• Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
    Doyle
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    November 25
  • Swann
    Rare & Important Travel Posters
    November 25, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 25: James Northfield. Australia / Koala. 1931. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann, Nov. 25: Mitsuharu Horiuchi. The North China Railway Co. Circa 1939. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann, Nov. 25: Cunard [Slavonia] / New York Mediterranean. Circa 1905. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann
    Rare & Important Travel Posters
    November 25, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 25: White Star Line / Types of World Famous Liners. Circa 1927. $2,500 to $3,500.
    Swann, Nov. 25: Visit the USSR. 1958. $1,000 to $1,500.
    Swann, Nov. 25: Stefan Norblin. Wilno. Circa 1930. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann
    Rare & Important Travel Posters
    November 25, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 25: Samuel Henchoz. Villars Chesières Suisse. 1948. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann, Nov. 25: Roger Broders. Marseille / Porte de l'Afrique du Nord. 1929. $5,000 to $7,500.
    Swann, Nov. 25: Arthur Vivian Farrar. Time is Money / Underground. Gouache maquette. 1930. $1,000 to $1,500.
    Swann
    Rare & Important Travel Posters
    November 25, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 25: Hawaii / Paradise of the Pacific. 1908. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann, Nov. 25: David Klein. New York / Fly TWA. 1956. $7,000 to $10,000.
    Swann, Nov. 25: Leslie Ragan. The New 20th Century Limited / New York Central System. 1939. $15,000 to $20,000.
  • Pandolfini Casa d’Aste
    Books, Manuscripts, Autographs and Prints
    18 November 2025
    Pandolfini, Nov. 18: Dante. De la volgare eloquenzia. Vicenza, Janiculo, 1529. € 1.500 / 2.000
    Pandolfini, Nov. 18: San Tommaso d’Aquino. Scriptum secundum luculentissimum angelico. Legato con Problemata. Lione, Jacques Myt e Francesco Giunta, 1520. € 2.500 / €3.500
    Pandolfini, Nov. 18: Palladio, Andrea. I quattro libri dell'architettura. Venezia, de' Franceschi, 1570. € 13.000 / 15.000
    Pandolfini Casa d’Aste
    Books, Manuscripts, Autographs and Prints
    18 November 2025
    Pandolfini, Nov. 18: De Saint Amant, Pierre Charles. Voyages en Californie et dans l'Orégon. Parigi, Maison, 1854. € 400 / 500
    Pandolfini, Nov. 18: Description de l’Égypte, ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l’expédition de l’armée française. Parigi, 1820-1829. € 35.000 / 40.000
    Pandolfini, Nov. 18: Allioni, Carlo. Flora Pedemontana sive enumeratio methodica stirpium indigenarum Pedemontii. Torino, Briolo, 1785. € 6.000 / 8.000
    Pandolfini Casa d’Aste
    Books, Manuscripts, Autographs and Prints
    18 November 2025
    Pandolfini, Nov. 18: First edition of John Gould's first work with uncolored backgrounds. € 5.000 / 7.000
    Pandolfini, Nov. 18: Rossini, Luigi. Le Antichità dei contorni di Roma. Roma, presso l'autore e Scudellari, 1824-26. € 2.500 / 3.500
    Pandolfini, Nov. 18: Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. New York, Appleton & Co., 1866. € 6.000 / 8.000
    Pandolfini Casa d’Aste
    Books, Manuscripts, Autographs and Prints
    18 November 2025
    Pandolfini, Nov. 18: Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf. Monaco, Franz Eher, 1925-27. € 15.000 / 20.000
    Pandolfini, Nov. 18: Interesting autograph from Proust to his dear little Daudet. € 3.000 / 4.000
    Pandolfini, Nov. 18: Beautiful and rare poetic manuscript, first draft, of an airy lightness by De Saint-Exupéry. € 4.000 / 5.000
  • Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    November & December
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: Audebert, Jean-Baptiste — Louis-Pierre Vieillot. Oiseaux dorés ou à reflets métalliques, Paris, 1801-1802. €40,000 to €60,000.
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: [Hugo, Victor] — Charles Hugo, François-Victor Hugo ou Auguste Vacquerie. Portrait de Victor Hugo. Daguerréotype réalisé à Jersey vers 1852-1853. €20,000 to €30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: Orbigny, Alcide d'. Voyage dans l'Amérique méridionale... Paris, Pitois-Levrault et Cie et Strasbourg, Levrault, 1834-1847. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: Chelidonius, Benedictus. Passio Jesu Chriti. [1526?]. Maroquin bleu de Niédrée. 37 bois inspirés par Dürer. €3,000 to €5,000.
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 6-20: Cassini de Thury, César-François. Carte générale de la France faite en 1744. Paris, 1756-1788. 178 cartes entoilées, réunies dans 28 emboîtages. €15,000 to €20,000.

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - April - 2014 Issue

Science, Medicine & Natural History from Peter Harrington

Science, Medicine & Natural History.

Science, Medicine & Natural History.

Peter Harrington has issued a catalogue of Science, Medicine & Natural History. It covers centuries of discovery – from the 17th century all the way to the close of the 20th. Some theories may be a bit dated, though this is all serious work, building blocks if not final answers. The more recent theories are still our best attempts to understand a world so complex and boundless it exceeds even our imagination. Here are a few of the over 200 important books and pamphlets being offered.

 

We will start with a look at the earliest days of human history – quite literally: The South African Fossil Ape-Men The Australopithecinae. This work by Robert Broom (who has inscribed this first edition, first impression) and G. Schepers was published on January 31, 1946. Broom had moved to South Africa in 1934 where he began examining the pre-human fossil record with paleontologist Raymond Dart. Broom's research led him to conclude that Dart was correct in his chicken-and-egg, which-came-first theory – walking upright, or larger brains. Did walking upright make greater intelligence a major evolutionary advantage, or did greater intelligence make the ability to walk upright of critical importance? Broom concluded that man first learned how to walk upright, and after that, intelligence was an advantage in using those freed upper limbs. Item 17. Priced at £300 (British pounds or about $495 in U.S. dollars).

 

There is a small world out there that humans had missed until Robert Hooke came along with his microscope. Hooke developed a powerful microscope in the 17th century, which he then turned on various ordinary things for a closer look. What he found was amazing, and he began illustrating what he saw. His illustrations and text were published in 1665 in the book Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. He provided a close-up look at things like nettles, a louse, and his extraordinary (and frightening) look at a flea blown up to the size of a rodent or greater. Lions and tigers may pick off a few of us, but it is the tiniest of creatures, bacteria and viruses, that get us most often. Item 122. £65,000 (US $107,170).

 

Hooke could not have imagined in 1665 just how small things can get. Not even bacteria could look at this stuff with a naked nucleus. Item 192 is Atomic Projectiles and Collisions with Light Atoms, by Ernest Rutherford, published in 1919. This is the uncommon offprint of Rutherford's pioneering work splitting the atom. While it was known that radioactive elements disintegrate to other forms, this was the first case of human intervention causing an atom to break into smaller parts. Rutherford used alpha particles to bombard an otherwise stable nitrogen atom. £6,750 (US $11,130).

Rare Book Monthly

  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction November 24th
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: M. Waldseemüller, Ptolemaeus auctus restitutus, 1520. Est: € 250,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: I. Newton, Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica, 1687. Est: € 100,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: L. Feininger, Collection of 33 comic strips, 1906-1907. Est: € 8,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction November 24th
    Ketterer, Nov. 24:H. Schedel, Liber chronicarum, 1493. Est: € 30,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: K. Bodmer, Personal Sketchbook with ca. 80 pencil drawings. Est: € 25,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: Collection of 18 postcards “Bauhaus-Ausstellung Weimar 1923.“ Est: € 40,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction November 24th
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: Latin Book of hours on vellum, 1505. Est: € 12,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: G. Shaw & F. P. Nodder, Vivarium naturae, 1789-1813. Est: € 10,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, 1943. First American edition. Est: € 6,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction November 24th
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: Ibn Butlan, Tacuini sanitatis, 1531. Est: € 8,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: Hermann Hesse, Casa Camuzzi in Montagnola, 1927. Est: € 12,000
    Ketterer, Nov. 24: Pop Art portfolio Reality & Paradoxes, 1973. Est: € 12,000
  • Swann
    Printed & Manuscript Americana
    November 20, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 9
    George Catlin. O-Kee-Pa: A Religious Ceremony; and other Customs of the Mandans. London, 1867.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 17
    Benjamin Beal, Unpublished diary of a lieutenant serving in the Invasion of Quebec, 1776.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 23
    George Washington, Autograph Letter Signed anticipating the coming British campaign against Philadelphia, 1777.
    Swann
    Printed & Manuscript Americana
    November 20, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 35
    Matthias C. Sprengel, Allgemeines historisches Taschenbuch, the first published appearance of the American flag, [1784].
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 120
    Portfolio of lithograph Civil War portraits by Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co. and others. Cincinnati, OH, circa 1863.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 130
    Eleazar Huntington, engraver. Early broadside engraving of the Declaration of Independence, circa 1820-24.
    Swann
    Printed & Manuscript Americana
    November 20, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 175
    Jeremiah B. Taylor, Letterbook of a frontier Baptist missionary in Kansas with tales of friendly Indians and unfriendly Confederate raiders, 1839-1887.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 188
    Jonas Rishel, The Indian Physician, Containing a New System of Practice, Founded on Medical Plants, 1828.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 201
    Brigham Young and the First Presidency of the LDS, Commission issued to two Church representatives, 1849.
    Swann
    Printed & Manuscript Americana
    November 20, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 293
    Kuonraden's Vart (Kuonrad's Travels), an illustrated western travel memoir set to verse, circa 1914.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 311
    Hermann Stieffel, Early watercolor view of the ruins of a Spanish mission in the Manzano Grant. Manzano, NM, circa 1860-67.
    Swann, Nov. 20: Lot 343
    Vida de San Felipe de Jesus, protomartir del Japon, y patron de su patria Mexico.
  • University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books
    Now through Nov. 19
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 308 - Bob Dylan Handwritten & Signed Lyrics to "Just Like a Woman" With Jeff Rosen & JSA Authentication
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 455 - Isaac Newton Admiration For Judaism & Moral Continuity With Christianity! 350+ Words in his Hand - Extraordinary Content!
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 219 - 371g Moon Meteorite, Incredible Find - Laâyoune 002
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books
    Now through Nov. 19
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 448 - Scarce Einstein AM on Unified Field Theory, 180+ Words & 11 Equations in His Hand! From His Published Article, "A Generalization of the Relativistic Theory of Gravitation"
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 159 - Woodrow Wilson Baseball Signed for WWI Red Cross Fundraiser, Ex. Forbes & PSA Authentic - Finest Known!
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 84 - Lee Harvey Oswald ALS to Brother, Trying Desperately to Get out of Russia! Highly Important
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books
    Now through Nov. 19
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 152 - George Washington Signed Discharge for MA Soldier Whose Regiment Was at Bunker Hill!
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 88 - Abraham Lincoln Fully Signed Military Appointment for Mexican War Vet & Respected Cavalryman
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 188 - Apollo XI Astronauts & Their Wives Signed Photo, Plus Crew Signed Cover, From Apollo XI Presidential Goodwill Tour Era, Pre-Cert Zarelli
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books
    Now through Nov. 19
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 265 - Martin Luther King, Jr. TLS Re: "Stride Toward Freedom" Film Rights To Literary Agent Marie Rodell
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 324 - John Lennon Signed Apple Records Check, PSA GEM MT 10! Possibly Finest Known
    University Archives, Nov. 19:
    Lot 79 - John & Jacqueline Kennedy Signed WH 1963 Christmas Gift Inscribed to Close Friend Joan Braden, PSA Authentic

Review Search

Archived Reviews