Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2025 Issue

Frankly, it's our turn

When you want to support . . .

 

In times of distress, dealers and the collecting community in the rare books

field have made common cause to both raise the flag and raise money for 

the disadvantaged. Such events tend to disappear in the miasma of uncertain

times. One such event was an occasion to voice support to the English People.

It’s date: July 3rd, 1941.

 

 

 

A Catalogue

Of

BOOKS AND MSS.

To be sold for

The

 

Distress Fund

On Aid of Booksellers who

Have suffered loss

From Bombing

 

Organized by

The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association

 

 

Which Will be Sold by Auction By

Messrs.

Hodgson & Co.

(Established 1807)

 

At their Rooms

115 Chancery Lane

London, W.C.2

 

On Thursday, July 3rd, 1941

At One o’clock

 

 

More recent but long receding into dissolving memory there was an auction staged as

 

Literary Auction

For Peace

 

Autograph Letters / Manuscripts

First Editions

Inscribed and Limited Editions

 

Tuesday, April 23, 1968

Exhibition: 1:00 – 7:45 PM

Auction:  8:00 – 11:00 PM

 

Held at the

Ethical Culture Society

2 West 64th Street

New York City

 

Auction Hall courtesy of the

Ethical Culture Society

 

 

 

This sale was especially well designed. Every item’s donor was listed. Every item’s virtues were concisely described. As well, their Sponsors List was included subject to space. That list also included um-teen hyper-famous personalities.

 

This sale probably drew a crowd just to see the crowd.

 

How did the sale did? Not particularly well. Almost all lots sold but the prices were modest. What turned out to be both good politics and good investments: ? Original manuscript material.

 

Net net. Both of these sales remind us that authors and collectors have stepped up when the chips were down.

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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