Rare Book Monthly Articles - January - 2026 Issue

Rare Book Hub Announces the Top 500 Prices Paid at Auction in 2025

Rare Book Hub Announces the Top 500 Prices Paid at Auction in 2025

Rare Book Hub has announced its annual list of the top 500 prices paid at auction for books and other paper collectibles in 2025. Prices at the top end backed off a bit in 2025, but not by much. The previous year's numbers had been record prices. The dollars of top collectors are still flowing freely as we enter a new year.   We measure the strength of high end prices by the price of lot #500. In other words, what is the minimum price at which at least 500 books and paper collectibles were sold at auction in 2025? The answer is $109,800. In 2024, that number was $119,700, almost $10,000 m...

And What about 2026?

And What about 2026?

After a very strong auction market in 2025, we’re projecting the number of collectible paper auctions will reach 4,380 in 2026.   A year ago (2024), it was big news when collectible paper auction...

Federal Cuts to Libraries and Museums Restored by Court Action

Federal Cuts to Libraries and Museums Restored by Court Action

A Nov. 21 court decision reinstated all the cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal agency which acts as a conduit for funding for museums and libraries. The reversal...

Book Once Banned in Wyoming Finds Its Way to the Scene of the Crime

Book Once Banned in Wyoming Finds Its Way to the Scene of the Crime

A book once banned, burned, stolen, suppressed in Johnson County, Wyoming, has now made its way to the Johnson County Library shelves. Time heals all, and the people on each side of this violent co...

Rare Books LA will soon be staging their Pasadena Book Fair, on February 21st & 22nd.

Rare Books LA will soon be staging their Pasadena Book Fair, on February 21st & 22nd.

Rarebooksla.com will soon be staging their Rare Books Pasadena Book Fair, on February 21st 22nd. As of 12/27 they have already received 79 exhibitor reservations, prompting them to add a second lo...

Rare Book Hub: Our Services for 2026

Rare Book Hub: Our Services for 2026

Our rates for 2026-27 remain the same while our services are increasing:   Our Transactions+ has grown during 2025. A year ago, we were offering 14,600,113 full text records. As of today, 12/26/2...

Travelling Through Canada, Lambert’s Naive Coup de Maître

Travelling Through Canada, Lambert’s Naive Coup de Maître

Let’s travel through Canada and the North of the United States in 1806, 1807 and 1808! Meet our guide, John Lambert (1775-circa 1816), an English emissary with artistic aspirations, who left a prec...

And the Word of the Year Is...

And the Word of the Year Is...

And the word of the year is... It's hard to say. Everyone has a word of the year. We will look first to Oxford (University Press) because “Oxford” is a word that says erudite and intellectual thing...

Case Auctions: 1,300 lots over 2 days

Case Auctions: 1,300 lots over 2 days

Case Auctions are beginning their two-day 2026 Winter Fine Art Antiques Sale on January 31st, that will continue February 1st.  Between the two days they are offering more than 1,300 lots, divided...

A Unique Edgar Allan Poe 1861 Carte de Visite with  Mathew Brady Association Generated Interest at November Auction

A Unique Edgar Allan Poe 1861 Carte de Visite with Mathew Brady Association Generated Interest at November Auction

A possibly unique carte de visite (CDV) portrait of Edgar Allan Poe from the work of Mathew B. Brady, the most prominent American photographer of the 19th century, was sold on Nov. 19 by University...

Cohasco: An Interesting Source

Cohasco: An Interesting Source

Cohasco:  An Interesting Source for RBH readers   Cohasco, Inc. 9 Manor House Square Yonkers, NY 10701   After the end of World War II, dealers and auction houses quickly emerged to test the ...

An 1860 Munsell printing that still looks pretty good

An 1860 Munsell printing that still looks pretty good

An 1860 Munsell printing that still looks pretty good   For years I have searched for imprints associated with Joel Munsell, the 19th century Albany, New York printer who recorded his printing hi...

Four New Catalogue Reviews for January

Four New Catalogue Reviews for January

Shapero Rare Books presents “Present Indicative.” You'll have to check out the catalogue to see what that's all about. David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books offers a new selection of Rare American...

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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.
  • ALDE, Mar. 11: AUGUSTIN (Saint). De civitate Dei. Rome, Konrad Sweynheym et Arnold Pannartz, 1470. €20,000 - €30,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: [REGNART (LE LIVRE DE)]. [Le] Docteur en malice, maistre Regnard, demonstrant les ruzes et cautelles qu'il use envers les personnes… Rouen, 1550. €20,000 - €30,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: TRITHÈME (JEAN). Polygraphie et universelle escriture cabalistique. Paris, [Benoît Prévost pour] Jacques Kerver, 1561. €8,000 - €10,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: CAUS (SALOMON DE). La Perspective, avec la raison des ombres et des miroirs. Londres, John Norton, 1612.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: NICERON (JEAN-FRANÇOIS). La Perspective curieuse ou magie artificielle des effets merveilleux de l'optique. Paris, Pierre Billaine, 1638. €6,000 - €8,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: VONTET (JACQUES). L’Art de trancher la viande et toute sorte de fruits… S.l.n.d. [probablement Lyon, vers 1647]. €20,000 - €30,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: HUGO (VICTOR). [Paysage spectral avec une église], [vers 1837]. €20,000 - €30,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: [HERVEY DE SAINT-DENYS (LÉON D')]. Les Rêves et les Moyens de les diriger. Observations pratiques. Paris, Amyot, 1867. €3,000 - €4,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: GACHET (PAUL-FERDINAND). Les Chats de Gachet (Manuscrit). S.d. [avant mai 1873]. €6,000 - €8,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: [REDON (ODILON)]. PICARD (EDMOND). Le Juré. Monodrame en cinq actes… Bruxelles, Mme veuve Monnom, 1887. €7,000 - €9,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: [TOULOUSE-LAUTREC (HENRI DE) ET HENRI-GABRIEL IBELS]. MONTORGUEIL (GEORGES). Le Café-concert. Paris, [1893]. €4,000 - €5,000.
    ALDE, Mar. 11: [TERRY (EMILIO)]. Projet de fontaine. Dessin original au stylo et à l'encre noire. 1938. €2,000 - €3,000.

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