DEALER’S CATALOGUES AND WEBSITE REVIEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: AE Monthly reviews recent catalogues and website presentations of Americana dealers. This feature is an open one in that we invite submissions of online or printed catalogues or website citations from any Americana dealer, and give preference to he or she who is signed up as a subscriber to AE’s services. Any dealer who wishes to pursue having their catalogues or websites reviewed by AE simply needs to send two copies of said catalogue or, in the case of a website, the url address, to us. To obtain the proper addresses to which to send your catalogues, please simply drop a line to AE Monthly’s Managing Editor Abby Tallmer at atallmer@americanaexchange.com. Please remember that we publish on a monthly schedule and that we’d like to have your catalogues (again: two copies of each catalogue to be reviewed) in hand or viewable online approximately one month before our next issue goes to press at the first of the month.
Catalogue Reviews - An Exceptional Group
By Bruce McKinney
This month we’re looking at a very interesting group of catalogues. We know from interviews conducted at the recent ABAA show in San Francisco than many collectors lament the lessening flow of catalogues. For collectors who love the bibliography and history imbedded in the best catalogues this month’s reviews provide excellent examples of artful book catalogue presentation. You may contact these dealers to receive these and future catalogues. They will expect you, in time, to become a client. Most catalogues are also viewable online.
Bibliography and Reference Books issued as Catalogues 240, 242, and 244 by Oak Knoll Books, New Castle, Delaware. Tel: (302) 328-7232. Web address:www.oakknoll.com.
This month I’ve been looking through three recent catalogues from Oak Knoll Books of New Castle, Delaware. They are three volumes of Bibliography and Reference Books, issued as Catalogues 240, 242, and 244 covering 4,890 items with 240 covering A-D, 242 E-N and 244 O-Z. Catalogue presentations of this sort are almost never seen anymore. Book catalogue aficionados will recognize this presentation as a welcome echo of the extraordinary catalogues of the first half of the 20th century.
Amid the multitude of offerings is absolutely something for everyone. Said another way, if there is nothing here for you, you are not a book collector. These catalogues are complex enough to demand a third party index, but because Oak Knoll prices their material to sell, the shelves will be emptied before the index is up and running.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
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Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
