Peter Harrington has released a new catalogue in their "50" series, this one being Fifty Books and Manuscripts. These are not just any 50 books and manuscripts (mostly books). These are some of the most important books written. They cover diverse categories from fiction, poetry, history, religion, even children's books. It is their significance and desirability that is the common thread. Here are a few examples of what we mean.
We begin with an account of the real pirates of the Caribbean by one of the few of them who actually wrote a book (most pirates weren't particularly literat...
This month we received our first catalogue from Librairie Michel Bouvier. Michel Bouvier has been in the trade for 40 years and operates in a most traditional, and perhaps today unusual way. Librai...
John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller has issued Catalogue 64. It begins with 10 items from their new William Blake Gallery in San Francisco. They explain. "The William Blake Gallery is the first gall...
Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Manuscripts published a selection of Some Books, Illuminated Manuscripts, and Single Manuscript and Printed Leaves To Be Exhibited at the 49th California Internati...
The George S. MacManus Company has issued their Catalogue 414 Travels & Explorations Part III. While there is no limitation expressed as to the nature of these journeys, we can say that they ar...
Sotheran's (Henry Sotheran Ltd.) has released a catalogue of Highlights. Two Hundred years of bookselling in London 1816-2016. Since the firm began in London in '16 and this is the year '16, it con...
L & T Respess Books has issued List 303: Americana. There is not much that needs to be said to describe what is here despite just a single-word title. There is a heavy concentration of 19th and...
The Brick Row Book Shop has issued their Miscellany Seventy: Recent Acquisitions for Winter 2016. This is certainly a miscellany, more specific descriptive words hard to find. There is a lot of ant...
Hordern House has issued a catalogue of The New World, East Indies & Asia: Voyages of Exploration, 1558-1889. It is filled with travel accounts, generally on the Pacific side of the globe. Hord...
Douglas Stewart Fine Books recently prepared a catalogue for the California Book Fairs 2016. Stewart made the journey across the Pacific from Australia with some special items for American collecto...
Gene W. Baade Books on the West has issued their latest catalogue of western wear – Catalogue 216. This land, bigger than life, where myth intersects with reality at some unknown point, remai...
Bernard and Stéphane Clavreuil of Librairie Thomas-Scheler published a selection of Rare Books for the 49th California International Antiquarian Book Fair. These would be special books, wort...
Aleph-Bet Books has released their Catalogue 112 of Children's Books & Illustrated Books. Aleph-Bet's catalogues are always a treat. Every item, and there are over 500, is illustrated in color,...
Lorne Bair Rare Books has issued Catalog 23 Radical & Social Movement Graphics. Or perhaps, based on the cover, we can call it Think. Lorne Bair specializes in material related to social moveme...
The William Reese Company has prepared their Bulletin 41 Original Works of American Art. We don't ordinarily write about catalogues of art, but there are several reasons why this one is appropriate...
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: 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…