Rare Book Monthly Articles - September - 2017 Issue

Year 16, Day 1

Year 16, Day 1

Rare Book Hub, the successor to Americana Exchange, begins on 3 September its 16th year as a database of rare books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera offered at auction, online and in significant dealer catalogues, and/or described in important bibliographies.  The total number of records in our Transaction Database a few days ago was 7,886,529, 52 times what it was at launch while the price of the service that was $79.95 at startup has increased only 3.7 times in 15 years to $295.   It is a field in transition and information now trumps assertions.   The world outside of rare books has a...

Three New Theories Attempt to Unravel the 500-year-old Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript

Three New Theories Attempt to Unravel the 500-year-old Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript

It is perhaps the greatest mystery of the book world. A 240-page illustrated manuscript, whose history can be traced back almost five centuries, remains indecipherable, its language, creator and or...

Here's How to Find What's Available at Auction During the Busy Season

Here's How to Find What's Available at Auction During the Busy Season

The busiest time of the year for book and paper auctions is about to arrive. Last year, 30% of the items were sold in the last three months of the year. Moreover, many saved their best for last, as...

Columbus returns to the Vatican:  it's a miracle!

Columbus returns to the Vatican: it's a miracle!

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue but only after the kings of Portugal, France and England turned down the opportunity to finance his adventure and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella stepped in...

Martin Luther in Print

Martin Luther in Print

The religious turmoil of the Protestant Reformation proved a bonanza for printers and artists, especially in Germany. A stunning new exhibition at SMU’s Bridwell Library in Dallas evokes the drama ...

Weathering the Storm

Weathering the Storm

I woke up on the morning of Thursday, August 24, made breakfast, and turned on the Weather Channel for the 8:00 update on Tropical Storm Harvey. I live in Corpus Christi, Texas, a flat, low lying c...

Raveneau de Lussan… and a bottle of rum!

Raveneau de Lussan… and a bottle of rum!

Twenty severed heads, on a buccaneer's bark, yo-oh-oh! Welcome to the merciless world of the buccaneers* (or flibustiers), those terrible people who swarmed the Spanish Americas in the second half ...

A Busy Fall for Swann Galleries and Rare Americana in September

A Busy Fall for Swann Galleries and Rare Americana in September

Swann Auction Galleries has released their Fall 2017 Auction Schedule, and it is quite the lineup! Starting mid-September and running through mid-December, sales that may interest readers of Rare B...

Sept 13: Fine Maps, Americana, and More at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers

Sept 13: Fine Maps, Americana, and More at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers

Fall is almost here, and with it comes a serious uptick in auction activity. This month, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers invites collectors to browse and bid at their September 13th sale of Fine Books a...

Live Online Now Thru Sept 13: Atlases, Maps, and Rare Books at Old World Auctions

Live Online Now Thru Sept 13: Atlases, Maps, and Rare Books at Old World Auctions

Although collectors typically come to Old World Auctions (OWA) for antique maps, the September sale also offers an outstanding selection of rare books.  Included are atlases, history books, geograp...

Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair September 8-10

Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair September 8-10

Marvin Getman, the trade show impresario, is continuing to build a book buying and bookselling community around his Brooklyn Book Fair, now in its fourth year and scheduled for the 8th to the 10th ...

Inaugural San Francisco Map Fair September 14-16

Inaugural San Francisco Map Fair September 14-16

This September, in San Francisco, the 1st Annual San Francisco Map Fair will be held at the Regency Center, beginning Friday September 15th from 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm, continuing Saturday the 16th 10:...

Fresh eCatalogues:  Interesting and Part of the Future

Fresh eCatalogues: Interesting and Part of the Future

As paper catalogues decline in frequency the decline is offset by a rise in electronic catalogues.  This month there are 20 fresh efforts and another dozen since July 1st.  These catalogues reflect...

Can A Monkey Copyright His Original Works?

Can A Monkey Copyright His Original Works?

The U. S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco recently heard an interesting case, one which generated more laughs than scholarly legal commentary. It involved a monkey that took a "selfie" picture. T...

Six New Catalogues Reviewed

Six New Catalogues Reviewed

This month we are reviewing six new bookseller catalogues. The William Reese Company features a new collection of Western Americana. Lorne Bair Rare Books targets radical social movements from both...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Swann, May 15: Lot 4: Helena Bochoráková-Dittrichová, Z Mého Detství Drevoryty, Prague: Obzina, 1929. First trade edition, signed by the artist. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 10: Nancy Cunard, Negro Anthology, with a tipped-in A.L.S. to Karl Marx's niece, 1934. First edition. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 14: Margaret Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, 1845. First edition. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 17: Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, inscribed first edition, 1959. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 28: Margaret Hill Morris, Private Journal Kept during a Portion of the Revolutionary War, for the Amusement of a Sister, 1836. First edition. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 38: Anna Sewell, Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, 1877. First edition. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 43: Gertrude Stein, Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia, signed presentation copy with photograph of Stein, 1912. First edition. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 48: Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, first edition in the scarce dust jacket, 1927. $6,000 to $8,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 54: Katherine Dunham, large archive of material from her attorney, 1951-53. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 55: Margaret Fuller Signed Autograph Letter, New York City, 1846. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 92: Sonia Delaunay, illus. & Tristan Tzara, Juste Present, deluxe edition with original gouache, 1961. $20,000 to $25,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 93: Flor Garduño, The Sonnets of Shakespeare, 2006. Limited edition. $6,000 to $8,000.
  • 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€
  • 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

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