Rare Book Monthly Articles - April - 2007 Issue

Libraries on the Brink: A topic at the Anarchist Book Fair

By Bruce McKinney This is both a written story and an 11 minute video (hi) or video (lo). Links to the film are also provided at the end of this 1,498 word article. Dictionary.com provides this definition of anarchist: a person who promotes disorder or excites revolt against any established rule, law, or custom. So what would the Anarchist Book Fair be? To learn we rented a space and took along our filming gear. The plan was to videotape responses to a question about book collecting but we quickly adjusted the focus to: Libraries, how do they evolve to survive and prosper to ...

A Streeter Auction Returns This Month

By Michael Stillman There will be an important auction with a very familiar name taking place at Christie's in New York later this month. It will be déjà vu for collectors of printed Americana....

Memory: the next frontier

By Bruce McKinney A thread that connects and unites all human beings is memory. Without it we are cavemen on the edge of oblivion. With it, we are linked with ever expanding knowledge, function...

Goin' South

By Karen Wright Greetings from the road. We always celebrate the month of February and our favorite holiday, Valentine's Day, by taking off to a warmer part of the world. By February, we're...

New Service for Booksellers -- BuyBundle

By Carl Burnham Since January 2007, we at SouthpointBooks have been using a new service called BuyBundle. Whether books, audio, software, or videos, listings are free, and items are also listed...

Aggregator ViaLibri Will Translate Listings

By Michael Stillman ViaLibri announced the addition of a nice tool to its mega-search site – language translation. It provides immediate translation between several, primarily European language...

How much Green is there in the White Mountains?

By Bruce McKinney Once in a while an auction provides an interesting test of strength. Such is the case at New England Book Auctions on April 10th when 210 lots of Americana including a collec...

A Book Lover's Trip Through Dante's Commedia (or the Care and Preservation of Books)

by Renée Magriel Roberts You probably have not heard about this, but a few previously undiscovered cantos of Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso were recently discovered by a hiker on the road to ...

Great Hebraica Exhibition at the Rosenbach

By Michael Stillman The Rosenbach Museum and Library of Philadelphia will be conducting an exhibition of rare and never before seen Hebrew texts over the coming spring and summer. The exhibitio...

Phishing News: Is this the Bank of America?

By Michael Stillman From time to time we write about the latest in phishing expeditions we come across. "Phishing" is that process where someone sends you an email, requesting personal informat...

Thirteen Catalogues Reviewed in Section Two

There are thirteen new bookseller catalogues reviewed in Section Two of April's AE Monthly. No foolin'! There is much for collectors of Americana. Michael Brown and David Lesser offer collections o...

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

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions