Over the years I have read Clarence Wolf’s Fifty Years A Bookseller 3 times. Recently he released an updated and augmented second edition. In time, it will be Sixty Years and you’ll be happy for it.
Initially, he wrote chapters and released them to Rare Book Monthly’s readership. They were dosed with the spirit of Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel. They were the best writing we’ve ever had on our site.
Two years later (2022) he released his first complete edition (155 pages), modeling (in my opinion) his book on Hakluyt’s experience. Initially it was complete but continued to be...
President Trump recently imposed tariffs on goods shipped from virtually everywhere into the United States. All sorts of manufacturers and suppliers are subject to tariffs. Goods from all nations a...
Book theft has long been the scourge of book collectors, sellers, libraries, and anyone else with books. It may be a single book, a couple of books, even a few more, but...43,665? How do you even d...
Over 600 items from the life and work of noted author, artist, and designer Edward Gorey fill three galleries at the Cushing Library at Texas AM University in College Station, Texas. The show, whic...
Recently I found an appealing manuscript document at Holabird Auctions, in Reno, Nevada. Of course I found them online using MatchMaker.
It is an agreement between three lawyers of Ulster Count...
Le Tableau de Paris (Paris, 1782) is a crazy book written by Louis-Sébastien Mercier (www.rarebookhub.com/articles/2055). It describes Paris at the eve of the Révolution (1789). A few years later, ...
If you are a Rare Book Hub Monthly (RBH) reader you probably know that our site has two sides. One side is by subscription and it gives members access to our over 15 million auction records, and th...
It took a few years, but a book of poems written by Charlotte Brontë 195 years ago has finally been published. Charlotte was only 13 years old at the time and still almost two decades away from sud...
When you want to support . . .
In times of distress, dealers and the collecting community in the rare books
field have made common cause to both raise the flag and raise money for
the disad...
Asia has receive a lot of attention lately, sometimes for the wrong reason. It has been a whipping boy in the tariff debate. Its sin has been the ability to produce goods Americans want at a price ...
Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books is proud to announce the exclusive exhibition, Timeless Couture: The Art of Dress in Medieval Manuscripts, in its gallery space from June 16–20, 2025 during Art Basel.
...
An Update: Recently I received a call from an old friend, Justin Schiller, whose collection of Hans Christian Andersen material was heading into the rooms at Bonhams in New York. With barely a week...
There are two places where you expect to find rare and antiquarian books – private collections and rare book rooms of libraries. Here's a place you might not expect to find them – hotels. There are...
Twelve copyright lawsuits pitting authors and publishers against OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, and Meta (formerly Facebook) have been consolidated to one. The purpose is to avoid duplication of trial...
Before heading into May, see what happened in Rare Books through April with THE ANTIQUARIAN OUTLOOK.
WEEK 17 (04/21): https://youtu.be/sxwewIBVMr4
WEEK 16 (04/14): https://youtu.be/MJ07Vxw9T_E...
We review four new bookseller catalogues for May. The Lawbook Exchange has accounts of murders and other terrible crimes, along with the more mundane everyday rules of jurisprudence. Shapero Rare B...
Sotheby’s Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone 25 June – July 7
Sotheby’s, July 7: Ludwig van Beethoven. Autograph sketches for the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses", op.124, [1822], UNPUBLISHED. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, July 7: Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, 1813, first edition, 3 volumes, contemporary half calf. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, July 7: Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855, first edition, first issue, original green cloth, the Doheny copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, July 7: Binding—Sangorski & Sutcliffe—Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat, London, 1872, third edition, in a magnificent jewelled Peacock binding. £15,000 to £20,000.
Sotheby’s, July 7: George Eliot. Middlemarch, Edinburgh and London, 1871, first edition in the original parts. £20,000 to £30,000.
Forum Auctions The Private Library: Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers July 9, 2026
Forum, July 9: Hassall (Joan) A large collection of over 300 original woodblocks of engravings for various books, v.d., with Hassall's engraver's glass water-globe (Qty) - Est. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 9: Eragny Press.- [Bradley (Katherine Harris) & Edith Emma Cooper], "Michael Field." Whym Chow, Flame of Love, one of only 27 copies, inscribed by Bradley, the rarest book from the press, 1914. - Est. £3,000-4,000
Forum, July 9: [Moore (Thomas Sturge)] [Wood Engravings], 71 wood-engravings printed by David Chambers from the original blocks, the only set on Japanese Hosho paper, from an edition of 5 sets, [1970]. - Est. £3,000-4,000
Forum Auctions The Private Library: Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers July 9, 2026
Forum, July 9: La Fontaine (Jean de) Contes et Nouvelles en vers, 2 vol., engraved plates after Eisen, fine early 19th century blue morocco, gilt, by Bradel l'ainé, Amsterdam [Paris], 1762. - Est. £2,000-3,000
Forum, July 9: Erotica.- Prostitution.- Pretty Women of Paris (The); Their Names and Addresses, Qualities and Faults..., [Paris], privately printed at the Press of the Prefecture de Police, 1883. - Est. £3,000-4,000
Forum, July 9: Vale Press.- Ricketts (Charles) & Lucien Pissarro. De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie de la Page Imprimée…, [one of 216 copies], bound in dark blue morocco tooled in gilt, by Sarah T.Prideaux, 1898. - Est. £1,000-1,500
Forum Auctions The Private Library: Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers July 9, 2026
Forum, July 9: Martin (John) Illustrations of the Bible, complete set of 20 mezzotints, good impressions, rarely found in early states, [c.1831-1835]. - Est. £1,000-1,500
Forum, July 9: Golden Cockerel Press.- Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ (The), one of 500 copies, Mary Gill's copy, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1931 with a signed proof of engraving on japon numbered 10/10 (2) - Est. £5,000-7,000
Forum, July 9: Boccaccio (Giovanni) The Decameron, 3 vol., vol.1 extra-illustrated by John Buckland Wright with c.150 erotic original drawings in pen & ink and pencil, 1886 [extra-illustrated c.1940]. - Est. £10,000-15,000
Forum Auctions The Private Library: Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers July 9, 2026
Forum, July 9: Cox (Morris) Collection of Gogmagog Press Books, 35 vol., rare complete collection of printed books issued by the press, limited editions, most signed by Cox, 1957-83. - Est. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 9: Wynkyn de Worde.- [Terentius Afer (Publius)] [Comedie...], [Paris, Josse Badius: sold in London by Wynkyn de Worde, & others], [15 July 1504]. - Est. £4,000-6,000
Forum, July 9: Mosley (James) Ornamented Types. Twenty-Three Alphabets from the Foundry of Louis John Pouchée, 2 vol., one of 10 copies for presentation, from an edition of 210, 1992-93. - Est. £1,000-2,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000
Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000
Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000
Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000
