The book market has long bubbled along with the underlying economy. Rivers were our first highways, advances in transportation made it possible to bring food and fuel to support cities. With population concentration, universal education was needed to facilitate inventions and manufacturing advances. Step by step the printed word became the connective tissue to build societies. Books, which had been the property of the well to do, were now finding their place with the emerging green sprouts of what would become the middle class.
As both printing and papermaking became more efficient and...
A lost, or unknown short story by Jack Kerouac was recently discovered among the artifacts of a Mafia crime boss who died 40 years ago. Too bad Kerouac isn't here to write this story as he could ha...
MatchMaker Saves Time and avoids Missed Opportunities
Buying and Selling online has been quickly evolving.
These days the number of auctions continues to increase. Ninety a month is common....
It seems like Brian Cassidy, 53, has been on my radar forever. Sure enough, when I looked in the files I found emails going back to 2010. In those days he was Brian Cassidy Bookseller, his own firm...
Fire isn't the only thing that doesn't mix with water. As any librarian will tell you, another is books. No one wants a leaky roof, but librarians are particularly averse. This issue has come to th...
eCatalogues on Rare Book Hub: Are they part of your future?
Rare Book Hub is used to follow the world-wide collectible paper auction market. As a sidebar, we now provide a side-by-side eCatalog...
When the last day of the month is a Sunday, we include a brief announcement in Rare Book Monthly about our just to be released Weekly Auction Update. Today is one of those occasions.
This week’...
A 1914 Babe Ruth rookie baseball card sold a few weeks ago for an astronomical price of $4,026,000. You might think the seller was very happy with that, but probably not. That price represented a $...
It was preordained this one was going to break all records. If there was a surprise, it was by just how much. Comic books are highly collectible items, with prices in recent years reaching astronom...
Fewer than ten Latin Gospels of the 10th century or earlier have been offered at auction in the past hundred years—and none have been connected to a women’s scriptorium. That changes this December,...
Amidst a very busy December schedule for Sotheby’s global Books and Manuscripts Department, “The Library of Bary Yampol: A First Selection” stands out as the highlight of the month. Barry Yampol (1...
Portrait of a misdated political book that portrays a fake and bigger than life bandit!
Les Amours de Cartouche...
Louis-Dominique Cartouche was the 1st French public enemy. The rich feare...
One Bookstore, 3 Sisters and 100 Years
A Midtown Manhattan anomaly, the Argosy Book Store continues to thrive thanks to the dedication of the three women who have presided over it for decades. A p...
When a periodical closes down, it's generally not sufficiently newsworthy to mention. A lot of newspapers have closed down recently. But, how about when one that has been in continuous publication ...
Jeffrey Ying of Fremont, California, has pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a historical Chinese document from the East Asian Library at UCLA (University of California Los Angeles). Actually, h...
For December, we have reviewed three new dealer catalogues. Kenston Rare Books presents a selection of books on Texas and the American West. The Kelmscott Bookshop features artists' books, private ...
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today These are the Times that Try Men's Souls. Paine, Thomas. Sold for US$152,900.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today The First Printed Work on Political Economy. Sold for US$127,000.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today Signed Lincoln Photograph with Son Tad. Sold for US$76,700.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today First Expanded Edition of Common Sense. Paine, Thomas. Sold for US$76,700.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today Presentation Copy of Hemmingway's First Book. Sold for US$70,350.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today St. John's Gospel on Vellum, A Fragment in Greek, 5th Century. Sold for US$70,350.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today Only A Handful of Surviving Copies. Joyce, James. Ulysses. Sold for US$58,880.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today A Pivotal Step in Einstein's Development of General Relativity. Sold for US$51,200.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today A Fine Jewelled Binding Signed by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Sold for US$56,320.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today Joyce's Annotated Typescript Draft for Finnegan's Wake. Sold for US$48,640.
Bonhams: Consign With Us Today One of 30 Pre-Publication Copies, Inscribed by Hemingway to Spencer Tracy, Who Played "The Old Man". Sold for US$83,050.
Sotheby’s Year in Review
Sotheby’s Year in Review: A Rare Hebrew Bible with Micrographic Masorah. Sold: 1,514,000 USD
Sotheby’s Year in Review: "The Freedman's Primer.” Sold: 241,300 USD
Sotheby’s Year in Review: Smith, William. "The Map that Changed the World." Sold: 139,700 USD
Sotheby’s Year in Review: Psalter, C13th. Illuminated Psalter. Sold: 330,200 GBP
Sotheby’s Year in Review: Lincoln, Abraham. The abolition of slavery. Sold: 13,697,500 USD
Sotheby’s Year in Review: Vergilius. Opera, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, 1501. Sold: 1,041,400 USD
