Rare Book Monthly Articles - December - 2010 Issue

A Sale on the Morrow

A Sale on the Morrow

By Bruce McKinney The human brain is in constant flux, caught between emotion and reason. On the day last spring I consigned my collection of the American Experience to auction at Bonhams for sale tomorrow, December 2nd, in New York, 'reason' was in charge. As the day, hour and minute approach it turns out that consignor emotions will be heard. They are now informing me that they weren't consulted and are now in an uproar. Oh well. Every consignor to auction faces a moment when the market will judge the material, house, timing, offer, estimates and reserves and if pleased leap to it...

Nancy Pearl:  America's Favorite Librarian

Nancy Pearl: America's Favorite Librarian

By Susan Halas Nancy Pearl - many readers, NPR listeners, library-goers and those who think fondly of librarians - already know her name. This is the Nancy Pearl who started the city-wide bo...

December to be a Busy Month for the Auctions

December to be a Busy Month for the Auctions

By Michael Stillman The first three weeks of December will be one of the busiest times we have seen in a while for the world of book and ephemera auctions. Then, the hammers will fall silent for...

The AED at Three Million

The AED at Three Million

By Bruce McKinney The Americana Exchange Database of Auction records, bibliographical notices, important dealer and collector catalogues has reached three million full text records. Over the ...

Keywords and the Future of Book Collecting

Keywords and the Future of Book Collecting

By Tom McKinney For those not familiar with Matchmaker, it is a service that lets Americana Exchange members input keywords phrases, and authors, titles dates, into our system. We then take yo...

A Book Theft Turns Deadly

A Book Theft Turns Deadly

By Michael Stillman A book theft that turned deadly may lead to homicide charges depending on the outcome of forensic evidence. The books at issue were actually comic books, but the results were...

Follow-up to Better World Books Article

Follow-up to Better World Books Article

By Susan Halas November's lead story on Better World Books of Mishawaka, Indiana, not only attracted a greater than usual number of readers, but also evoked quite a bit of response both directly...

A Positive Trend for Regional Auction Houses

A Positive Trend for Regional Auction Houses

By Bruce McKinney Leslie Hindman Auctioneers of Chicago struck gold with 3,129 words which they sold for $79,300 or $25.34 each. These words were written in 1880 by Samuel Clemens in his hand, ...

Portland Booksellers' Website - A Great Idea Not Quite Fulfilled

Portland Booksellers' Website - A Great Idea Not Quite Fulfilled

By Michael Stillman The Portland Area Used Booksellers Association (Portland, Oregon) two weeks ago announced the launching of a cooperative website for its members. According to PAUBA's Preside...

New Man at a Crucial Moment

New Man at a Crucial Moment

By Bruce McKinney One of the storied seats in all of book auction selling is going to be filled on January 3rd. The seat is as Head of Books Manuscripts at Sotheby's in New York. The person s...

Barnes & Noble Reaches Out to Children

Barnes & Noble Reaches Out to Children

By Michael Stillman Barnes Noble recently announced another new idea for its stores as the nation's number one bricks and mortar book retailer struggles to re-establish relevance in a changing ...

Skinner Sells a Declaration

Skinner Sells a Declaration

By Bruce McKinney Skinner, the Boston auction house, for the second time in two years, has sold a Declaration of Independence and the price of freedom continues to be high. This copy is attri...

New E-Readers Hit European Shelves

New E-Readers Hit European Shelves

By Michael Stillman The electronic reader knows no borders. The rapid rollout of Kindles and Nooks in America is being repeated with a group of locally produced electronic readers in Europe. On ...

Auctions Going Postal

Auctions Going Postal

By Bruce McKinney Antiquarian Auctions of Laguna Beach, California will be posting its first sale for bidding beginning on December 9th and concluding its first sale on the 16th. Ed Postal, o...

14 New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

14 New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we are reviewing 14 new bookseller catalogues. The American West is featured in catalogues from Gene Baade's Books on the West and the Argonaut Book Shop, while the William Reese Company...

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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€
  • 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

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions