Rare Book Monthly

Articles - June - 2024 Issue

Collectible paper, née Rare Books, is moving on

Auction Reports are a new choice. Then open the Advance Search. Voila!

Auction Reports are a new choice. Then open the Advance Search. Voila!

Collectible paper’s value has long depended on content and priority which is often subject to interpretation and argument.  When such material is offered at auction [and often but not always sold], by tradition, results have been published. Since the 19th century such results have been announced and occasionally been written about in newspapers, periodicals, and books.  Since 2002 Rare Book Hub, in response to the lack of broad, centralized record keeping of auction appearances and results, we made it our goal to build a complete record. 

 

This past month we added Auction Reports for all 8,700,000 lots in our Transaction History that were offered between 2002 to 2024.  This month we have further reorganized our 25,000 auctions to provide Search within the Search capability. To tap into this information we are providing two options.  On all pages where the Keyword Search appears, to the left is the new option:

 

Rare Book Transaction History

Upcoming Auctions

Auction Reports 

 

These reports are found by searching by house, date and or event name.

 

Once selected, these reports are treated as CURRENT Events as if they were being reported today with analysis of top lots, prices paid, and percentage of lots sold.  As well now, on this report we include a Search within the Search capability for those who wish to better understand how the entire event worked.  Particularly for single owner sales in the past, analogous or related material often appeared in volume.  This is one of the principal differences between current and past sales.

 

This enhancement to Auction Reports is also accessible on all Rare Book Transaction History Search Results via a link on each line of Preliminary Search Results under the Auction Details links.

 

8,700,000 of our results are currently accessible this way [2002-2024].  As to our other 5,300,000 pre-2002 results, we are going to quickly release enabling software house by house, completing this process within 6 weeks.

 

Welcome to the new world!

 

 

As we go to press we are providing 14,001,415 records reflecting offers and sales from 1848 up to last night.

 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare. The Temple Shakespeare. Housed in Custom Bookcase. $6,365.
    Sotheby’s: Frederick Douglass. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845. $14,000.
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol. London: William Heinemann, 1915. $2,900.
    Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. First Edition Set, Including This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and others. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1920 – 1941. $24,180.
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], John Tenniel. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland First Edition. Macmillan & Co., 1866. $15,000.
  • Swann
    Autographs
    November 6, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 93: Autograph album containing 29 autograph letters signed by each president from Washington to Coolidge, 1785-1945.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 166: Franz Schubert, Autograph Musical Manuscript, fragment from Die Taucher, 1813.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 111: Thomas Jefferson, holograph plat drawing: map of field near Monticello, 1790s.
    Swann
    Autographs
    November 6, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 208: George Sand, Autograph Manuscript Signed, draft of her one-act play, Francia, ca. 1872.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 218: Walt Whitman, Manuscript Signed, draft of three complete poems from Leaves of Grass, 1891.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 8: James Dean, Photograph Signed and Inscribed, still from Giant, 1955.
    Swann
    Autographs
    November 6, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 20: John Lennon, Typescript Signed, interview discussing Paul, Linda, and Yoko, 1971.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 215: Mark Twain, engraved portrait Signed, "Mark Twain / SL. Clemens," 1890s.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 81: Vaslav Nijinsky, reproduction of an artwork by Léon Bakst Inscribed and Signed, 1916.
    Swann
    Autographs
    November 6, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 73: Malcolm X, The Harvard Crimson Signed and Inscribed: his street address and phone number, 1961.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 11: Lou Gehrig, Photograph Signed and Inscribed, ca. 1939.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 153: George Gershwin, Photograph Signed and Inscribed, portrait by Renato Toppo.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • Doyle, Nov. 5: The Director's copy of the first edition of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, inscribed by Beckett. $7,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: Don McLean's personal test pressing of American Pie before mass production, gifted in 1971. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: The important and extensive archive of original fashion photographs of model Dorothy Rice, 1945-58. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: A Charles Adams theater advertisement. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: A Small Patinated Bronze Bust of Marlene Dietrich. $800 to $1,200.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: Marlene Dietrich Studio Photograph. $100 to $200.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: The very large and uncommon British Quad for Hitchcock's The Birds. $500 to $800.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: An Original Crystal "Sputnik" from the 1966 Met Opera Chandelier. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: The rare poster from the first American performances of Endgame, 1958. $1,000 to $1,500.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: The original Coconut Grove Playhouse poster for Waiting for Godot, possibly unique. $3,000 to $5,000.

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