Rare Book Monthly Articles - May - 2025 Issue

The Wolf Is at the Door Again

The Wolf Is at the Door Again

Over the years I have read Clarence Wolf’s Fifty Years A Bookseller 3 times. Recently he released an updated and augmented second edition. In time, it will be Sixty Years and you’ll be happy for it.   Initially, he wrote chapters and released them to Rare Book Monthly’s readership. They were dosed with the spirit of Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel. They were the best writing we’ve ever had on our site.   Two years later (2022) he released his first complete edition (155 pages), modeling (in my opinion) his book on Hakluyt’s experience. Initially it was complete but continued to be...

Are Books Imported Into the United States Subject to the New Tariffs?

Are Books Imported Into the United States Subject to the New Tariffs?

President Trump recently imposed tariffs on goods shipped from virtually everywhere into the United States. All sorts of manufacturers and suppliers are subject to tariffs. Goods from all nations a...

Thieves Steal 43,665 Books

Thieves Steal 43,665 Books

Book theft has long been the scourge of book collectors, sellers, libraries, and anyone else with books. It may be a single book, a couple of books, even a few more, but...43,665? How do you even d...

The Largest Gorey Exhibit Ever (apart from The Edward Gorey House) is Now on View at Texas A&M University Cushing Memorial Library and Archives.

The Largest Gorey Exhibit Ever (apart from The Edward Gorey House) is Now on View at Texas A&M University Cushing Memorial Library and Archives.

Over 600 items from the life and work of noted author, artist, and designer Edward Gorey fill three galleries at the Cushing Library at Texas AM University in College Station, Texas. The show, whic...

A Piece of Forgotten History

A Piece of Forgotten History

Recently I found an appealing manuscript document at Holabird Auctions, in Reno, Nevada. Of course I found them online using MatchMaker.   It is an agreement between three lawyers of Ulster Count...

Le Nouveau Paris, Another Tale of Mankind

Le Nouveau Paris, Another Tale of Mankind

Le Tableau de Paris (Paris, 1782) is a crazy book written by Louis-Sébastien Mercier (www.rarebookhub.com/articles/2055). It describes Paris at the eve of the Révolution (1789). A few years later, ...

Some Attractive (but Sometimes Overlooked) Benefits to Being a Rare Book Hub “FREE” Member

Some Attractive (but Sometimes Overlooked) Benefits to Being a Rare Book Hub “FREE” Member

If you are a Rare Book Hub Monthly (RBH) reader you probably know that our site has two sides. One side is by subscription and it gives members access to our over 15 million auction records, and th...

Charlotte Brontë Book Written 195 Years Ago Finally Published

Charlotte Brontë Book Written 195 Years Ago Finally Published

It took a few years, but a book of poems written by Charlotte Brontë 195 years ago has finally been published. Charlotte was only 13 years old at the time and still almost two decades away from sud...

Frankly, it's our turn

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 disad...

Four Post-War Korean Artists Celebrated at the Asia Society in New York

Four Post-War Korean Artists Celebrated at the Asia Society in New York

Asia has receive a lot of attention lately, sometimes for the wrong reason. It has been a whipping boy in the tariff debate. Its sin has been the ability to produce goods Americans want at a price ...

Dr. Jörn Günther Exhibits Timeless Couture: The Art of Dress in Medieval Manuscripts

Dr. Jörn Günther Exhibits Timeless Couture: The Art of Dress in Medieval Manuscripts

Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books is proud to announce the exclusive exhibition, Timeless Couture: The Art of Dress in Medieval Manuscripts, in its gallery space from June 16–20, 2025 during Art Basel. ...

“LIFE is an Everlasting Fairy Tale” – Hans Christian Andersen

“LIFE is an Everlasting Fairy Tale” – Hans Christian Andersen

An Update: Recently I received a call from an old friend, Justin Schiller, whose collection of Hans Christian Andersen material was heading into the rooms at Bonhams in New York. With barely a week...

Luxury Hotels Feature Books and Libraries

Luxury Hotels Feature Books and Libraries

There are two places where you expect to find rare and antiquarian books – private collections and rare book rooms of libraries. Here's a place you might not expect to find them – hotels. There are...

Twelve AI vs. Copyright Cases Consolidated

Twelve AI vs. Copyright Cases Consolidated

Twelve copyright lawsuits pitting authors and publishers against OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, and Meta (formerly Facebook) have been consolidated to one. The purpose is to avoid duplication of trial...

The Antiquarian Outlook - April 2025 Review

The Antiquarian Outlook - April 2025 Review

Before heading into May, see what happened in Rare Books through April with THE ANTIQUARIAN OUTLOOK.   WEEK 17 (04/21): https://youtu.be/sxwewIBVMr4 WEEK 16 (04/14): https://youtu.be/MJ07Vxw9T_E...

Four New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Four New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

We review four new bookseller catalogues for May. The Lawbook Exchange has accounts of murders and other terrible crimes, along with the more mundane everyday rules of jurisprudence. Shapero Rare B...

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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