Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2021 Issue

Book Fairs:  May you live in Interesting Times

Book Fairs: May you live in Interesting Times

Sanford L. Smith + Associates has announced they are preparing for the 61st Annual New York International Antiquarian Book Fair at the New York Armory, September 9 – 12.  They are planning for a flexible number of exhibitors, down from the previous 210, allowing for increased space between booths.  The fair is at capacity under the current guidelines from New York City and the CDC, but as the situation evolves, so will the fair.  SLSA is expected to release the revised show map around mid-August.   SLSA will be closely following all guidelines from the CDC for exhibitors and guests.  For ...

Coming Soon - Digital Collectible Books?

Coming Soon - Digital Collectible Books?

One advantage we always thought physical books had over their digital counterparts is that physical books are collectible. There is no way you could collect a book composed of ephemeral electronic ...

Guest writer, Maureen E. Mulvihill, brings our attention to an important publication event in Irish Studies.

Guest writer, Maureen E. Mulvihill, brings our attention to an important publication event in Irish Studies.

In her newest essay for Rare Book Hub, guest writer Maureen E. Mulvihill discusses history-writing and the new Cambridge History of Ireland, 4 volumes, some 100 contributors. Do you spot a familiar...

Another Record Price for a Collectible Card

Another Record Price for a Collectible Card

Once in a while, a collecting field becomes so hot it's hard to even keep up with what is going on. Such is the case with collector cards these days. It's reminiscent of tulips a few centuries ago,...

A Solution in Search of a Problem:  Tchotchkes

A Solution in Search of a Problem: Tchotchkes

If you are collecting books no one needs to think where they will put them because book shelves are a basic design element.  Shelves are everywhere.  Manuscripts, often slim and fragile, however ar...

Of Montaigne’s Thoughts and Flatulence

Of Montaigne’s Thoughts and Flatulence

When I decided to visit Italy lately, I chose to visit it in the year 1580, and alongside Michel de Montaigne! The way I see it, if you’re gonna travel through space and time, why not do it with so...

“OK Boomer” - Or what I learned from the Pandemic

“OK Boomer” - Or what I learned from the Pandemic

It’s been a long year.   Hawaii went into lockdown in March of 2020 and is just now emerging to some semblance of pre-pandemic life. About the world of books there’s not much to tell, but if you’...

Forum Auctions Celebrating Five Years with 12 Sales Beginning May 6th Culminating with their 250th in July

Forum Auctions Celebrating Five Years with 12 Sales Beginning May 6th Culminating with their 250th in July

Forum Auctions in July is soon celebrating their 5th anniversary and are conducting a series of sales – both online only and ‘traditional’ – over the course of the spring and into the early summer ...

While Walking in San Francisco

While Walking in San Francisco

Ten years or so ago I used to occasionally walk along Sacramento Street between Presidio and Arguello in San Francisco when the weather was good, looking into sultry store windows arrayed to attrac...

Historical Paper Triumphant Once Again; Prices Soar at Sotheby's!

Historical Paper Triumphant Once Again; Prices Soar at Sotheby's!

The stupendous collection of Printed and Manuscript Americana built by Ira and Barbara Lipman grossed just under 12.4 Million dollars at Sotheby's this past month.   It is never a surprise when a...

BookTok – A Book Phenomenon

BookTok – A Book Phenomenon

Where is the next generation of book collectors? On #BookTok, maybe? You may not be familiar with BookTok if you are over, say, 25 years old. I don't know how many people subscribe to or visit #boo...

Fine Travel books, Atlases, Maps, Natural History and historical Photographs

Fine Travel books, Atlases, Maps, Natural History and historical Photographs

Sotheby’s London is offering 192 lots in its online sale of Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History which runs until May 13. Leading the sale is a 5 volume set of Braun and Hogenberg’s Civitates...

Terrible Fire Destroys Library Collections

Terrible Fire Destroys Library Collections

It was a library's worst nightmare. On April 18, a fire broke out on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, South Africa. It grew rapidly before firefighters were able to control it. It spread to the Universit...

A Book Store is Closing

A Book Store is Closing

When a diner or shoe store closes the two rarely raise the ambient decibels while, when a bookstore closes, the future of civilization is imperiled.  The difference is that bookstores, for many, sy...

I Have Been Offered $950,000, But Is It Real?

I Have Been Offered $950,000, But Is It Real?

I get lots of “free” offers and I have learned to ignore most of them. They are generally for things I don't want anyway. But, when someone offers me $950,000, I do take notice. That is especially ...

Nine New Catalogues Reviewed

Nine New Catalogues Reviewed

This month we review nine new catalogues, which includes some unusual and spectacular ones. Artifacts of the Bible presents an extensive collection which is practically a history of the Church of J...

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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