The Once and Future Catalogue

- By Bruce McKinney

William Reese: Bulletin 23

The book catalogue for three centuries has been both the workhorse and thoroughbred of the rare book business.  Material discovered by dealers, later described and set into print would in time journey, in the company of other appointed titles, in well-wrought catalogues conveying a dealer’s best thinking.   For those anticipating such catalogues - expectant hands, primed by experience, would quickly plumb the incoming mail seeking to be first to locate a gem and respond, “I’ll take it.”  For those with the love and passion for printed history catalogues hold a special place in memory and experience.  They are a gift that, even if no discoveries and purchases ensue, enrich the collector, confirming their inclusion among the select that have, by many disparate avenues, found their way to the same holy place – the community that values the printed word.

The past two decades have brought change, much of it undermining the primacy of catalogues.  Listing sites and the rising importance of auctions have shifted attention from the dealer to the material and in that shift a portion of the catalogue’s power been overlooked.  What catalogues have long done and continue to do better than any other medium is to deliver a dealer’s judgment, for catalogues at their best, are culled and crafted collections that offer both material and insight into subjects, categories and niches of collecting.  The best-done catalogues illuminate and broaden fields, by inclusion and exclusion informing our understanding of collectible subjects.

That catalogues are less often issued is undeniable; that they are more needed, in my view, equally apparent.  They educate and inform - paving the path by which the fledgling collector becomes the inveterate acquirer.

This month we provide direct access to more than fifty electronic catalogues, the result of AE member efforts to bridge the widening gap between the world that was and the world it becomes.    I list here the names of participants in alphabetical order and at the end of this brief article a link to all of them.  Other catalogues will continue to arrive and they will immediately perch at the top of the gathering list – soon to slip down the list as others are posted.  The list is ever-renewing, worth reading now and following into the future.

The Once and Future Catalogue

- By Bruce McKinney

Randall House Holiday Ideas

Jude Lubrano                 Recent Acquisitions November 2011

Kris-Landuyt                         De Slegte Catalogue 15

Bernard Lauser                     Manuscript Maps and Documents

                                                Spanish Manuscript Americana

David Lilburne                      The [Hudson] River Endures

Stuart Lutz                             Stuart Lutz Historic Documents

Paul Orssich                           Catalogue 72

                                                Catalogue 71

Phillip Pirages                       The Holidays 2011

Jonathan Potter                     The Potter Open Catalogue

Randall House                       A Christmas List for they who love books

William Reese Company       Catalogue 289 – Literature including recent Acquisitions  

                                                Catalogue 288 – The Ordeal of the Union

                                                Catalogue 287 – Western Americana
Catalogue 286 – Literary Miscellany including recent Acquisitions

                                                Catalogue 285 – The American Colonies  - America 1590-1763

                                                Bulletin 24

                                                Bulletin 23

                                                Bulletin 22

                                                Bulletin 21

Carol Sandberg                     Winter Miscellany

Kurt Sanftleben                    Fall-Winter 2011 List

Claudia Schulson                   A Special Comedy Catalogue

Sevin Seydi Rare Books        Miscellany 1474-1956

Jonathan Smalter                  Catalogue 1

Dale Sorenson Rare Books   Reference Works

Gregory Talbot                      Catalogue 70

                                                Catalogue 69

Thomas Rare Books              Naval and Marine Catalogue

Lynne Veatch                         Catalogue 70 – Alphabet Books, Private Presses, …

Eric Waschke                         Toronto Antiquarian Book Fair Catalogue

Louella Windsor                    Louella Kerr  Catalogue 119

Anette Van de Wiele             Our Latest Book Fair List

Link to all catalogues in section III in AE Monthly