Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2025 Issue

The Wolf Is at the Door Again

The Wolf Is at the Door Again

Over the years I have read Clarence Wolf’s Fifty Years A Bookseller 3 times. Recently he released an updated and augmented second edition. In time, it will be Sixty Years and you’ll be happy for it.   Initially, he wrote chapters and released them to Rare Book Monthly’s readership. They were dosed with the spirit of Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel. They were the best writing we’ve ever had on our site.   Two years later (2022) he released his first complete edition (155 pages), modeling (in my opinion) his book on Hakluyt’s experience. Initially it was complete but continued to be...

Are Books Imported Into the United States Subject to the New Tariffs?

Are Books Imported Into the United States Subject to the New Tariffs?

President Trump recently imposed tariffs on goods shipped from virtually everywhere into the United States. All sorts of manufacturers and suppliers are subject to tariffs. Goods from all nations a...

Thieves Steal 43,665 Books

Thieves Steal 43,665 Books

Book theft has long been the scourge of book collectors, sellers, libraries, and anyone else with books. It may be a single book, a couple of books, even a few more, but...43,665? How do you even d...

The Largest Gorey Exhibit Ever (apart from The Edward Gorey House) is Now on View at Texas A&M University Cushing Memorial Library and Archives.

The Largest Gorey Exhibit Ever (apart from The Edward Gorey House) is Now on View at Texas A&M University Cushing Memorial Library and Archives.

Over 600 items from the life and work of noted author, artist, and designer Edward Gorey fill three galleries at the Cushing Library at Texas AM University in College Station, Texas. The show, whic...

A Piece of Forgotten History

A Piece of Forgotten History

Recently I found an appealing manuscript document at Holabird Auctions, in Reno, Nevada. Of course I found them online using MatchMaker.   It is an agreement between three lawyers of Ulster Count...

Le Nouveau Paris, Another Tale of Mankind

Le Nouveau Paris, Another Tale of Mankind

Le Tableau de Paris (Paris, 1782) is a crazy book written by Louis-Sébastien Mercier (www.rarebookhub.com/articles/2055). It describes Paris at the eve of the Révolution (1789). A few years later, ...

Some Attractive (but Sometimes Overlooked) Benefits to Being a Rare Book Hub “FREE” Member

Some Attractive (but Sometimes Overlooked) Benefits to Being a Rare Book Hub “FREE” Member

If you are a Rare Book Hub Monthly (RBH) reader you probably know that our site has two sides. One side is by subscription and it gives members access to our over 15 million auction records, and th...

Charlotte Brontë Book Written 195 Years Ago Finally Published

Charlotte Brontë Book Written 195 Years Ago Finally Published

It took a few years, but a book of poems written by Charlotte Brontë 195 years ago has finally been published. Charlotte was only 13 years old at the time and still almost two decades away from sud...

Frankly, it's our turn

Frankly, it's our turn

When you want to support . . .   In times of distress, dealers and the collecting community in the rare books field have made common cause to both raise the flag and raise money for  the disad...

The Rose City Book Fair Returns June 14-15

The Rose City Book Fair Returns June 14-15

Come June, it will once again be time for the annual Rose City Book Paper Fair held in the “Rose City,” Portland, Oregon. The annual book fair will once again be held at the DoubleTree at Lloyd Ce...

Four Post-War Korean Artists Celebrated at the Asia Society in New York

Four Post-War Korean Artists Celebrated at the Asia Society in New York

Asia has receive a lot of attention lately, sometimes for the wrong reason. It has been a whipping boy in the tariff debate. Its sin has been the ability to produce goods Americans want at a price ...

Dr. Jörn Günther Exhibits Timeless Couture: The Art of Dress in Medieval Manuscripts

Dr. Jörn Günther Exhibits Timeless Couture: The Art of Dress in Medieval Manuscripts

Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books is proud to announce the exclusive exhibition, Timeless Couture: The Art of Dress in Medieval Manuscripts, in its gallery space from June 16–20, 2025 during Art Basel. ...

“LIFE is an Everlasting Fairy Tale” – Hans Christian Andersen

“LIFE is an Everlasting Fairy Tale” – Hans Christian Andersen

An Update: Recently I received a call from an old friend, Justin Schiller, whose collection of Hans Christian Andersen material was heading into the rooms at Bonhams in New York. With barely a week...

Luxury Hotels Feature Books and Libraries

Luxury Hotels Feature Books and Libraries

There are two places where you expect to find rare and antiquarian books – private collections and rare book rooms of libraries. Here's a place you might not expect to find them – hotels. There are...

Twelve AI vs. Copyright Cases Consolidated

Twelve AI vs. Copyright Cases Consolidated

Twelve copyright lawsuits pitting authors and publishers against OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, and Meta (formerly Facebook) have been consolidated to one. The purpose is to avoid duplication of trial...

The Antiquarian Outlook - April 2025 Review

The Antiquarian Outlook - April 2025 Review

Before heading into May, see what happened in Rare Books through April with THE ANTIQUARIAN OUTLOOK.   WEEK 17 (04/21): https://youtu.be/sxwewIBVMr4 WEEK 16 (04/14): https://youtu.be/MJ07Vxw9T_E...

Four New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Four New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

We review four new bookseller catalogues for May. The Lawbook Exchange has accounts of murders and other terrible crimes, along with the more mundane everyday rules of jurisprudence. Shapero Rare B...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: (Choiseul-Gouffier, Marie). Voyage Pittoresque de la Grece, 2 vols, 1st edition, 1782-1822. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Gentlemen's Magazine and Historical Chronicle, by Sylvanus Urban, 11 volumes. £700-1,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Shackleton (Ernest). The Heart of the Antarctic, 2 vols, 1st ed, presentation copy, 1909. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Drayton (Michael). Poly Olbion..., London: 1622. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Scheuchzer (Johann Jacob). Ouresiphoites Helveticus, 4 parts in 1, 2nd ed, 1723. £3,000-4,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Roberts (Henry, after). Chart of the NW Coast of America and NE Coast of Asia ..., [1784]. £500-800
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: World. Maffei (Giovanni), Indiarum orientalium Occidentaliumque Descriptio..., 1589. £1,200-1,500
    Dominic Winter, May 14: World. Ortelius (Abraham), Typus Orbis Terrarum, [1598]. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Bible [English]. [The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New..., 1613]. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Taylor (John). All the Workes of John Taylor the Water-Poet..., 1630. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Pierpont Morgan Collection. Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains, 1904 & 1906. £2,000-3,000
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€

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