Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2008 Issue

<i>In The News:</i> Declining Newspapers, Digitizing Books, Abe's Top 10

- by Michael Stillman


AbeBooks generated their latest top 10 highest prices for the month, this time September. The prices are a bit lower than we usually see, which may, or may not, reflect tightening economic conditions.

10. Bible Verse with illustrations by Mark Chagall, Vol. 8 No. 33-34. Chagall's Bible illustrations with 16 color lithographs. $3,916.

9. Songs of Central Australia, an interesting title since not many people live in the Outback. One of 1,000 copies by T.G.H. Strehlow, published in 1971. $4,000.

8. Voyage d'Italie, de Dalmatie, de Grèce, et du Levant, fait en 1675 & 1676, by Jacob Spon and George Wheler. Three volumes published in 1678, of this journey to Greece and Asia Minor. $4,206.

7. Handbook of Theoretical and Computational Nanotechnology, a large set (10 volumes) about things very small. By Rieth Michael, published in 2006. $4,780.

5 (tie). Keraban-le-Tetu, an 1883 first illustrated edition inscribed by author Jules Verne in 1887. $5,000.

5 (tie). Lo Purgatorio di Dante Alighieri Fiorentino by Dante, one of 150 fine press copies of this 1904 edition by Nella Stamperia di Ashendene. $5,000.

4. Tibullus cum commentariis Cyllænii Veronensis by Tibullus, Catullus and Propertius. This is a 1500 collection of the works of these poets, obviously in Latin. $6,527.

3. The Catalogue of the George Eumorfopoulos Collection by R.L. Hobson, Laurence Binyon and W. Perceval Yettes. This is an 11-volume set pertaining to Asian pottery, porcelain, paintings, etc. $6,555.

2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, a book 504 years newer than the Latin collection, but higher priced anyway as it is a first deluxe edition signed by J.K. Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival. $6,958.

1. Administration des Haras. Atlas statistique de la production des chevaux en France... a beautiful, illustrated 1850 work by Eugene Gayot concerning various breeds of horses in France. $7,000.

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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
  • 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.

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