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Articles - July - 2023 Issue

Where has the truth gone?

- by Bruce E. McKinney

T R U T H !

T R U T H !

Where has the truth gone?

 

 

Facts have become malleable in a world where traditional sources have been set in competition

against loud voices that tell you what you want to hear.

 

Daily newspapers have been thinning for decades. TV news continues but their ratings have

declined. Cable TV has vastly increased choices of channels, but many cater to a partisan

view. And now the Internet is providing slices of slices. If you hate, you can find whole

communities that share your animus.

 

It’s unsettling and disappointing.

 

Not so long-ago, media used to provide an array of positive cases where you could hear the

other person’s perspective even if you didn’t agree. The other side wasn’t the enemy. They

were just misguided, and you could say that in an amused way.

 

However anymore, disrespect is common. Being insulting seems to have only one purpose, to

diminish people, to impugn honesty and intelligence. I doubt many people embrace such

hateful behavior as in my life I’ve rarely encountered it.

 

But certainly, such attitudes are epidemic today. So while the Internet is spreading hate, we’re

having to understand how ChatGBT and similar software are dissolving the line between

fact and fiction.

 

For our part, we will continue to provide the history of book transactions, 13+ million listings

strong, exactly as they were when created a day or a century and a half ago. No rewriting of

history, no spin, no cleansing of the past, no point of view. In the inestimable words of Joe

Friday, “Just the facts, ma'am.” We will keep our databases separate and distinct from the

emerging irreality.

 

This is our promise.

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Posted On: 2023-07-03 20:32
User Name: drmaio30

Dear Bruce,
I posit : "A man is a man; a woman is a woman; a man is a women; a women is a man."...Is this the IRREALITY of which you speak ? I do love your service and invaluable reference to the book world, however; you should stray from social/political debates on your site. No, I'm not a robot or machine. Sincerely Dan

Rare Book Monthly

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    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
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    Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
  • <center><b>Freeman’s | Hindman<br>Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana<br>November 14</b></center> <b>Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:</b> LEROUX, Gaston. <i>The Phantom of the Opera.</i> FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000. <b>Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:</b> GOULD, John. <i>A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds.</i> L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000. <b>Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:</b> A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000. <b>Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:</b> ORWELL, George. <i>Nineteen Eighty-Four.</i> Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000. <b>Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:</b> GOULD. <i>A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans.</i> L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000. <b>Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:</b> <i>The Federalist.</i> NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000. <b>Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:</b> SELBY. <i>Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology.</i> Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman
    Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana
    November 14
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.
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    APRES DE MANNEVILLETTE
    Le Neptune Oriental
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    CASSAS
    Eaux fortes de la Sicile et quelques vues d’Espagne
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    CASSINI DE THURY
    Carte générale et particulière de la France.
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    JOUY; GARNERAY
    Vues des côtes de France dans l'Océan et dans la Méditerranée
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LA PÉROUSE
    Voyage autour du monde
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISIERE
    Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LICENT
    Hoang Ho, Pai Ho, Loan Ho, Leao Ho. Itinéraires suivis dans le bassin du golfe du Pei Tcheuly
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    FRENCH SCHOOL FROM THE 19th CENTURY
    Panorama d’Athènes
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    PEETERS
    Description des principales villes, havres et isles du golfe de Venise
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    PÉRON; FREYCINET
    Voyage de découverte aux terres australes
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    STACKELBERG
    La Grèce : vues pittoresques et topographiques.
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    VALENTINER
    Atlas des Sonnensystems.
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    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). The Thirteen Problems, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Dumb Witness, first edition, 1937. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Cards on the Table, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: [Carr (John Dickson)], "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode. Drop to his Death, first edition, Heinemann, [1939]. £600 to £800.
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    Online Sale:
    The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper
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    Forum, Nov. 7: Marsh (Ngaio). Overture to Death, first edition, The Crime Club, 1939. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: [Day-Lewis (Cecil)] "Nicholas Blake". The Beast Must Die, first edition, 1938. £750 to £1,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Brand (Christianna). Green for Danger, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1945. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Murder is Easy, first edition, signed by the author, 1939. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Sayers (Dorothy L.) Lord Peter Views the Body, first edition, Gollancz, 1928. £6,000 to £8,000.
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