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...
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...
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...
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
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
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
“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...
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...
Bonhams, Oct. 13-23: These are the Times that Try Men's Souls, Thomas Paine. $80,000-$120,000
Bonhams, Oct. 13-23: Manuscrpit from Aboard The Discovery, Signed by George Vancouver. $80,000-$120,000
Bonhams, Oct. 13-23: Exceedingly Rare Holograph Fragment of James Cook's Logbook. $80,000-$120,000
Bonhams, Oct. 13-23: Colonial America: The Collection of William Nesheim: Thomas Lechford: Important First-Hand Account of Life in New England. $40,000-$60,000
Bonhams, Oct. 13-23: The First Expanded Edition of Common Sense, Thomas Paine. $30,000-$50,000
Bonhams, Oct. 13-23: California! The Gold Rush Collection of Bruce Maclin: Album of Exceptional California Lettersheets. $20,000-$30,000
Bonhams, Oct. 13-23: California! The Gold Rush Collection of Bruce Maclin: An Exceptional Group of Gold Rush Letters, c. 1849-1850. $20,000-$30,000
Bonhams, Oct. 13-23: Colonial America: The Collection of William Nesheim: Mather's King Phillips War Tract 1639-1723. $15,000-$25,000
Bonhams, Oct. 13-23: Colonial America: The Collection of William Nesheim: The First Contemporaneous Account of the Salem Witch Trials, Cotton Mather. $15,000-$25,000
Bonhams, Oct. 13-23: Poor Richard's Almanack 1749, Benjamin Franklin. $15,000-$20,000
Bonhams, Oct. 13-23: California! The Gold Rush Collection of Bruce Maclin: Fruits of Mormonism by Nelson Slater. $15,000-$25,000
Bonhams, Oct. 13-23: California! The Gold Rush Collection of Bruce Maclin, Across the Plains in '49 by Emanuel Goughnour. $12,000-$18,000
Rare Map, Book, and Autograph Fair 17 and 18 Oct
Rare Map, Book, and Autograph Fair 17 and 18 Oct
Rare Map, Book, and Autograph Fair 17 and 18 Oct
Sotheby’s By a Lady 1-15 October 2025
Sotheby’s, Oct. 1-15: Queen Elizabeth I. A queen’s defense of the realm, and the birth of the British Empire. $500,000 to $700,000.
Sotheby’s, Oct. 1-15: Vanessa Bell — [Virginia Woolf]. An exceptional encapsulation of the Bloomsbury Group. A striking tile created by Vanesa Bell for her sister, Virginia Woolf, ca. Christmas 1926. $25,000 to $35,000.
Sotheby’s, Oct. 1-15: Austen, Jane. A long and intimate autograph letter signed ("JA"), to Cassandra Austen. $300,000 to $400,000.
Sotheby’s, Oct. 1-15: Austen, Jane. “Lines on Maria Beckford,” autograph manuscript signed ("Jane Austen"). $100,000 to $150,000.
Sotheby’s, Oct. 1-15: [Austen, Jane]. Emma, the extraordinary Edgeworth-Butler copy. $250,000 to $350,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 1-15:</b> Vanessa Bell — [Virginia Woolf]. An exceptional encapsulation of the Bloomsbury Group. A striking tile created by Vanesa Bell for her sister, Virginia Woolf, ca. Christmas 1926. $25,000 to $35,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/d61e5df0-f7df-4ff3-b120-69c4c4ded5d5.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 1-15:</b> Vanessa Bell — [Virginia Woolf]. An exceptional encapsulation of the Bloomsbury Group. A striking tile created by Vanesa Bell for her sister, Virginia Woolf, ca. Christmas 1926. $25,000 to $35,000.")
![<b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 1-15:</b> [Austen, Jane]. Emma, the extraordinary Edgeworth-Butler copy. $250,000 to $350,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/3d91ed5b-6dab-40a2-8ec2-3ba57b219840.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 1-15:</b> [Austen, Jane]. Emma, the extraordinary Edgeworth-Butler copy. $250,000 to $350,000.")