Rare Book Monthly Articles - April - 2016 Issue

New York:  Rare Books Everywhere [for 4 days]

New York: Rare Books Everywhere [for 4 days]

If it is April it is again time for the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, this the largest such event in the book collecting world.  This year’s four day fair at the Park Avenue Armory, that features more than 200 American and international dealers, begins on Thursday April 7th and continues through Sunday the 10th.  For they who are active as dealers or who buy primarily from dealers this is the single best moment in the year, four days of viewing, discussion and negotiation.  Many dealers bring fresh inventory and every year a fresh attitude about price and negotiation.  The market changes ...

Meet me in New York

Meet me in New York

Meet Me in New York   I’ll be in New York at the Plaza Athenee during Rare Book Week.  If you would like to talk about books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera drop me a line at   bmckinney@rarebo...

Aubrey McClendon:  An Extraordinary American Collector

Aubrey McClendon: An Extraordinary American Collector

I contacted Graham Arader, the map dealer, for his perspective on Aubrey McClendon, the man and the collector.  He knew him well and sold him important maps for over a decade.   About him Graham ...

South Chicago’s Woodson Library scheduled for long needed structural repairs; Regional Library & Afro-American Harsh Collection will close while improvements made

South Chicago’s Woodson Library scheduled for long needed structural repairs; Regional Library & Afro-American Harsh Collection will close while improvements made

The Woodson Library is one of two major regional libraries in the Chicago Public Library system. It is located on the South Side of the city at 95th and Halsted. The Woodson is also home to one of ...

Bob Dylan's Archive to be Housed in Oklahoma

Bob Dylan's Archive to be Housed in Oklahoma

An archive representing the creative genius of a man who was the voice of a generation has come out of the shadows, to be accessible to scholars in an institutional setting. That voice of the baby ...

There Will Always be Collectors

There Will Always be Collectors

Not so long ago books were essential to learning.  They were long embraced for their content and visual appeal.  They were the basic tool for learning to read, one third of the essential threesome ...

The Caren Archive  II,  How History Unfolds on Paper - at Bonhams in New York on April 11th

The Caren Archive II, How History Unfolds on Paper - at Bonhams in New York on April 11th

On April 11th Bonhams in New York will sell the 5th installment of rare and historical works on paper including printed, manuscript and photographic materials for Eric Caren, the exceptional collec...

The Oddest Book Titles

The Oddest Book Titles

The Bookseller, Britain's longstanding trade publication, has announced its annual Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year. Each year, they conduct a vote on strange titles of real book...

Doyle New York:  Old Books and Manuscripts on the 13th

Doyle New York: Old Books and Manuscripts on the 13th

I spoke recently with Ted Ripley-Duggan, Vice-President of Rare Books and Manuscripts at Doyle New York, and he offered to prepare a basic text about their upcoming auction and quickly did so.  And...

Potomack Auctions:  an expanding footprint in collectible paper

Potomack Auctions: an expanding footprint in collectible paper

The Potomack Company of Alexandria, Virginia is expanding their auction business in the books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera fields and to do so has hired Kathryn Coldiron who for the past six yea...

Antoine-Francois Desrues, (Not) Just Another Villain

Antoine-Francois Desrues, (Not) Just Another Villain

Nobody knows about Antoine-Francois Desrues (1744-1777) nowadays. Yet, he once stood among the most notorious French villains. The story of his life even made it to the peddling books—some small an...

Another Book Thief Off to Prison

Another Book Thief Off to Prison

Rumors of their death notwithstanding, we constantly are reminded that printed books are still a valuable commodity in the worst possible way. People steal them. An Illinois man was recently senten...

Supreme Court Finally Puts an End to Long Running Apple-Amazon Price-Fixing Case

Supreme Court Finally Puts an End to Long Running Apple-Amazon Price-Fixing Case

After almost half a decade in court, the price-fixing case against Apple concerning cheap e-book prices has finally come to a conclusion. Apple is guilty as charged, they have to pay all settlement...

Prada Offers a Handbag Inspired by Books

Prada Offers a Handbag Inspired by Books

Books have long inspired great thinkers – scholars, scientists, political leaders and such, for their text. The physical beauty of the finest books has similarly inspired many great artists. Now, b...

Eight Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Eight Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we have eight new book catalogues to review. If you like seriously old books, Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books has an amazing 35 items of incunabula to offer, along with over 200 other book...

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

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