Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - July - 2011 Issue

New Arrivals at Between The Covers Rare Books

New Arrivals from Between The Covers.

New Arrivals from Between The Covers.

We recently received Catalog 170 of "new arrivals" from Between The Covers Rare Books. You will find a variety of material in this catalogue that makes it hard to characterize. However, the table of contents helps describe what is offered by breaking it into sections:  Literature and Miscellaneous Non-Fiction; Children's Books; Music; Mystery and Detective Fiction; Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror; and Sports. Each item comes with both a description and four-color photograph. These catalogues are fun to read, the material most intriguing. Here are some samples.

 

It is hard to think of this title without picturing Audrey Hepburn, though she had nothing to do with the book. Item 19 is a first edition of Breakfast at Tiffany's, actually a novella combined with three short stories that appeared in 1958 under the "Tiffany's" name. It is signed by the author, a personality as distinct as Hepburn's, though for other reasons - Truman Capote. The novella would become the very successful movie of the same name with Hepburn starring as the lead character. Priced at $7,500.

 

Item 62 is a Kennedy family book that manages to turn a dictionary into a humorous title. It is a copy of the 1966 edition of The Random House Dictionary of the English Language. It is inscribed in that year by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to then New York Senator Robert Kennedy as follows:  "To Bobby who has never been at a loss for words, with best wishes on his birthday." This would have been gentle humor as McNamara was long a close ally of the Kennedys. Incidentally, this was the first book ever totally composed on a computer. $4,500.

 

Item 157 is a poignant reminder of the first (of many) Kennedy family tragedies, which leads us to wonder what might have been. It is a copy of a 1924 edition of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It contains the bookplate of Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., and has the juvenile signature, "Joe Kennedy." Joe Kennedy, Jr., was the first son of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, older brother of three of America's most noted political figures of the 20th century, John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Edward Kennedy. His father, industrialist Joseph Kennedy, Sr., was determined to have his son one day be President, and young Joe was being groomed for the role. All evidence suggests he was well suited for a leadership role even among those in such a high-powered family. Unfortunately, Joe, Jr., was killed in an airplane explosion during World War II, and his father's ambitions to have a presidential son were transferred to Joe's younger brother, John F. Kennedy. Naturally, signatures of young Joe Kennedy are very uncommon. $8,500.


Andy Warhol's art brings many millions of dollars today, but here is a chance to pick up ten of the artist's signatures for a very small percentage of that sum. Item 137 is a set of volume 1, number 3, of Aspen:  The Magazine in a Box. Published in 1966, this "magazine" was an assortment of pieces held within a box. There's a tabloid newspaper, various ephemeral printed pieces, and a flexi-disk recording of the song Loop, by the Velvet Underground. It was the first commercially available recording by this enormously influential rock band. Among the contributors to this "magazine," besides Warhol and the Underground, were Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, and Timothy Leary. Ten of the pieces, including the recording, are signed by Warhol. $22,500.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
    Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.
  • Heritage Auctions
    Rare Books Signature Auction
    December 15, 2025
    Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Bram Stoker. Dracula. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., 1897.
    Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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