Rare Book Monthly Reviews - January - 2008 Issue

The First From Dragon Books

The First From Dragon Books

By Michael Stillman

This month we review our first catalogue from Dragon Books of Bel Air (Los Angeles), California. It is their "first complete catalogue," though oddly named Catalogue 7. Dragon was founded by Jay Penske, a lifelong collector who from age 7 determined he one day wanted to run a bookstore. The shop's name is derived from the first book he ever read, Dragon, Dragon, by John Gardner (it's a good thing the first book Mr. Penske read was not Here come the Teletubbies). Their specialty is "15th to 20th century literary works, as well as canons of poetry, philosophy, art, sci...

Europe and the Far East from the Antiquariaat Forum

Europe and the Far East from the Antiquariaat Forum

By Michael Stillman

We recently received a magnificent catalogue from the Antiquariaat Forum of the Netherlands, entitled Europe and the Far East. Normally we do not comment on the art of the c...

Read More
Panoramic Photography from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books

Panoramic Photography from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books

By Michael Stillman

Recently received from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books of London is a most unusual and fascinating new catalogue. When is the last time you received a catalogue that was less ...

Read More
Antiquarian Chess Literature from The Book Collector

Antiquarian Chess Literature from The Book Collector

By Michael Stillman

This is our first review of a catalogue from The Book Collector of Fort Worth, Texas, and it can certainly be described as serving a book collecting niche: Antiquarian Ches...

Read More
First Editions, History, Science and More from The Manhattan Rare Book Company

First Editions, History, Science and More from The Manhattan Rare Book Company

By Michael Stillman

The Manhattan Rare Book Company has issued a remarkable catalogue to open the new year. I have searched in vain for a title for this catalogue or even a number. I find none ...

Read More
Canadiana from David Ewens Books

Canadiana from David Ewens Books

By Michael Stillman

We recently received Catalogue 63 of Canadiana -- North American Travel, from David Ewens Books. As the title suggests, these are primarily works relating to travel and expl...

Read More
Legal Cases and the Law from the Lawbook Exchange

Legal Cases and the Law from the Lawbook Exchange

By Michael Stillman

Recently off the press is Catalogue 53 of Law and Legal History from the Lawbook Exchange. Most items in the catalogue fit the category of "antiquarian and scholarly," thoug...

Read More
Thirty-two Rare Books, Prints and Manuscripts from Hordern House

Thirty-two Rare Books, Prints and Manuscripts from Hordern House

By Michael Stillman

It is not often we see catalogues that are 8 x 11 1/2 and a quarter of an inch thick. When we receive one of this size that contains only 32 items, you can be confident that...

Read More
Printing History and technique from the Veatchs Arts of the Book

Printing History and technique from the Veatchs Arts of the Book

By Michael Stillman

The Veatchs Arts of the Book has issued their Catalogue 59 -- Printing History and Technique. There are 144 items pertaining to printing, including many antique specimen boo...

Read More
European Books About Books from Frits Knuf Antiquarian Books

European Books About Books from Frits Knuf Antiquarian Books

By Michael Stillman

Recently arrived is Old and Rare Books 2008 from Frits Knuf Antiquarian Books of Paris. Knuf is a specialist in the "books about books" field, with a focus on European and E...

Read More
Latin American and Spanish Works from Libreria de Antano

Latin American and Spanish Works from Libreria de Antano

By Michael Stillman

Libreria de Antano of Buenos Aires has issued a catalogue of Recientes Adquisiciones (Recent Acquisitions). As the title implies, this catalogue is in Spanish, which is appr...

Read More
101 Rare Books from Samuel Gedge Ltd.

101 Rare Books from Samuel Gedge Ltd.

By Michael Stillman

Samuel Gedge Ltd. Has just issued their Catalogue III of rare books. There are a great many London imprints, as befitting a British bookseller, but then again there are item...

Read More
A Collection of Modern Literature from Ken Lopez Bookseller

A Collection of Modern Literature from Ken Lopez Bookseller

By Michael Stillman

Just out is the latest catalogue, number 146 of Modern Literature from Ken Lopez Bookseller. Offered are primarily first and prepublication editions of works published from ...

Read More
A Miscellany from Forest Books

A Miscellany from Forest Books

By Michael Stillman

The latest catalogue from Forest Books of Redmile, Nottinghamshire, England, is their Miscellany Three. A "miscellany" is hard to describe, since it can contain just about a...

Read More
Recent and Varied Acquisitions at John Michael Lang Fine Books

Recent and Varied Acquisitions at John Michael Lang Fine Books

By Michael Stillman

John Michael Lang Fine Books has released a new list of books available, Recent Acquisitions List 24. These are not long lists, but nonetheless include a wide range of mater...

Read More
Many Autographed Documents from David Schulson

Many Autographed Documents from David Schulson

By Michael Stillman

We recently received Catalogue 135 from David Schulson Autographs. Offered are autographs from a diverse group of well-known personalities - artists, musicians, actors, poli...

Read More
Literature (and more) from James Cummins Bookseller

Literature (and more) from James Cummins Bookseller

By Michael Stillman

The latest catalogue from James Cummins Bookseller is succinctly titled Literature. Perhaps that's a bit too succinct, as while the main focus is literature, there are also ...

Read More
More Works from Film, Literature and History from James Pepper Rare Books

More Works from Film, Literature and History from James Pepper Rare Books

By Michael Stillman

Catalogue 168 from James Pepper Rare Books presents a new collection within their field: Literary First Editions, Mystery and Detective Fiction, Rare Cinema Material, and A...

Read More
Literature, Photography, Letters and More from Waverly Books

Literature, Photography, Letters and More from Waverly Books

By Michael Stillman

Waverly Books has issued its List 151 of books and ephemeral items, 150 in all. Most would fall under the topics of novels or literature, but there are also books of photogr...

Read More

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
  • 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.
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
  • 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€

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions