Rare Book Monthly Articles - March - 2024 Issue

Sotheby’s is still the straw that stirs the drink

Sotheby’s has announced they are capping their buyer’s maximum commission to 20%, down from 26 + 1%.   It has been apparent for some time that while auction outcomes for paintings and other high value collectibles were rising, Sotheby’s original business based on rare books, while best in class worldwide in 2023 among the 300 auction houses we cover, was also relatively quiet by their recent standards.  Sotheby’s February announcement to lower their commission rates effective May 20th was probably principally based on improving their performance with paintings, their largest category.  Wh...

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ABAA’s San Francisco book fair draws 121 exhibitors and over 3,300 attendance

  “We had the largest opening night of any California ABAA fair in recent years,” said Alexander Akin of Bolerium Books, who chaired the Northern California book fair committee of the recent 56th ...

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March Is Women’s History Month: Honoring Women and Books

Women have always made a deep contribution to books; they have enriched our lives as writers and teachers, sellers and buyers, designers and printers, librarians and collectors. But it was not unti...

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Boxes War Is Over!

The bouquinistes of Paris have won! Their boxes won’t be removed during the Olympic Games. We talked to Jérôme Callais, the president of the association of the Parisian Booksellers (or bouquinistes...

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AbeBooks' Top 10 Most Expensive Items in 2023

AbeBooks has released the list of its Top 10 most expensive sales for 2023. As the largest book selling site in the world, “Abe” sells millions of books. Lots of people shop for lower priced copies...

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PBA Galleries, Bay Area Auction House Continues to Evolve and Diversify

In October 1978, Bruce MacMakin answered an ad in the San Francisco Chronicle. “Wanted – Cataloger, Antiquarian Books.” He was hired for what he thought was a short term job at a local auction firm...

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IOBA to sponsor Virtual Book, Map, and Ephemera Fair

As part of its 25th anniversary celebration, the board of directors of the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA) recently decided to sponsor a virtual fair featuring rare and collectibl...

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Toronto Book Auctions: Announcing a (mostly book), auction scheduled for March 6th, 2024 at 2pm ET

Toronto Book Auctions, affiliated with one of the oldest independent bookstores in Canada, Acadia Art Rare Books Est. 1931, a long-standing member of the Antiquarian Bookseller Association of Cana...

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Used Book Market to Grow by 58% Over the Next Decade (Maybe)

Prognosticator Fact.MR predicts substantial growth in the used book market over the next decade. According to Fact.MR, the current size of the market is $14.65 billion. By 2034, they expect the siz...

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James Visbeck, a Partner at Isaiah Thomas Books and Prints, has Passed Away

James Visbeck, of Cotuit, died at home on January 26, 2024 at 79. Jim is survived by his husband, Harold Holt, brother David Visbeck and his wife Fran, and cousins, Christine Davidson, Gail Mello a...

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San Francisco Initiates Unusual Method of Dealing with Certain Book Thefts

Many libraries have eliminated late fees over the past few years. Now, the San Francisco Public Library has taken another step. They may not even require you to return some books. That will be the ...

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Artifacts Recovered from Historic Ships Erebus and Terror

This is technically not a story about a book but one about the subject of dozens, perhaps hundreds of books and articles. It was the cause of more searches and expeditions from the era of voyages a...

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Eight New Catalogues Reviewed for March

This month we review eight new dealer catalogues. David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books has issued their 200th printed catalogue. He started publishing them back in 1989. Mark Funke, Bookseller fe...

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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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