An Executive Order posted on the White House website on March 14th announced the administration's intention to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a small branch of the federal government that acts as a clearing house and coordinator for federal grants and other library and museum services. The IMLS has an annual FY 2024 budget of $294.8 million according to information posted by the agency.
Other federal agencies targeted for elimination by the order are: the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; the United States Agency for Global Media; the Woodrow Wilson Inter...
University Archives will hold its next sale on April 23, 2025. 530+ lots of high-quality historical artifacts will be offered, including the Abraham Lincoln Collection, one of the largest, most imp...
March 20, 2025
It is with great sadness and disappointment that I am letting you know the Grolier Club decided to not honor my agreement with the Executor Director to have the most comprehensiv...
David Lesser, one of the Grand old Men of the ABAA recently made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. It was smart, efficient and encouraging. He created a custom electronic catalogue-tte of 16 items rel...
15,000,000 is just a number but it’s a big one
Rare Book Hub continues to be on a tear adding both new and old auction records to our Rare Book Transaction History.
We have long obsessed ab...
These are strange times, which gives rise to this story of a library caught in the middle. It involves international borders, a famous author, and a most unusual library. The border is that between...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ella Hall Joins William Reese Company Ahead of Company’s Move to New York City and the New York Antiquarian Book Fair
Highlights on the Reese Stand at the Fair Include...
The Collectible Paper Experience: In NY April 3-6
A great space, a desirable time, smart people and did I mention exceptional material. As wealth has been concentrated, the value of association...
Saturday April 5: Two Book Fairs – Plan Ahead
If you are planning to visit the New York book fairs on Saturday, 5 April, please consider Robert Frost’s words:
Two roads diverged in a wood, ...
Fresh Perspectives on Collecting featured several panels of younger voices in the fields of collecting, library, special collections and bookselling. The event, held as a zoom symposia on March 18 ...
Old books are generally used for collecting, possibly reading if you handle them with great care. However, there are other uses, particularly if they aren't of significant value. Artists will cut t...
The history of collectible paper has been a story of false starts. Auction houses in the 19th century waxed and waned. How to describe and organize records were constantly a matter of dispute. What...
Vidocq. A former convict, who escaped from 20 prisons, turned police informer, and then head of the Paris Surete. A very bold man. The father of modern criminology, who inspired writers such as Vic...
Once upon a time, a skilled and obsessive collector decided to search for books by Hans Christian Anderson. The day and time is not known but the year – YES, we know it was 1994. The collector: Jus...
Do you know Mariana Soledad Magdalena Villa-Gilbert? Most likely not. She was an author and her publisher thought enough of her to publish 7 books, six novels and one collection of her short storie...
The Antiquarian Outlook - March 2025 Review
Before heading into April, see what happened in Rare Books through March with THE ANTIQUARIAN OUTLOOK.
WEEK 9 (Starting 02/24): https:...
The George and Anna Eliot Ticknor Collecting Prize
Entries are extended to May 15th. Sharpen your pencils!
Since 2019, The Ticknor Society has awarded an annual George and Anna ...
At least it wasn't a century overdue. Credit the apparent borrower Charles Tilton with that. Not that he personally returned it. Credit must go to his responsible granddaughter, Mary Cooper. She is...
This month we review six new bookseller catalogues. Shapero Rare Books will take us to far-off places with Travel 2025. One of those places you can visit is Korea, but it won't be like it was centu...
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.
![<b>DOYLE, July 23:</b> [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/4ce5fa1d-1943-4413-a80d-7b5c75383e7e.jpg "<b>DOYLE, July 23:</b> [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800")
![<b>DOYLE, July 23:</b> [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. <i>Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions.</i> San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/fa635c85-6b12-44f2-8832-2087579574d9.jpg "<b>DOYLE, July 23:</b> [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. <i>Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions.</i> San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.")
![<b>DOYLE, July 23:</b> TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. <i>Anna Karénina ... in eight parts.</i> New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/af9f4e1a-90c2-428c-8d49-9624b070c7a9.jpg "<b>DOYLE, July 23:</b> TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. <i>Anna Karénina ... in eight parts.</i> New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600")
![<b>Sotheby’s, Ending July 10:</b> John Gould. <i>The Birds of Europe,</i> [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/64dbb393-4712-4536-a1a6-26d823c523dc.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Ending July 10:</b> John Gould. <i>The Birds of Europe,</i> [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.")
