Rare Book Monthly Articles - April - 2023 Issue

The Codex Sassoon: a seismic moment in the auction rooms

Paying serious money when collecting invariably involves passion, confidence and madness.  It sometimes affects single collectors and once in a great while a category of bidders.  Codex Sassoon is the perfect candidate for a bidding storm.  Categories and subjects of books and collectible paper have been periodically subject to intense desire.  It turns out Hebraica is having its moment in the sun.   Paramount among obtainable Judaica, the exceptionally important Codex Sassoon, an ancient bound, handwritten Hebrew Bible, will be sold at Sotheby’s New York on 16 May against estimates betwe...

Mary Queen of Scots' Long Lost Prison Letters Discovered and Deciphered

It's been around 440 years since anyone understood these letters. No wonder. They were written from 1578-1584 in cipher. For some number of years they have been sitting in the National Library of F...

The 63rd Annual ABAA New York Antiquarian Book Fair: We’re back to business

The premier Book Fair in the world is soon to be staged in New York April 27-30 at the Park Avenue Armory at 643 Park Avenue between 66/67 Streets.   180 dealers from 17 countries will take over ...

Roald Dahl and Censorship

We have written recently about library censorship, school libraries in particular, where angry people, or worse yet, the government has stepped in to censor books. The major topics that have led to...

Richard Davies at Abebooks, Moves On

Richard Davies who worked at Abebooks for 18 years, recently retired to pursue new adventures. Most recently our interactions with him were Abe’s reports of their most expensive books sold but he w...

Books For The Living, or the Pedantic Habit of Wearing White Gloves

The New York Times made it clear in a recent article: “For Rare Book Librarians, It’s Gloves Off. Seriously.” This old debate whether librarians should handle old books with white gloves is coming ...

Recent Trends & Issues in U.S. Christian Publishing

In the United States Christian inflected movements are playing an increasingly important role in the world of books, whether it be what can be circulated in libraries, defining curriculum such as w...

Fighting, Another New Use for Libraries

“The Downtown Central Library will be closing temporarily at 3 p.m. weekdays until further notice.” That was the brief message on the Buffalo Erie County Public Library website. Their Facebook pag...

The New York City Shadow Fair: alive and well on April 29th

For years the Flamingo Eventz has been a mainstay for the collectible paper field.  One of their events is annually scheduled to coincide with the ABAA’s New York International Antiquarian Book Fai...

Book Fairs in New York, in person and online

Book fairs have long been a part of a book dealer’s selling options.  Covid changed the world in 2020 and stimulated fresh thinking about how shows could be experienced from afar.  Three years late...

Rose City Book & Paper Fair Returns to Portland, OR, June 16-17

The Rose City Book Paper Fair is coming back to the “Rose City” (Portland, Oregon) on June 16-17 this year. Once again, it will be held at the Doubletree by Hilton, 1000 Northeast Multnomah St. in...

New Jersey Supreme Court Rules Against the Sale of a Town Library

In a strange case, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled against a sale of the old library by the community of West Orange. After fending off the challenge in two lower courts, their approval was over...

Four New Bookseller Catalogues Reviewed

This month we review four new bookseller catalogues. Zephyr Used Rare Books celebrates the open road with a collection of automobile dealer catalogues. Shapero Rare Books has published a catalogue...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Gonnelli
    Auction 51
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 14st 2024
    Gonnelli: Leonard Bramer, The descent from the cross, 1634. Starting price 3200€
    Gonnelli: Gustav Hjalmar de Morner Karel, Rome’s Carnival, 1820. Starting price 1000€
    Gonnelli: Various Authors, Mater Dolorosa, 1700. Starting price 200€
    Gonnelli: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Carcere Oscura, 1790. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli: Jan Brueghel, Marine fauna view, 1620 ca. Starting price 28000€
    Gonnelli: Ippolito Scarsella, Mary and Christ with Sant Rocco and Arch-Angel Michele,1615. Starting price 8000€
    Gonnelli: Hans Sebald Beham, Adam and Eve, 1543. Starting price 600€
    Gonnelli: Francesco Burani, Baccanale, 1630. Starting Price 280€
    Gonnelli: Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Plance from Ventiquattr’ore, 1675. Starting price 800€
    Gonnelli: Giuseppe Angeli, Livorno’s Plan, 1793. Starting price 240€
    Gonnelli: XIV Century Artist, Capital “N” letter, 1350 ca. Starting price 340€
  • 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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