Rare Book Monthly Articles - January - 2021 Issue

Just Out: The Rare Book Hub List of Top 500 Prices Paid for Books and Paper at Auction in 2020

It is time once again to look back at the Rare Book Hub Top 500 prices paid at auction for books and paper in the past year. And, what a year it was! It was a year of enormous change, though not perhaps for the obvious reason – the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. What stands out is the increasing evolution of the field away from books to ephemeral paper, often items more visual than textual, more easily displayed.   Elsewhere in this issue of Rare Book Monthly, Susan Benne of the ABAA (Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America) points out that this trend has not been missed by tr...

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Part I - The Year that Was, the year that Will Be

2020 for many has been harrowing.  I requested representatives of some of the principal organizations in the rare paper field for their perspectives on what 2020 has meant and what their experience...

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Part II - The Year that Was, the Year that Will Be - the Auction Perspective

I asked leaders in the auction field for their perspective on the year that was, the year that will be.  Here are responses in alphabetical order by Catherine Williamson of Bonhams, Christina Geige...

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Part III - The Year that Was, the year that Will Be - The Dealer Perspective + Marvin Getman

I have asked leaders of the dealer community, ILAB, ABAA and ABA for their perspectives on the year just past and the year just beginning, and as well have asked Marvin Getman for his views on the ...

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Sophie Schneideman: London book and print dealer

Introducing:  Sophie Schneideman Ms. Schneideman has been in the rare book field 30 years in England, her tenure extending from ingénue to proprietaire, learning the trade, finding material that s...

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AbeBooks Releases Its Top 10 List of Most Expensive Books for 2020

AbeBooks, the website that offers hundreds of millions of primarily used and old books from thousands of booksellers around the world, has listed the Top 10 highest prices paid on their site in 202...

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Chaumaix, or the Power of Wit

The 18th century will always be remembered as the century of Philosophy. Many conservative writers opposed it at the time by underlining some “philosophical absurdities”. But at the end of the day,...

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Twenty Years After They Went Missing, Cambridge University Library Concludes Its Darwin Notebooks Were Stolen

Two decades after they disappeared, the Cambridge University Library has concluded that two missing Charles Darwin notebooks have been stolen. That seems like a long time, but for the past 20 years...

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Random Printings: complex stories

I recently received a shipment of what is mostly ephemera from Peter Luke and I’m always well-pleased for the opportunities he provides. He acquires material that is in my focus:  the Hudson Valley...

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Translating Goodnight Moon

This story comes from a war-torn area, an old conflict of which I would not pretend to have any understanding. Armenia and Azerbaijan are fighting over territory known as Artsakh. Earlier treaties ...

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Christie's Rare Books Taking the Plunge

At Christie’s New York, the Books Manuscripts department is plunging right in to the New Year with two important single-owner collections in January.  The first is Exceptional Prints and Broadside...

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Shapero Rare Books Publicly Traded Parent, Scholium Group, Experiences Losses

Scholium Group, the publicly traded parent of Shapero Rare Books, posted a loss for the first half of their fiscal year, running from April 1 – September 30, 2020. It came as no surprise. The handw...

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Nine New Catalogues Reviewed for January 2021

For the first month of 2021 we are reviewing nine new bookseller catalogues. Two years after their first, Voewood Rare Books issues their second catalogue. It's worth the wait. Shapero Rare Books h...

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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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