Rare Book Monthly

Articles - October - 2007 Issue

What's Atop BookFinder's Top Ten This Year?

- by Michael Stillman

BookFinder's Top Ten is a different sort of list.


The removal of Belichick's book from the Popular Science and Technology category opened up room for John. F. Straubel's One Way Up to debut at the top. Number 2, up from 6 a year ago, is Murmurs of the Earth by the ever-popular Carl Sagan.

Last year's number 1 in Fiction and Literature, Sisters, by Lynne Cheney, has completely disappeared from this year's list. If only we could make her husband disappear so quickly. On top now is Once a Runner, by John L. Parker, Jr., while Nora Roberts inches one spot closer to the top, from 3 to 2, for Promise Me Tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow she will reach the promised number 1.

What important event is worthy of leading the list of books on history? Last year it was the Civil War. This year, it is Flash in the Pan: Life and Death of an American Restaurant. It is the story of a Manhattan restaurant that closed a year after it opened. What is historically important to readers this year is a bit less momentous than what was a year ago. Runner-up is The Politicos, 1865-1896, by Matthew Josephson. Amazon ranks this one a more modest 1,418,795. This book describes the period that brought us Presidents Andrew Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison. Giants all.

For Mysteries and Thrillers, number 1 is The Book of Bond, by Kingley Amis as William "Bill" Tanner. Also in the top ten are Donald E. Westlake as Richard Stark and John Dickson Carr as Carter Dickson. Is there something about this genre that makes people embarrassed to use their real names? Atop Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror once again is Rage, by Stephen King, this one also written pseudonymously, and attributed to "Richard Bachman."

Finally, there is the top ten of Society and Culture, a subject I know nothing about. At the top is a title that reeks of society and culture, Our Harvard, edited by Jeffrey Lant. Perhaps the old ‘60s Hahvahd grads have gathered around the fireplace to sing from number 9, the Fireside Book of Folk Songs. We are all veterans of the Folksong Army.

You may read all of BookFinder's Top Ten Lists at http://report.bookfinder.com/2007/.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Doyle, May 1: Thomas Jefferson expresses fears of "a war of extermination" in Saint-Dominigue. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An exceptional presentation copy of Fitzgerald's last book, in the first issue dust jacket. $25,000 to $35,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The rare first signed edition of Dorian Gray. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The Prayer Book of Jehan Bernachier. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Van Dyck's Icones Principum Virorum Doctorum. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Doyle, May 1: The magnificent Cranach Hamlet in the deluxe binding by Dõrfner. $7,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, May 1: A remarkable unpublished manuscript of a voyage to South America in 1759-1764. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Doyle, May 1: Bouchette's monumental and rare wall map of Lower Canada. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An rare original 1837 abolitionist woodblock. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An important manuscript breviary in Middle Dutch. $15,000 to $25,000.
    Doyle, May 1: An extraordinary Old Testament manuscript, circa 1250. $20,000 to $30,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Isaac Newton on chemistry and matter, and alchemy, Autograph Manuscript, "A Key to Snyders," 3 pp, after 1674. $100,000 - $150,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Exceptionally rare first printing of Plato's Timaeus. Florence, 1484. $50,000 - $80,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: On the Philosophy of Self-Interest: Adam Smith's copy of Helvetius's De l'homme, Paris, 1773. $40,000 - $60,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: "Magical Calendar of Tycho Brahe" - very rare hermetic broadside. Engraved by Merian for De Bry. c.1618. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Author's presentation issue of Einstein's proof of Relativity, "Erklärung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie." 1915. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: First Latin edition of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed. Paris, 1520. $20,000 - $30,000.
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: De Broglie manuscript on the nature of matter in quantum physics, 3 pp, 1954. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Tesla autograph letter signed on electricty and electromagnetic theory. 1894. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Heinrich Hertz scientific manuscript on his mentor Hermann Von Helmholtz, 1891. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: The greatest illustrated work in Alchemy: Micheal Maier's Atalanta Fugiens. Oppenheim, 1618. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Illustrated Alchemical manuscript, a Mysterium Magnum of the Rosicurcians, 18th-century. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 28 – May 7: Rare Largest Paper Presentation Copy of Newton's Principia, London, 1726. The third and most influential edition. $60,000 - $90,000

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