It’s not often that a work on paper recognized as a piece of “National Cultural Heritage” by a sovereign nation comes up for sale at auction, but this month, that is exactly what is happening. Il Ponte Casa d’Aste, the Milan-based auction house, will be auctioning the Santini Codex, a renaissance masterpiece that was officially declared a part of National Cultural Heritage by the Italian State in 2012. Read Il Ponte’s brief introduction here, and then I recommend watching their YouTube video and perusing the dedicated catalogue for the single item going to auction on the 27th of February! A...
Auction sales in the books and collectible paper field were a mixed bag in 2023. The number of lots offered and sold were up significantly, but the average sale price was down substantially. The re...
For many years we have prepared annual reports for the top 500 auction lots that have included books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera for the past year. And it’s always among the most widely read ...
There's a new style that's overtaking the world, especially that part of the world that gets its sense of style from Tik Tok. It's called “bookshelf wealth,” but it doesn't require expensive books....
The antiquarian bookselling community lost one of its most beloved members in 2023, when Michael Ginsberg died. While crossing the street on his way to his favorite restaurant, Michael was struck b...
Collectors collect old books and paper while the best dealers and auctioneers collect clients. In the fullness of time, attitudes, opportunities and circumstances change. When those relationships ...
The mouse that roared shook up Congress, but he served authors well by extending their copyright protection to long after their gone. But, after a heroic battle, Mickey Mouse is now free. Mickey Mo...
Pier 27, The Embarcadero, SF CA 94111
The 56th California International Antiquarian Book Fair is about to launch Friday, February 9th at Pier 27 in San Francisco at the Embarcadero (94111). ...
Pasadena welcomes booksellers and bibliophiles from around the world to share their love of books, fine prints, maps, ephemera, and more on Sat.,Feb 3 and Sun., Feb.4, 2024 at the Pasadena Conventi...
Bookscardsnbikes.com is a click away.
In the old days book stores often opened with great fanfare and when the hourglass eventually ran out, willing buyers both for their stock and their shops ...
In 1640, while sailing off La Rochelle, France, Sieur d’Aranda was captured by the Turks, and then taken to Algiers, Africa, as a slave—a traumatic experience that gave birth to a fascinating littl...
Every February America celebrates Black History Month. In the past few years there have been increasingly organized efforts to suppress, distort and even criminalize the teaching of Black history. ...
AN ONLINE ANTIQUE MAP AUCTION FEATURING A WIDE RANGE OF MATERIAL WILL BE HELD IN OLD WORLD AUCTIONS’ AUCTION #196, ENDING FEBRUARY 7th
The auction’s 790 lots include rare antique and vintage ma...
Marvin Getman developed an online solution for the book fair community after Covid 2019 caused person to person fairs to be temporarily shut down. Today’s announcement tells us that he continues t...
COLLECTING INSIGHTS – Registration Open for Spring 2024 Sessions
COLLECTING INSIGHTS https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/collecting-insights-spring-2024-3040339
Starting in April 2024, experience...
This is a strange case of a book thief who apparently had no need for the money but stole anyway. John Nicolaides, 39, of Stoke-on-Trent, Stratfordshire, England, was recently sentenced in a case g...
This is effectively the latest chapter in an ongoing series though that was not our intention when it started. It is the saga of overdue library books, finally returned many years later. This seems...
We have two new catalogues under review for this month. One comes from Shapero Rare Books. It is their latest selection of guidebooks from Baedeker and other other compilers. They cover the 19th an...
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Andrews (H.C.) Coloured Engravings of Heaths, 4 vol. in 2, first edition, [1710,--94]-1802-1809-[1830]. £10,000 - £15,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- Cramer (Pierre) and Caspar Stoll. De Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie Waereld-Deelen…,, 5 vol., Amsterdam & Utrecht, 1779-91. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Voyages.- Darwin (Charles) and others. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, 3 vol. in 4, including Appendix to vol.2, first edition, 1839. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- de Graaf (Willem Diederik Vincent). [Inlandsche Kapellen in beeld], 170 fine original watercolours, [Enkhuizen], [1800-40]. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Dresser (Henry Eeles). A History of the Birds of Europe, 9 vol., including supplement, first edition, by the author, 1871-96. £6,000 - £8,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Zoology.- Felines.- Elliot (Daniel Giraud). A Monograph of the Felidæ or Family of the Cats, first edition, for the Subscribers, by the Author, [1878]-1883. £25,000 - £30,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Frisch (Johann Leonard). Vorstellung der Vögel Deutschlandes, 2 vol., first edition, Berlin, Friedr. Wilhelm Birnsteil, [1736]-1763. £40,000 - £60,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Gould (John). The Birds of Great Britain, 5 vol., first edition, by the author, 1862-1873. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Pomology.- France.- Poiteau (A.) Pomologie Française. Recueil des Plus Beaux Fruits cultivés en France, 4 vol., Paris, 1846. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- [Robin (Jean)]. Histoire des Plantes, nouvellement trouvées en l'Isle Virgine…,, 1620; with Geoffrey Linocier L'Histoire des plantes, second edition, 1619-20. £3,000 - £4,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Japan.- Siebold (P.F. von). Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan, 7 parts in 6 vol., first edition, Leyden, [1832]-1852. £35,000 - £45,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Valentijn (Francois). Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën..., 5 vol. in 8, first edition, Dordrecht [&] Amsterdam, 1724-26. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Australia.- Redouté (P.J.).- Ventenat (Étienne Pierre). Jardin de la Malmaison, 2 vol.,, Paris, 1803-04[-05]. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 26th March 2026
Forum, Mar. 26: Book of Hours.- Heures a lusaige de Romme, printed on vellum, with 14 full-page illuminated miniatures, Paris, N. Higman for J. de Brie, [c.1521]. £20,000-30,000
Forum, Mar. 26: France.- Book of Hours, perhaps Use of the Abbey of Saint-Gildas de Rhuys, with thirteen miniatures surviving from an original cycle of at least twenty, [c. 1430]. £15,000-20,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Milton (John). Paradise lost. A Poem in Ten Books, first edition, Pforzheimer's sixth state, S. Simmons, 1669. £8,000-12,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Blake (William). Illustrations of the Book of Job, one of 215 first issue "Proof" copies, this one of 65 copies on "French" paper, Published by the Author, March 8, 1825 [but March, 1826]. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 26th March 2026
Forum, Mar. 26: Christie (Agatha). The ABC Murders, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £15,000-20,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Halley (Edmund). Astronomiae Cometicae Synopsis, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, no. 297, pp.1882-99, March 1705. £10,000-15,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Haytham (Ibn al) [known as Alhazen]. Opticae Thesaurus...Item Vitellonis Thuringopoloni libri X..., first edition, Basel, August, 1572. £20,000-30,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Kepler (Johannes). Dioptrice seu demonstratio eorum quae visui & visibilibus propter conspicilla non ita pridem inventa accidunt, first edition, Augsburg, David Frank, 1611. £12,000-18,000
Books & Autographs Wednesday 25 March
Koller, Mar. 25: KAFKA, FRANZ, SCHRIFTSTELLER. Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift. Prag, 20. Oktober [19]15. CHF 30,000-40,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: EINSTEIN, ALBERT. Zwei eigenhändige Briefe an Ernst Gabor Straus, unterschrieben "A.E" bzw. "A. Einstein". [Princeton], [19]45. und [1950]. CHF 30,000-40,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS, MUTTER VON NAPOLEON III. Album aus ihrem Besitz mit 69 Aquarellen und Pinselzeichnungen in Sepia oder Grau… CHF 14,000-18,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: ZOOLOGIE - ORNITHOLOGIE - Seligmann, Johann Michael. Verzameling van uitlandsche en zeldzaame Vogelen. Teile 1-8 (von 9) in 2 Bänden. Mit 421 prächtig altkolorierten Kupfertafeln. CHF 14,000-20,000
Koller, Mar. 25: BOTANIK - Berlèse, Lorenzo und Johann Jakob Jung. Iconographie du genre camellia... 3 Bände. Mit 300 Farbstichtafeln "a la poupée.” Paris, [1839-]1841-1843. CHF 12,000-18,000.
