Rare Book Monthly Articles - July - 2022 Issue

Winning when you collect

Winning when you collect

Collections, random or life-long pursuits are often given away or forgotten because there aren’t many alternatives for selling them for meaningful amounts of money.  This is easy to be misunderstand when you look on the internet.  Everything has a price and therefore there must be a buyer.  After all, you have been buying that way so there must be others equally interested.  Sometimes yes, sometimes no.    In fact, listing sites are a kind of a mirage suggesting liquidity.  Certainly sellers are willing to part with their prizes for the prices they offer but no listing sites have had the ...

Some Words of Advice on Collecting NFTs from Bill Gates

Some Words of Advice on Collecting NFTs from Bill Gates

Rare books and paper have long navigated the fine line between collectibles and investments. Usually, collectors exhibit some of each, collecting things because they like them but also hoping to co...

Required Reading:  Booked by Fate by Phillip Pirages, a Bookdealer

Required Reading: Booked by Fate by Phillip Pirages, a Bookdealer

Mr. Phillip Pirages has written a book about his on-going career as a dealer in collectible paper.    I have observed that bookdealers live two distinct lives.  Among dealers they share their exper...

“My God what have we done.” The Log Book Account of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima on Sale at Heritage Auctions

“My God what have we done.” The Log Book Account of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima on Sale at Heritage Auctions

The world changed on August 6, 1945. History can be divided into two eras, the one before August 6, and the one after. In the one after, we have all lived under the fear of instant annihilation unk...

Deshoulières 1691: a not so casual little book

Deshoulières 1691: a not so casual little book

A copy of the 1691 edition of Mme Deshoulières’ works made me realize that an old book is never as insignificant as it may seem. Especially when a crowned dolphin is swimming on its tail!     A...

Sotheby’s to Offer Precursor and Direct Influence on the Bill of Rights

Sotheby’s to Offer Precursor and Direct Influence on the Bill of Rights

New York, 30 June 2022 - To commemorate the anniversary of America’s Independence on July 4, 1776, Sotheby’s announces a copy of Virginia’s Official Ratification of the United States Constitution a...

Valuable and Important Books and Manuscripts from the Library of Edward R. Leahy coming to auction in October

Valuable and Important Books and Manuscripts from the Library of Edward R. Leahy coming to auction in October

Christie’s New York is pleased to announce the auction on 6 October of 2022 of Valuable and Important Books and Manuscripts from the Library of Edward R. Leahy. Mr Leahy’s collection comprises the ...

Macon Brothers Learns and Succeeds

Macon Brothers Learns and Succeeds

In a typical month several hundred auctions that include significant numbers of books, manuscripts, maps, and ephemera, are completed.  Auctions are an old game relying on centuries old customs as ...

Tsundoku – A New (but Old) Trend in Book Collecting

Tsundoku – A New (but Old) Trend in Book Collecting

The book world has been overcome by a condition (and a newly discovered term) known as tsundoku. The term has been around since the 19th century but has only recently come into vogue. Not surprisin...

Ephraim George Squier’s 1876 Priced Auction:  Not all auctions are equal

Ephraim George Squier’s 1876 Priced Auction: Not all auctions are equal

  When we work with older auctions at Rare Book Hub we try to understand them.  Old auctions, in any event, are useful to provide incremental data whether the sale is significant or not, but somet...

Four Big July Book Fairs in the MidWest -  St. Paul, St. Louis, Detroit & Chicago Celebrate Books

Four Big July Book Fairs in the MidWest - St. Paul, St. Louis, Detroit & Chicago Celebrate Books

 July 8-9 (Friday Saturday) Minnesota Antiquarian Book Fair.  Schoenecker Arena, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN.  This fair caters to both experienced and beginning collectors. It hosts...

Melbourne Rare Book Fair 2022 Returns July 7-9!

Melbourne Rare Book Fair 2022 Returns July 7-9!

After a two year break due to the pandemic and strict border closures in Australia, the Australian New Zealand Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ANZAAB) is excited to announce the return of the...

Do Books Have a Place Going Forward, Not Just Looking Back?

Do Books Have a Place Going Forward, Not Just Looking Back?

It was a minor skirmish in a far away place in the debate between physical books and electronic resources in the library. It's unlikely you heard about it or ever will again. Nonetheless, it's illu...

Fireproof copy of The Handmaid’s Tale sells at Sotheby’s for £103,000

Fireproof copy of The Handmaid’s Tale sells at Sotheby’s for £103,000

NEW YORK — Margaret Atwood years ago imagined apocalyptic disaster, Dystopian government and an author faking her own death. But until recently she spared herself the nightmare of trying to burn on...

Salem “Witch” Has Her Conviction Overturned

Salem “Witch” Has Her Conviction Overturned

It was one of the greatest, and best known miscarriages of justice in American history. Twenty supposed witches were executed in Salem, Massachusetts, after a hysteria and kangaroo court trials in ...

Six New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Six New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

For July, we review six new booksellers catalogues. Amanda Hall Rare Books has a catalogue of works on various subjects. Voewood Rare Books also covers many subjects with rare books and manuscripts...

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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