Rare Book Monthly Articles - December - 2025 Issue

Convergence, or is it Divergence?

Convergence, or is it Divergence?

The book market has long bubbled along with the underlying economy. Rivers were our first highways, advances in transportation made it possible to bring food and fuel to support cities. With population concentration, universal education was needed to facilitate inventions and manufacturing advances.  Step by step the printed word became the connective tissue to build societies. Books, which had been the property of the well to do, were now finding their place with the emerging green sprouts of what would become the middle class.   As both printing and papermaking became more efficient and...

Lost Kerouac Short Story Discovered in Deceased Mafia Boss' Artifacts

Lost Kerouac Short Story Discovered in Deceased Mafia Boss' Artifacts

A lost, or unknown short story by Jack Kerouac was recently discovered among the artifacts of a Mafia crime boss who died 40 years ago. Too bad Kerouac isn't here to write this story as he could ha...

MatchMaker Saves Time and avoids Missed Opportunities

MatchMaker Saves Time and avoids Missed Opportunities

MatchMaker Saves Time and avoids Missed Opportunities   Buying and Selling online has been quickly evolving.   These days the number of auctions continues to increase. Ninety a month is common....

TYPE PUNCH MATRIX - An update from Brian Cassidy in Silver Spring, MD, A quirky partnership in the antiquarian book trade with something for everyone

TYPE PUNCH MATRIX - An update from Brian Cassidy in Silver Spring, MD, A quirky partnership in the antiquarian book trade with something for everyone

It seems like Brian Cassidy, 53, has been on my radar forever. Sure enough, when I looked in the files I found emails going back to 2010. In those days he was Brian Cassidy Bookseller, his own firm...

Almost Entire College Library's 40,000+ Books Destroyed by Water Leakage

Almost Entire College Library's 40,000+ Books Destroyed by Water Leakage

Fire isn't the only thing that doesn't mix with water. As any librarian will tell you, another is books. No one wants a leaky roof, but librarians are particularly averse. This issue has come to th...

eCatalogues on Rare Book Hub: Are they part of your future?

eCatalogues on Rare Book Hub: Are they part of your future?

eCatalogues on Rare Book Hub: Are they part of your future?   Rare Book Hub is used to follow the world-wide collectible paper auction market. As a sidebar, we now provide a side-by-side eCatalog...

Today's Weekly Auction Update, has piggy-backed with today's Rare Book Monthly

Today's Weekly Auction Update, has piggy-backed with today's Rare Book Monthly

When the last day of the month is a Sunday, we include a brief announcement in Rare Book Monthly about our just to be released Weekly Auction Update. Today is one of those occasions.   This week’...

Collector Loses $3 Million on Baseball Card

Collector Loses $3 Million on Baseball Card

A 1914 Babe Ruth rookie baseball card sold a few weeks ago for an astronomical price of $4,026,000. You might think the seller was very happy with that, but probably not. That price represented a $...

Record Price of $9.2 Million Achieved for a Comic Book

Record Price of $9.2 Million Achieved for a Comic Book

It was preordained this one was going to break all records. If there was a surprise, it was by just how much. Comic books are highly collectible items, with prices in recent years reaching astronom...

A Landmark for Women’s History: 10th-Century Gospel to Sell at Christie’s

A Landmark for Women’s History: 10th-Century Gospel to Sell at Christie’s

Fewer than ten Latin Gospels of the 10th century or earlier have been offered at auction in the past hundred years—and none have been connected to a women’s scriptorium. That changes this December,...

Sotheby's: Important Events as the year ends.

Sotheby's: Important Events as the year ends.

Amidst a very busy December schedule for Sotheby’s global Books and Manuscripts Department, “The Library of Bary Yampol: A First Selection” stands out as the highlight of the month. Barry Yampol (1...

Cartouche 1799, The Journal of a Serial Lover

Cartouche 1799, The Journal of a Serial Lover

Portrait of a misdated political book that portrays a fake and bigger than life bandit!   Les Amours de Cartouche...   Louis-Dominique Cartouche was the 1st French public enemy. The rich feare...

News & Features

News & Features

One Bookstore, 3 Sisters and 100 Years A Midtown Manhattan anomaly, the Argosy Book Store continues to thrive thanks to the dedication of the three women who have presided over it for decades. A p...

The Farmers' Almanac Ceases Publication After 208 Continuous Years

The Farmers' Almanac Ceases Publication After 208 Continuous Years

When a periodical closes down, it's generally not sufficiently newsworthy to mention. A lot of newspapers have closed down recently. But, how about when one that has been in continuous publication ...

Guilty Plea in $216,000 Rare Manuscript Theft at UCLA Library

Guilty Plea in $216,000 Rare Manuscript Theft at UCLA Library

Jeffrey Ying of Fremont, California, has pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a historical Chinese document from the East Asian Library at UCLA (University of California Los Angeles). Actually, h...

Three New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Three New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

For December, we have reviewed three new dealer catalogues. Kenston Rare Books presents a selection of books on Texas and the American West. The Kelmscott Bookshop features artists' books, private ...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: DALVIMART, Octavien ou d’ALVIMAR(T). The Costume of Turkey
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: DALVIMART, Octavien ou d’ALVIMAR(T)]. CLARK. The Military Costume of Turkey
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: HOMMAIRE DE HELL, Ignace-Xavier. LAURENS, Jules. Voyage en Turquie et en Perse
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: POSTEL, Guillaume. De la République des Turc
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: PREZIOSI, Amadeo. Stamboul. Souvenir d’Orient.
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: COSTUMES. EMPIRE OTTOMAN.
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: PRISSE D'AVENNES, Achille Constant T. Emile. L'Art Arabe
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: PRISSE D'AVENNES. Histoire de l'art Egyptie
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: BESANCENOT, Jean. Costumes et types du Maroc.
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: COSTUMES OTTOMANS. Suite de figures ottomanes à l’aquarelle
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: LES MILLE ET UNE NUIT, contes arabes
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: SCHLEGEL, Hermann et A. H. VERSTER van WULVERHORST. Traité de Fauconnerie - Planches
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11: THEVENOT, Melchisédec. Relation de divers voyages curieux
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11:
  • Sotheby's Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Balthus, Emily Brontë. Wuthering Heights, New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1993. 6,600 USD.
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. Complete Works, Philadelphia & London: J.B. Lippincott Company & Chapman & Hall, LD, 1850. Limited Edition set of 30 volumes. 7,500 USD.
    Sotheby’s: John Lennon, Yoko Ono. Handwritten Letter from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to their Chauffer. 1971. 32,500 USD.
    Sotheby’s: Winston Churchill. First edition of War Speeches, Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1941. Set of 7 volumes. 5,500 USD.
    Sotheby’s: Andy Warhol, Julia Warhola. Holy Cats First Edition, Signed by Andy Warhol. 1954. 30,000 USD.
  • Old World Auctions (Feb 11):
    Lot 11. Blaeu's Superb World Map on a Polar Projection (1695) Est. $5,500 - $7,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 11):
    Lot 36. Schedel's Ancient World Map with Humanoid Creatures (1493) Est. $14,000 - $17,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 11):
    Lot 49. One of the First Lunar Globes to Show the Far Side of the Moon (1963) Est. $1,000 - $1,300
    Old World Auctions (Feb 11):
    Lot 5. The First World Map with Lavish Allegorical Vignettes of the Continents (1594) Est. $15,000 - $17,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 11):
    Lot 55. Anti-British Propaganda Map with Churchill as an Octopus (1942) Est. $2,000 - $2,300
    Old World Auctions (Feb 11):
    Lot 197. One of the Most Influential Maps of Westward Expansion (1846) Est. $9,500 - $12,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 11):
    Lot 10. Scarce Pitt Edition of Carte-a-Figures Map of the World (1680) Est. $9,500 - $11,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 11):
    Lot 220. A Fine, Early Rendering of San Francisco (1874) Est. $2,200 - $2,500
    Old World Auctions (Feb 11):
    Lot 707. Hand-Colored Image of the Presentation of Jesus with Gilt Highlights (1450) Est. $1,600 - $1,900
    Old World Auctions (Feb 11):
    Lot 80. One of the Most Important Maps Perpetuating the Myth of the Island of California (1680) Est. $3,250 - $4,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 11):
    Lot 725. Homann's Atlas Featuring 26 Folio-Sized Maps in Original Color (1715) Est. $4,500 - $5,500
    Old World Auctions (Feb 11):
    Lot 169. One of the Earliest Maps to Show Philadelphia (1695) Est. $4,750 - $6,000

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