Bringing a major sale successfully into the rooms is an accomplishment in every era and during the Covid years, unusually risky. Christie’s pursued the Reese sales and it seemed likely they would handle it but still had to get the commitment, and then deliver. On May 25-26 the consignors and Christies achieved all that was possible. Many higher echelon collectors and dealer-collectors ultimately exit at auction and, no doubt, many will be studying the Reese model. We’ll see it again. It was perfect.
What made Bill’s sales so interesting was the tricky combination of superb material...
NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have become the rage in collecting over the past year. NFTs are essentially a digital version of something with an electronic “token” attached which makes it unique. The ...
University Archives was a new and interesting idea when John Reznikoff enrolled at Fordham in 1978 for a Jesuit education that accentuated context, experience, reflection and evaluation. Simply s...
I’ve written in this space before about dropping eBay as a selling platform after more than 20 years. Today I’m writing about rebuilding my book and ephemera business using a mixture of old and new...
Rare Book School is pleased to announce that Kenneth W. Rendell and Shirley McNerney have generously endowed an annual lecture on the importance of original manuscripts and rare books to human unde...
New York City has repealed its regulations that applied to book and art auctions. It apparently came as a surprise even to the auction houses. City officials justified the move as streamlining law ...
Recently I saw an item that looked interesting to me: a handmade bookmark related to New Paltz. For $125 I immediately committed and a little gem soon arrived in a small package protected by two ...
Exploring the relation of the Middle East explorer Jean Baptiste Tavernier through an unusual copy that was published in 1810 by Lepetit’s widow.
In the early part of the year 1631, Jean-Baptis...
After years of extending the length of copyrights, legislation has been introduced in the United States Congress to roll back the term of those protections. If enacted, it will be quite a turnabout...
The subject of copyrights is back in the news as a bill has been proposed to Congress to reduce the length of copyright protection. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley's legislation has little to do with ...
Recently Transactions+ reached twelve million full text records.
Or said another way, it’s now the equivalent of 1,142 copies of Howes’ Usiana’s 10,501 records, the first rare book reference I ...
Macon Brothers Auctioneers is holding a sale of Rare Books, Maps, Atlases Ephemera. The sale is online and will be running from now until 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on June 11. The items come from th...
2022 marks the 100th birthday of the publication of Joyce's Ulysses in 1922 by Paris bookseller, Sylvia Beach, an American from Baltimore. Libraries, campuses, and bookstores are planning live read...
The Morgan Library Museum, New York, presents a major U.S. exhibition on James Joyce, nicely timed for 'Bloomsday", June 16th -- One Hundred Years of James Joyce's Ulysses. June 3 through October ...
The annual Rose City Book Paper Fair will be returning to its normal time and place after a two-year absence. Its normal time is in June and its normal place is in the physical world, not the invi...
This month we review nine new booksellers' catalogues. Librairie Métamorphoses has a collection of rare books and valuable documents. Garrett Scott Bookseller has his first printed catalogue in 9 y...
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 25: Lot 526 William Shakespeare. Hamlet. Cranach Press, 1928.
Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 25: Lot 1022. Eugen Johann Christoph Esper. Butterflies Leipzig, 1829-1839.
Swann Fine Books Featuring Focus on Women April 23, 2026
Swann, Apr. 23: Thomas Heywood. An Apology for Actors. London: Printed by Nicholas Okes, 1612. $3,000 to $5,000.
Swann, Apr. 23: Illuminated Islamic Devotional Manuscript. 19th century. Approx. 90 leaves with gilt-decorated title and 2 full page miniatures of Mecca and Medina. $800 to $1,200.
Swann, Apr. 23: Antiphonal in Latin. Manuscript on Parchment. Cologne, early 16th century. $7,000 to $9,000.
Swann Fine Books Featuring Focus on Women April 23, 2026
Swann, Apr. 23: Mohammed ibn Jafir Albategnius. De Scientia Stellarum Liber. Bologna: Victor Benati, 1645. $8,000 to $12,000.
Swann, Apr. 23: Frank Herbert. Dune. Fine First Edition. Philadelphia: Chilton Books, 1965. $5,000 to $7,000.
Swann, Apr. 23: William Shakespeare. Five Plays from the Second Folio. London: Thomas Cotes for Robert Allot, 1632. $6,000 to $8,000.
Swann Fine Books Featuring Focus on Women April 23, 2026
Swann, Apr. 23: John Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men. New York: Covici-Friede, 1937. First edition, first issue. $800 to $1,200.
Swann, Apr. 23: Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities. With an A.L.S. London: Chapman and Hall, 1859. First edition, first issue. $1,200 to $1,800.
Swann, Apr. 23: Ursula K. LeGuin. The Left Hand of Darkness. Inscribed First Edition. New York: Walker and Company, 1969. $800 to $1,200.
Swann Fine Books Featuring Focus on Women April 23, 2026
Swann, Apr. 23: L. Frank Baum & Ruth Plumly Thompson. Five First Canadian editions including Ozma of Oz; The Emerald City of Oz; Glinda of Oz; [and others]. $1,000 to $1,500.
Swann, Apr. 23: Corita Kent. Different Drummer. 1967. Color screenprint; signed "Corita" in pencil on the lower edge. $1,000 to $1,500.
Swann, Apr. 23: Bible in English. Tyndale-Taverner Translation. The Bugge Bible. The Holye Bible. London: Imprinted by John Daye and Willyam Seres, 1549. $1,500 to $2,000.
Sotheby’s Précieuses reliures d’une bibliophile Collection Georgette J. Salles Open for bidding 8-29 April
Apr. 8-29: Delaunay, Sonia — Blaise Cendrars. La Prose du Transsibérien. 1913. €120,000 to €180,000.
Apr. 8-29: Picasso, Pablo — Georges Hugnet. La Chèvre-feuille. 1943. €80,000 to €120,000.
Apr. 8-29: Schmied, François-Louis ─ Joseph-Charles Mardrus. Cantique des cantiques. 1925. €30,000 to €50,000.
Apr. 8-29: Bonnard, Pierre — Paul Verlaine. Parallèlement. 1900. €30,000 to €50,000.
Apr. 8-29: Derain, André — Guillaume Apollinaire. L’Enchanteur pourrissant. 1909. €20,000 to €30,000.
