autograph and Documents
    Ending May 29th, 2025
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Apollo 10: Flown Flag and Patch Display with Crew-Signed Covers from the Collection of NASA Engineer Clark C. McClelland.
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: James Garfield Rare Signature as President - Possibly the largest Autograph as President almost 6 inches long!
    One of a Kind Auctions, May 29: Walt Disney Autograph over 7 inches in Length.
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    29th May 2025
    Forum, May 29: Darwin (Charles). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, first edition, John Murray, 1859. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Forum, May 29: Astronomy.- Apianus (Petrus). Cosmographicus Liber a Petro Apiano Mathematico Studiose Collectus., first edition, Landshut, 1524. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum, May 29: Bound for Jean Grolier.- Negri Stefano. Stephani Nigri Elegantissime è Graeco authorum subditorum translationes, uidelicet., first edition, first issue, Milan, 1521. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, May 29: Gill (Eric). Eve, number 1 of 50, hand-coloured wood-engraving, signed at foot in pencil, [1926]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    29th May 2025
    Forum, May 29: America.- Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, Dickinson & Co., 1848. £25,000 to £35,000.
    Forum, May 29: Wodehouse (P.G.) Psmith USA, autograph manuscript of his novel "Psmith Journalist", signed and dated at end and dated "11 November 1909, Hotel Earle, 103 Waverley Place". £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, May 29: Women.- Wollstonecraft (Mary). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, first edition, uncut in original boards, 1792. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, May 29: Mathematics.- Whitehead (Alfred North) and Bertrand Russell. Principia Mathematica, 3 vol., first editions, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1910-13. £20,000 to £30,000.
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000

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