Rare Book Monthly Articles - August - 2024 Issue

A Step into the Future

A Step into the Future

Rare Book Hub for 21 years been pursuing two goals, one of them to become the first click world-wide when the interested, enthralled, committed or required want to understand the importance, value and rarity of rare paper. With 14,128,422 records we have captured the essence of the auction flow from the past 175 years, simply by following price changes.   Of course price at auction has always reflected the complex interaction of the copy, its quality, its rarity and its audience. The fact that those auction transactions would be recorded and remembered was never expected, beyond the many ...

Extra Extra Read all about it....fast!

Extra Extra Read all about it....fast!

Welcome to the 1970's.  Interesting and rare material, in some cases incomplete but in orginal condition estimated very modestly.    The upcoming Rare and Collectible Book Auction at Leland Littl...

THE TRIUMPH OF PAPER AMERICANA AT BOTH CHRISTIE'S and SOTHEBY'S

THE TRIUMPH OF PAPER AMERICANA AT BOTH CHRISTIE'S and SOTHEBY'S

Ok, so my 9th single owner auction of "How History Unfolds on Paper from The Eric C. Caren Collection" has come and gone...but that is the small news.   The big news is that Sotheby's sold 2 news...

Don Henley of the Eagles Band Sues for Return of Original Lyrics to Hotel California

Don Henley of the Eagles Band Sues for Return of Original Lyrics to Hotel California

In the continuing saga of the rock band the Eagles co-founder Don Henley's attempt to obtain the handwritten lyrics to songs in their hugely successful Hotel California album, Henley has gone to co...

Herman Darvick (1938-2024):  his auctions will be remembered

Herman Darvick (1938-2024): his auctions will be remembered

Herman Darvick was a Brooklyn, New York third grade teacher at P.S. 248 in the 1960’s  who found documents and signatures interesting.  In time he entered the auction field after Charles Hamilton’s...

AbeBooks Releases Their List of the Ten Most Expensive Books for the Second Quarter of 2024

AbeBooks Releases Their List of the Ten Most Expensive Books for the Second Quarter of 2024

AbeBooks has released their list of the Top 10 most expensive books purchased on their site for the second quarter of 2024, April-June. Collectors weren't holding back, the dollars flowing freely f...

« Ça ira, ça ira... » France and the Robespierre’s complex.

« Ça ira, ça ira... » France and the Robespierre’s complex.

For the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games that took place last July in Paris, France offered a show that revealed her complex relationship with her past.     The opening ceremony of the Oly...

Some Idaho Libraries Transitioning to ‘ADULTS Only’ in Response To Recent Draconian Legislation

Some Idaho Libraries Transitioning to ‘ADULTS Only’ in Response To Recent Draconian Legislation

A new Idaho law that took effect July 1, may result in state libraries transitioning to “adults-only,” according to a detailed report from the Idaho Capital Sun. “Under the new rules, library staf...

The Internet Archive/Open Library Appeals Court Ruling in Favor of Book Publishers in Dispute over “Controlled Digital Lending”

The Internet Archive/Open Library Appeals Court Ruling in Favor of Book Publishers in Dispute over “Controlled Digital Lending”

The Internet Archive and representatives of book publishers went to court recently to argue the IA's appeal of a lower court ruling against them. The case involves what is known as “controlled digi...

Short Takes For August

Short Takes For August

FRANKENSTEIN BRINGS A MONSTER PRICE AT HERITAGE  What’s not to like about an auction that brings together three of the great works of fiction and gets top dollar for them all. Here’s a brief repor...

Uri Geller Returns Library Book 47 Years Late

Uri Geller Returns Library Book 47 Years Late

We've encountered many stories about long overdue library books, sometimes a century late, finally being returned. They generally involve a book being found in a parent or other long-deceased relat...

Spencer Stewart: Collecting Insights

Spencer Stewart: Collecting Insights

COLLECTING INSIGHTS https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/collecting-insights-october-2024-3513409   For October 2024, Collections Advisor and author of Contemporary Issues in Rare Book Manuscript Coll...

Three New Catalogues Reviewed

Three New Catalogues Reviewed

This month we review three recently published bookseller catalogues. Clavreuil of Paris and London has created a catalogue of important French literary works. David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    29th January 2026
    Forum, Jan. 29: Plato. [Apanta ta tou Platonos. Omnia Platonis opera], 2 parts in 2 vol., editio princeps of Plato's works in the original Greek, Venice, House of Aldus, 1513. £8,000-12,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Book of Hours, Use of Rome, In Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [Southern Netherlands (probably Bruges), c.1460]. £6,000-8,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Correspondence and documents by or addressed to the first four Viscounts Molesworth and members of their families, letters and manuscripts, 1690-1783. £10,000-15,000
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    29th January 2026
    Forum, Jan. 29: Shakespeare (William). The Dramatic Works, 9 vol., John and Josiah Boydell, 1802. £5,000-7,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Joyce (James). Ulysses, first edition, one of 750 copies on handmade paper, Paris, Shakespeare and Company, 1922 £8,000-12,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Powell (Anthony). [A Dance to the Music of Time], 12 vol., first editions, each with a signed presentation inscription from the author to Osbert Lancaster, 1951-75. £6,000-8,000
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    29th January 2026
    Forum, Jan. 29: Chaucer (Geoffrey). Troilus and Criseyde, one of 225 copies on handmade paper, wood-engravings by Eric Gill, Waltham St.Lawrence, 1927. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Borges (Jorge Luis). Luna de Enfrente, first edition, one of 300 copies, presentation copy signed by the author to Leopoldo Marechal, Buenos Aires, Editorial Proa, 1925. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Nolli (Giovanni Battista). Nuova Pianta di Roma, Rome, 1748. £6,000-8,000
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    29th January 2026
    Forum, Jan. 29: Roberts (David). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, & Nubia, 3 vol., first edition, 1842-49. £15,000-20,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Blacker (William). Catechism of Fly Making, Angling and Dyeing, Published by the author, 1843. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Herschel (Sir John F. W.) Collection of 69 offprints, extracts and separate publications by Herschel, bound for his son, William James Herschel, 3 vol., [1813-50]. £15,000-20,000
  • Dominic Winter
    Books, Maps, Documents & Autographs
    Ornithology, Music, Bookplates
    28th January 2026
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 26. Company School. An album of 85 Indian mica paintings, Madras, c. 1852. £700-1,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 28. Ross & Hooker. Notes on the Botany of the Antarctic Voyage, 1st edition, 1843. £4,000-6,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 44. Gould (John). The Birds of Great Britain, 5 volumes, 1st edition, 1862-73. £30,000-40,000
    Dominic Winter
    Books, Maps, Documents & Autographs
    Ornithology, Music, Bookplates
    28th January 2026
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 72. Edwards (George). A Natural History of Uncommon Birds… [and] Gleanings of Natural History, 7 volumes, 1st edition, 1743-64. £7,000-10,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 87. Walcott (Charles D. et al.). Geologic Atlas of the United States, 227-volume set, U.S. Geological Survey, 1894-1945. £500-800
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 236. A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew…, By B. E. Gent., 1st edition, [1699]. £3,000-4,000
    Dominic Winter
    Books, Maps, Documents & Autographs
    Ornithology, Music, Bookplates
    28th January 2026
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 245. Frost Fair Broadside. Upon the Frost in the Year 1739-40, Printed on the Ice upon the Thames at Queen-Hithe, 1739/40. £1,500-2,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 270. Micheli (Antonino di). La Nuova Chitarra di Regole…, 1st edition, Palermo, 1680. £10,000-15,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 280. Elgar (Edward). Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, [1910], signed presentation copy. £500-800
    Dominic Winter
    Books, Maps, Documents & Autographs
    Ornithology, Music, Bookplates
    28th January 2026
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 282 - Griffes (Charles). Autograph Manuscript Score for Overture to Hänsel und Gretel, c. 1910. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 304. Churchill (Winston). A terracotta maquette of Churchill by Oscar Nemon, c. 1955. £1,500-2,000
    Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 364 - Russian Imperial Archaeological Commission. Mecheti Samarkanda..., Fascicule I Gour-Emir, St. Petersburg, 1905. £2,000-3,000
  • Sotheby’s
    Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana
    27 January 2026
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary pair of books from George Washington’s field library, marking the conjunction of Robert Rogers, George Washington, and Henry Knox. $1,200,000 to $1,800,000.
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary letter marking the conjunction of George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Benjamin Franklin. $1,000,000 to $1,500,000.
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: Virginia House of Delegates. The genesis of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. $350,000 to $500,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana
    27 January 2026
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: (Gettysburg). “Genl. Doubleday has taken charge of the battle”: Autograph witness to the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, illustrated by fourteen maps and plans. $200,000 to $300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: President Lincoln thanks a schoolboy on behalf of "all the children of the nation for his efforts to ensure "that this war shall be successful, and the Union be maintained and perpetuated." $200,000 to $300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.

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