Rare Book Monthly Reviews - August - 2013 Issue

Climbing Mt. Everest, from Aquila Books and Meridian Rare Books

Aquila Books of Calgary, Alberta, and Meridian Rare Books of London have joined together to produce a very special catalogue – Everest. For almost a century after it was first realized that this was probably the tallest mountain in the world, men dreamed, and then attempted, to scale its heights. Many failed. At over 29,000 feet, it is frigid, windy, stormy, icebound and has air so thin it is extremely difficult to breathe with even the slightest exertion. Nevertheless, assaults on the mountain continued. After all, it was still “there.” Finally, in 1953, in an expedition whose best remembe...

More from the Strange World of Garrett Scott, Bookseller

Garrett Scott, Bookseller has released the latest of his most entertaining catalogues, Catalogue 40. A New Rapid System. More about that title in a moment. Scott specializes in the obscure and stra...

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Medical Antiquities from James Tait Goodrich Antiquarian Books and Manuscripts

This month we have our first catalogue from James Tait Goodrich Antiquarian Books and Manuscripts. Its title is Catalogue S-74 MMXIII A.D., or Fine Collection of Historical Artifacts, Medical Antiq...

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Outside of the Mainstream from Brian Cassidy Bookseller

Brian Cassidy, Bookseller recently published catalogue 7: summer 2013. In looking for a word to describe the material offered, about the best one that comes to mind is counterculture. There are a l...

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Summer Arrivals at the Veatchs Arts of the Book

The Veatchs Arts of the Book has issued Catalogue 76. Summer Arrivals. Fine Printing, Bindings & Other Book Arts. All books are visual, but for some, that simply means they make use of the eyes to ...

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Bigfoot and other Big Books on the West from Gene W. Baade

Gene W. Baade Books on the West has issued Catalogue 713 of primarily Western Americana, somewhat weighted to the Pacific Northwest. There is also some “borderline and way beyond borderline” materi...

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Early Western Americana from Old West Books

Old West Books has just released their Catalogue 36 August 2013. It is filled with material from the 19th and early 20th century. Naturally, it relates to the western half of America, which when co...

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Antiquarian English Works from Samuel Gedge Ltd.

Samuel Gedge Ltd. Rare Books has issued their Catalogue XV, or Catalogue 15 for those of you who don't speak Latin. As we have come to expect of Gedge, there is a mix of material, books and ephemer...

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New Arrivals at James Cummins Bookseller

James Cummins Bookseller has issued his latest catalogue. Despite the cover, it is not titled “Hank Williams' Country Hit Parade,” though it is a hit parade of books. Hey, these are some good looki...

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The West (and Everything Else) from Back of Beyond Books

Back of Beyond Books has issued Rare Book Catalogue No. 10. Back of Beyond specializes in Western America, and the four corners states of the Southwest in particular. Their books are not so much co...

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Lorne Bair Rare Books Offers Radical Literature

Lorne Bair Rare Books has issued Catalogue 17, which looks like its title is “What to Read on Socialism and Sundry Other Topics,” but is not. It would be a good title, though. Bair specializes in r...

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The Law from the Lawbook Exchange

The Lawbook Exchange has published their Catalogue 74. Recently Acquired Books, Manuscripts and Ephemera. As their name implies, the Lawbook Exchange offers titles connected to the law. Some are le...

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Architecture and Art from Antiquariat Banzhaf

Antiquariat Banzhaf has issued a catalogue of Architektur und Kunst. We will assume that English speakers do not need “architektur” translated. “Kunst,” in English, is “art.” Actually, English spea...

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More English Verse 1751-1800 from Justin Croft and Simon Beattie

Justin Croft and Simon Beattie have issued a second catalogue of English Verse 1751-1800. Part II: H-P. Those poetical Englishmen (and women) from the second half of the 18th century are back again...

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Manuscripts from the William Reese Company

The William Reese Company has released their Bulletin 31: Manuscripts. It contains 32 handwritten documents, either from notable historic persons, or participants in important events. Most are from...

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Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    Fine Books and Manuscripts
    8 December 2023
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane] — Isaac D'Israeli. Jane Austen's copy of Curiosities of Literature. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition in boards of the author's debut novel. 70,000 - 100,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Brontë, Charlotte. "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me..." 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Eliot, George. The author's magnum opus. 25,000 - 35,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Whitman, Walt. Manuscript written upon the Death of Lincoln, 1865. 60,000 - 80,000 USD
  • Sotheby’s
    Important Modern Literature from the Library of an American Filmmaker
    8 December 2023
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Kerouac, Jack. Typescript scroll of The Dharma Bums. Typed by Kerouac in Orlando, Florida, 1957, published by Viking in 1958. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. The autograph manuscript of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." [Key West, finished April 1936]. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Miller, Henry. Typescript of The Last Book, a working title for Tropic of Cancer, written circa 1931–1932. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Ruscha, Ed. Twentysix Gasoline Stations, with a lengthy inscription to Joe Goode. 40,000 - 60,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. in our time, first edition of Hemingway’s second book. 30,000 - 50,000 USD
  • Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: Samuel Augustus Mitchell, A New Map of Texas, Oregon and California with the Regions Adjoining, Philadelphia, 1846. $3,500 to $5,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: 17th–19th-century case maps of various locations. $1,500 to $2,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Andreas Cellarius, Haemisphaerium Stellatum Boreale Cum Subiecto Haemisphaerio Terrestri, celestial chart, Amsterdam, 1708. $2,500 to $3,500.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: Vincenzo Coronelli, Set of engraved gores for Coronelli’s monumental 42-inch terrestrial globe, Venice, circa 1688–97. $18,000 to $22,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, group of four navigational charts, Antwerp, 1580s. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Thomas Bros, Block Book of Berkeley, Oakland, 1920s. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Nieuhoff & John Ogilby, An Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, map of China, plan of Canton, London, 1673. $1,200 to $1,800.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Frederick Sander, Reichenbachia, St. Albans, 1888-1894. $5,000 to $7,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Two early illustrated works on horsemanship and breeding, Nuremberg, early 18th century. $700 to $800.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Gould, A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans. Supplement to the First Edition, London, 1834; 1855. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Pinkerton, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World, London, 1808–14. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Oakley Hoopes Bailey, Hackensack, New Jersey, Boston, 1896. $800 to $1,200.
  • CHRISTIE’S
    Valuable Books and Manuscripts
    London auction
    13 December
    Find out more
    Christie’s, Explore now
    TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
    C.1311. £100,000–150,000
  • Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Roberts (David) & Croly (George). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumae, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. Lond. 1842 - 1843 [-49]. First Edn. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Incunabula: O'Fihily (Maurice). Duns Scotus Joannes: O'Fihely, Maurice Abp… Venice, 20th November 1497. €8,000 to €12,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: An important file of documents with provenance to G.A. Newsom, manager of the Jacob’s Factory in Dublin, occupied by insurgents during Easter Week 1916. €6,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: WILDE (Oscar), 1854-1900, playwright, aesthete and wit. A lock of Wilde’s Hair, presented by his son to the distinguished Irish actor Mícheál MacLiammóir. €6,000 to €8,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Heaney (Seamus). Bog Poems, London, 1975. Special Limited Edition, No. 33 of 150 Copies, Signed by Author. Illus. by Barrie Cooke. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Binding: Burke, Thomas O.P. (de Burgo). Hibernia Dominicana, Sive Historia Provinciae Hiberniae Ordinis Praedicatorum, ... 1762. First Edition. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: COLLINS, Michael. An important TL, 29 July 1922, addressed to GOVERNMENT on ‘suggested Proclamation warning all concerned that troops have orders to shoot prisoners found sniping, ambushing etc.’. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Scott Fitzgerald (F.) The Great Gatsby, New York (Charles Scribner's Sons) 1925, First Edn. €2,000 to €3,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Yeats (W.B.) The Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2 vols. Lond. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949. Limited Edition, No. 46 of 375 Copies Only, Signed by W.B. Yeats. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of the Russian Empire, Description in English and French, Lg. folio London (S. Gosnell) 1803. First Edn. €1,000 to €1,500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of Turkey, Illustrated by a Series of Engravings. Lg. folio Lond.(T. Bensley) 1802. First Edn. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Mason (Geo. Henry). The Costume of China, Illustrated with Sixty Engravings. Lg. folio London (for W. Miller) 1800. First Edn. €1,400 to €1,800

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