Rare Book Monthly Articles - September - 2025 Issue

Ken Huddleston: A man for (from) his Times

Ken Huddleston: A man for (from) his Times

The world has been transforming. For 20 somethings these days that’s the world you were born into. For those born before 1975 what we experience is surprisingly unfamiliar. Many, okay let’s be frank, most old and rare books and paper sellers have been having a difficult time adjusting.  Why? Because 30 years ago, the world was continuing to love what you were selling, and you were happy as a clam to be surrounded with material that makes you feel good. Institutions were pleased to receive your mailed catalogues. Collectors were always scarce, but you had some and you treated them well. Thei...

Numerous Foreign Country Post Offices Stop Shipping Small Parcels Worth Less than $800 (Books Included) to America

Numerous Foreign Country Post Offices Stop Shipping Small Parcels Worth Less than $800 (Books Included) to America

LATE UPUDATE – See bottom of the article   Last month we wrote about tariffs and their effect on shipping books to the U.S. from foreign countries. What we found was a jumble of uncertainty. Prev...

An Amazing Catalogue from Herman H. J. Lynge & Son Reintroduces Us to One of the Greatest Minds Ever, Søren Kierkegaard

An Amazing Catalogue from Herman H. J. Lynge & Son Reintroduces Us to One of the Greatest Minds Ever, Søren Kierkegaard

One of the greatest philosophers and thinkers of the ages was Søren Kierkegaard. If you are not aware of that or of him, you'll have to take my word for it. Most people probably recognize Aristotle...

Pokémon Trading Cards - Not your Father's Collectible. Values Continue to Surge, Outperforming S&P 500

Pokémon Trading Cards - Not your Father's Collectible. Values Continue to Surge, Outperforming S&P 500

The already hot market for Pokémon Trading Cards gained additional traction at the Aug. 8 Pokémon Masters auction sale hosted by Heritage. That sale featuring 106 lots brought in a total of $1,360,...

The Field is Becoming Complicated

The Field is Becoming Complicated

The Field is becoming Complicated   As Rare Book Hub categorizes material, the field will contribute their ideas often based on their decades long experience. The ideal outcome for Categories is ...

Categories Are Improving

Categories Are Improving

Categories are Improving   Years ago we were asked to differentiate sales of baseball memorabilia from books and manuscripts because, occasionally, baseball cards dominated our weekly Top 25 list...

Shirley Jackson: A Discovery

Shirley Jackson: A Discovery

We live in the past and often are comfortable there. It isn’t that life was never easy. It was, sometimes. The fifties have become the Fifties. Certainly, the voices of women, minorities and the po...

A Museum Is Trying to Find the Death Mask of Little (Very Little) Paulina Musters. Can You Help?

A Museum Is Trying to Find the Death Mask of Little (Very Little) Paulina Musters. Can You Help?

Do you know what happened to little Paulina Musters' death mask? The people of her hometown would like to bring the last relic of her short life home. That town is Ossendrecht in the Netherlands, a...

Stockhols Auktionsverk Completes Acquisition of Uppsala Auktionskammare

Stockhols Auktionsverk Completes Acquisition of Uppsala Auktionskammare

Stockholms Auktionsverk recently confirmed  (18 August, 2025) the completion of its acquisition of Uppsala Auktionskammare – a historic merger between two of Sweden’s most prestigious players in th...

$216,000 Worth of Ancient Chinese Manuscripts Stolen from the UCLA Library Through an Elaborate Scam

$216,000 Worth of Ancient Chinese Manuscripts Stolen from the UCLA Library Through an Elaborate Scam

A San Francisco Bay area man has been charged with theft of rare and valuable Chinese manuscripts from the UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) library. Jeffrey Ying of Fremont, a man of man...

Iowa State Historical Archives in Iowa City Endangered

Iowa State Historical Archives in Iowa City Endangered

Proposed downsizing and consolidation result in vocal organized protest.   The State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI) has an outstanding record of collecting and preserving the state’s heritage ...

Adventures of Chevalier de ***, A Rare West Indian Romance

Adventures of Chevalier de ***, A Rare West Indian Romance

Voyages Avantures du Chevalier de ***... (Londres, Paris—1769)§ is a hard book to find. According to the Rare Book Transaction History, two copies only were offered for sale over the past 150 year...

Basketball Trading Card Sells for Over $12 Million

Basketball Trading Card Sells for Over $12 Million

“Do you hear that rumbling? It's the sound of the standing world record price for a basketball card getting ready to fall. For five years, the 2009-10 National Treasures Steph Curry Logoman Autogra...

Two New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

Two New Catalogues Reviewed This Month

This month we review two new bookseller catalogues. Jonathan A. Hill Bookseller has issued their Catalogue 250. It includes many Japanese and Asian works as usual, but also expands into various oth...

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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
  • University Archives
    Rare Autographs & Books Including Lincoln & Space Exploration
    January 7, 2026
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Jefferson's Owned & Signed "Plutarch's Morals" Vol. 4. - 1st Time At Auction In Nearly 200 Years!
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Flown NASA Hasselblad 203S Space Camera On Endeavour STS-111, With Components, Data Module & Flown Film Magazine!
    University Archives, Jan. 7: One Of The Finest Lincoln Assassination Letters Extant, April 15, 1865 - Illustrated & Beyond Dramatic! 8pp.
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs & Books Including Lincoln & Space Exploration
    January 7, 2026
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Isaac Newton Highly Important Religious Manuscript With 85+ Words In His Hand, Ex-Bonhams
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Marilyn Monroe Gorgeous Signed & Inscribed Photograph, PSA Authenticated
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Rare Ernest Hemingway, 1 Of 10 Signed Presentation Copies Of "Farewell To Arms"
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs & Books Including Lincoln & Space Exploration
    January 7, 2026
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Ayn Rand 11pp Revised AMS "The Cold Civil War" For LA Times Newspaper- 900+ Words In Her Hand!
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Mary Todd Lincoln Calls Abe A "great & good man, who loved & served his country so well"
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Abraham Lincoln Gives Rebel Woman Pass To Visit Prisoner Of War Husband, Showing A Very Human Lincoln!
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs & Books Including Lincoln & Space Exploration
    January 7, 2026
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Babe Ruth PSA Type II Signed Conlon Photo, With Ruth Miniature Louisville Slugger, 16.25"
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Armstrong, Collins, Aldrin Signed Photo - Prime Crew Apollo 11 - PSA Authenticated
    University Archives, Jan. 7: Huge Abraham Lincoln Hesler Photo, Ca. 1880 - As If He Were In The Room!
  • Case Antiques
    2026 Winter Fine Art & Antiques
    January 31 and February 1, 2026
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: 1775 Map of Virginia, Fry and Jefferson, ex-John Tyler. $6,000 to $8,000.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Albrecht Durer Engraving, The Peasant Couple at Market. $3,400 to $3,800.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: 1777 Map: Wm. Faden, British Colonies in N. America, ex. John Tyler. $2,000 to $2,400.
    Case Antiques
    2026 Winter Fine Art & Antiques
    January 31 and February 1, 2026
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: 30 Vols. George Eliot 1st Editions; Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Deronda, etc. $1,400 to $1,800.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Celestial Floor Globe c. 1800. $1,400 to $1,800.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Lewis Carroll: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1866 London MacMillan. $900 to $1,200.
    Case Antiques
    2026 Winter Fine Art & Antiques
    January 31 and February 1, 2026
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: President Andrew Jackson Signed Patent, 1831. $1,000 to $1,200.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Civil War Tintype of Calvin “Old Ballie” Walker, CSA 3rd TN Infantry, KIA, plus 3 Union Images. $800 to $1,000.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: 1855 Georgia Pocket Map, W. G. Bonner. $800 to $1,000.
    Case Antiques
    2026 Winter Fine Art & Antiques
    January 31 and February 1, 2026
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Audubon c. 1835 Birds of America Common Cormorant, Havell Edition. $800 to $900.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: George Eliot, Middlemarch, 1st Edition in 8 Volumes. $600 to $800.
    Case Antiques, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Four NASA Moon Survey Photos; 144M, 148M, 149M, 149H1. $400 to $600.

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