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Articles - January 2013 Issue


AE Top 500 Auction Sales for 2012 - By Michael Stillman It is time once again to look back at the Americana Exchange's annual listing of the Top 500 sales at auction in the books, works on paper, and related ephemera field for 2012. It was an unusually active year, but likely the new norm. The volume of sales at auction has been building steadily and there is no reason to believe the trend won't continue. For 2012, there were again 11 items in the million...

AE Top 500 Auction Sales for 2012

- By Michael Stillman

It is time once again to look back at the Americana Exchange's annual listing of the Top 500 sales at auction in the books, works on paper, and related ephemera field for 2012. It was an unusually active year, but likely the new norm. The volume of sales at auction has been building steadily and there is no reason to believe the trend won't continue. For 2012, there were again 11 items in the million...


The Arader Sale: Learning the Hard Way - By Bruce McKinney The Arader auction of maps, rare books and natural history engravings, watercolors and color plate books at Guernsey’s on December 5th has come and gone...	Once in a Lifetime - By Bruce McKinney Note: records and links mentioned in this article are listed at the end of page 4] Boston today is a field of skyscrapers interspersed with...
A 540,000% Return on a Flea Market Find - By Michael Stillman Amazing finds can still be made at yard sales and flea markets. Professional sellers with a trained eye tend to scour these venues more today...	A Bookseller in Transition - By Bruce McKinney Tyson Rare Books of East Providence, these last forty-two years owned by Mariette P. Bedard, has closed their retail shop at 178 Taunton Avenue. Tyson’s...
Kevin Mullen: A Bookseller in a New Light - By Bruce McKinney The colors are warm, the building old but recently renovated. It’s a bookstore but not what you think of when you think of bookstores you’ve...	New Blood in an Old Trade: Elizabeth Svendsen – Walkabout Books - By Susan Halas The old school antiquarian book trade is alive and well and living in Xenia, Ohio. Meet Elizabeth Svendsen, 43, who entered the trade less than...
The AED at Four Million - By Bruce McKinney The AED, the Americana Exchange Database of books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera offered at auction, described by leading dealers, explained in important bibliographies or included...	The Curiosity Sale: Drouot, December 19, 2012 - By Thibault Ehrengardt Peculiar might be the most relevant adjective to qualify the items of the sale that took place in Drouot on December the 19th. Set up...
And Then There Was One – Macmillan Settles eBook Price-Fixing Suit - By Michael Stillman One more publisher accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of artificially fixing the price of eBooks has bowed out of the suit with a...	Good Grief! Charles Schultz's Personal Letters Offered at Auction - By Michael Stillman Many of us lament the effect of electronic communications on the permanency of written and printed records. A paper book, a manuscript letter, provides a...
Auctions in January - By Bruce McKinney We start 2013 with a Jack Benny – 39 sales on the schedule. For January 2012 we covered 36. We expect to add others as...	ViaLibri Expands to German Language Site... And More - By Michael Stillman ViaLibri, the “metasearch” engine for books, recently announced the addition of a German version of their website. Launched half a dozen years ago, the German...
Eleven New Catalogues Reviewed This Month - By Michael Stillman Eleven new bookseller catalogues are reviewed this month. Americana is the focus of the William Reese Company, M & S Rare Books, and David Lesser...	Catalogue Fifty from John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller - By Michael Stillman John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller has issued Catalogue Fifty. Windle, after 45 years in the book trade, is not a promiscuous cataloguer. This is his first...
Literature and Books of Merit from Whitmore Rare Books - By Michael Stillman Whitmore Rare Books has issued their Catalogue 6, “offering literary first editions and other books of merit.” Literary works dominate the selection, but everything presented...	Africa from Walkabout Books - By Michael Stillman This month we received the first catalogue from Walkabout Books of Xenia, Ohio. It is the first catalogue we have received from a bookseller in...
Maps, Views and Globes from Martayan Lan - By Michael Stillman Martayan Lan has issued their Catalogue 47: Select Maps, Views & Globes. It offers a selection of early maps, some dating back as far as...	Early American Material from M & S Rare Books - By Michael Stillman M & S Rare Books has released a catalogue of Early American Literature, Medicine & Science, Thought, Reform & History. That may not include everything...
Books and Art from the Veatchs Arts of the Book - By Michael Stillman The Veatchs Arts of the Book has issued a new selection of works in the “books about books” and book arts fields. This one is...	Spanish Books from Paul Orssich - By Michael Stillman Paul Orssich has released Catalogo 74. If it is a “catalogo,” it must be Spanish. This one primarily features works relating to Spain, though Portugal...
A Winter Miscellany from James Cummins Bookseller - By Michael Stillman James Cummins Bookseller has released Catalogue 115, Winter Miscellany. There's not much one can say about a miscellany other than it is a miscellany, but...	Rare Americana from David Lesser Antiquarian Books - By Michael Stillman David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books has released their catalogue No. 128 Rare Americana. Lesser primarily offers shorter form material, from broadsides to pamphlets to...
Recent Acquisitions in Americana from the William Reese Company - By Michael Stillman The William Reese Company has issued a catalogue of Recent Acquisitions in Americana, with an extended title of with Material from Newly Acquired Collections on...	Pacific Voyages and Exploration from Bestebreutje Rare Books - By Michael Stillman Gert Jan Bestebreurtje Rare Books has published a catalogue of Pacific Voyages & Exploration. These works cover the age of discovery along the Pacific rim,...