Rare Book Monthly Articles - December - 2018 Issue

The Great Revolt

Not since David and Goliath... A ragtag army of independent, unrelated booksellers took on the largest retailer the world has ever known, Amazon, and won. Experts looking at the situation could not recall this ever happening before. Amazon moves for no one. Now there is an exception, and it comes from the field that gave the marketing behemoth its birth - bookselling.   It began in late October when AbeBooks, the antiquarian and used book selling subsidiary of Amazon, decided to cut off dealers from a few countries from selling on their platform. AbeBooks sent notices to dealers in the Cz...

The Structure of Multi-form History Collections Considered

The availability of many forms of collectible material causes some collectors to consider or reconsider if they are exclusively a book, map, manuscript, photography or ephemera collector.  Most col...

Books that Don’t Sell - And what to do about it?

What is it about books that don’t sell? We all have them; we all wonder why?   Last month, the Guardian in London ran an article headlined: “Readers rejoice as shop sells book that sat on shelf ...

David Hall of National Book Auction Arrested

David Hall, the long established  auctioneer who runs National Book Auctions and Worth Auctions in Freeville, New York near Ithaca, has been arrested and charged with second degree grand larceny.  ...

Are Newspapers Dying? The Short Answer is "Yes"

Print newspapers are a dying breed. We have known that for a long time. While the number of newspaper closures has actually slowed recently, this is more a temporary bump in the road than a change ...

Ricky Jay: the disappearing act

Mr. Jay, a magician estimated to be 70 or 72, depending on who is talking and what they have been smoking, it's being said he passed away, but those who have followed his career know better.  He wa...

Dec. 4 at Fonsie Mealy: An Eye Witness Manuscript of the Fall of Constantinople, and a Wealth of Anglo-Irish Material

A few days after December’s issue of Rare Book Monthly releases, Irish auction house Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers will be hosting their #307Rare Book Sale, comprising 920 lots. While an Anglo-Irish and...

Nivet le Fanfaron: The Rare, Remote and Pious Narrative of a Wicked Life

Rare books have become rarer with the Internet. Yet, despite Google, some remain nowhere to be found. After chasing down a particular one for years, I gave up—and ordered a facsimile. From Delhi, I...

Fine Books and Manuscripts Including The World of Hilary Knight at Bonham's Dec. 5

On December 5th in New York promptly at 10:00 am EST Bonhams will be hosting an important auction of collectible material.  As do auction houses worldwide December frequently includes much of the b...

Huge Sale of Banknotes, Scripophily, Autographs and Historic Ephemera at Archives International Dec. 3-4

Archives International Auctions will be holding their 50th auction sale since opening their doors 11 years ago. This latest auction will run for two days, December 3-4. It is a major auction of mat...

Early Rare Book and Antique Shopping in Bedford, NH on December 8th

Flamingo Eventz stays busy organizing fairs in the northeast of the United States.  For this Christmas season they are hosting a “quickie”  4 hour event on December 8th in Bedford, NH at Noah’s Eve...

Proposed EU Regulations on Importing Antiquarian Books Becomes Entwined with Brexit. Advantage UK.

The battle over how a Brexit will look has caught the eye of CINOA. Brexit, of course, is the planned exit by Britain from the European Union, scheduled for March 29, 2019. CINOA is the Internation...

Dec. 14: La bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé in association with Sotheby's, Round 4

Later this month, Pierre Bergé associés in association with Sotheby’s will be hosting another sale of La bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé. In the last three years, three sales of literature have alrea...

Oh Rats! Another Problem for Libraries

Libraries face grave dangers as they try to preserve indefinitely the books and other written words and images of history. There are the scourges of fire, floods, theft, along with those resulting ...

Sixteen New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

With the holiday season upon us, booksellers are making the most of the giving season. Sixteen new catalogues are up for review this month. For those looking for the uncommon and unusual, Brian Cas...

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
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 27th
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 27:
    K. Marx, Das Kapital,1867. Dedication copy. Est: € 120,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 27:
    Latin and French Book of Hours, around 1380. Est: € 25,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 27:
    Theodor de Bry, Indiae Orientalis, 1598-1625. Est: € 80,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 27th
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 27:
    Breviary, Latin manuscript, around 1450-75. Est: € 10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 27:
    G. B. Piranesi, Vedute di Roma, 1748-69. Est: € 60,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 27:
    K. Schmidt-Rottluff, Arbeiter, 1921. Orig. watercolour on postcard. Est: € 18,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 27th
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 27:
    Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: € 20,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 27:
    C. J. Trew, Plantae selectae, 1750-73. Est: € 28,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 27:
    M. Beckmann, Apokalypse, 1943. Est: € 50,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 27th
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 27:
    Ulrich von Richenthal, Das Concilium, 1536. Est: € 9,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 27:
    I. Kant, Critik der reinen Vernunft, 1781. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, May 27:
    Arbeiter-Illustrierte Zeitung (AIZ) / Die Volks-Illustrierte (VI), 1932-38. Est: €8,000

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