Rare Book Monthly Articles - June - 2023 Issue

Remembering Hot Metal

When you pick up a newspaper you simply see the public face.  They have long been complex institutions.  My family had a history in the business.    During the early 1950s my father was publishing a group of five weekly newspapers in southern Ulster County.  He bought them for $2,500 in 1951 from a motivated seller.  He had been the general manager for the Hudson Valley Newspapers that had a plant on River Road in Marlborough.  It was a ramshackle place but had a deep history in that community.  If he could move the plant from Milton to Highland they were his.   It’s long been known tha...

Rare Books, Rare Tortoises, and a Rare Theft

What do rare books and Galapagos Tortoises have in common? Not much, but according to a story reported by the St. Petersburg (Florida) Police Department, they do share a home with collector/dealer/...

Welcome to the New World!

What was not so long ago called book collecting has been transforming into the field of collectible paper.  What kept traditional book collecting understandable were the fixed boundaries provided b...

The Torah had a Good Day

At Sotheby’s in New York on May 17th the Codex Sassoon was sold to the American Friends of ANU – Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, made possible by a donation from Alfred H. Moses for $38,12...

Literature and Landscapes:The Bobins and Lisman Collections come to Christie’s

It’s all about American history this month at Christie’s New York as they sell two iconic book collections at auction: that of Bruce M. Lisman of Burlington, Vermont and that of Norman Bobins of Ch...

Overdue Library Book Returned a Mere 96 Years Late

On February 7, 1927, someone borrowed a copy of A History of the United States by Benson Lossing, a notable 19th century American historian. It was due two weeks later, but was never returned, at l...

John Marra, or the Crooked Cook Book

John Marra was a very good sailor, when sober. Captain Cook enrolled him a first time in Batavia in 1770, on his way back from his first voyage—he’d just deserted a Dutch ship; then two years later...

A Pre-Gutenberg Book Printed with Movable Type Being Exhibited at the National Library of France

An exhibition at the National Library of France is displaying the oldest known extant book using movable metal type for the first time in 50 years. You may be thinking they are displaying a copy of...

1898: US Imperial Visions & Revisions

Smithsonian exhibit examines U.S. expansion into Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam and Intervention in Cuba 1898: US Imperial Visions and Revisions is at the National Portrait Gallery i...

Book Banning Is Not New, But It's Still Ugly

The recent rash of book bannings in America has prompted us to take a look back at the past. They were once widespread throughout the western world. The Church had its Index Librorum Prohibitorum, ...

Here Are the Top 10 Most Censored Books in America

We often print top 10 lists, on such topics as the most expensive sales at auction, or most expensive sales on the AbeBooks website. These are positive lists to be on. This one is not. It is of the...

One More Book Shop Scaling Back: The Book Press Ltd.

The Book Press Ltd of Williamsburg, Virginia has announced they are about to close their public shop at 1304 Jamestown Road effective June 15th.  Book stores in well-travelled areas have long resis...

Interpol Seizes 77 Stolen Antiquarian Books

Interpol recently announced the results of its operation against international art theft and trafficking. Code named Pandora VII, this was the seventh of these integrated international arrest and s...

Six New Catalogues Reviewed for June

This month we review six new bookseller catalogues. Jonathan A. Hill Bookseller offers Chinese, Japanese, Korean books, manuscripts, and scrolls. Michel Bouver presents a diverse selection. Forest...

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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
  • 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

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