By Michael Stillman

Few issues in the book trade cause anywhere near the controversy we see when AbeBooks announces a price increase. In a sense, this is a great tribute to Abe, as it shows the importance of the role they play in the old and rare book business today. Nonetheless, Abe receives few plaudits when one of these increases is announced. These are tough times for anyone not in the oil business, and while rate increases ...more

By Bruce McKinney

You can be forgiven for thinking that book fairs are unchanging, even immutable and to the casual observer they may look that way. They are in fact a battleground of changing technology that advances on tiptoe at the speed of light. For years publicly accessible databases and pricing history have generally been excluded from shows. Until recently the availability of 'high speed connections' was controlled ...more

By Michael Stillman

A fabulous Lincoln letter, magnificent both for its content and price, broke all kinds of U.S. auction records at Sotheby's last month. The President wrote the 1864 letter in response to a petition he had received from schoolchildren in the Concord, Massachusetts, class of Mary Mann, widow of famed educator and abolitionist Horace Mann. Their petition was headed "Petition of the children of the United ...more

By Bruce McKinney

This is an article written to accompany this month's issue of the Comet - whose focus is Pamphlets, Broadsides and Ephemera.

History is the imprecise masquerading as the certain. Read history and it always contains opinion dressed as perspective because history is not all the facts, it's specific ...more

By Renee Magriel Roberts

We live and work on Cape Cod, a beautiful place, with more temperate weather than most of New England during the year. From an economic perspective, however, the Cape has long been somewhat infamous for its seasonal tourist economy, a kind of boom-or-bust cycle that peaks during the tourist season in July and August, and can drop to depressing levels the rest of the year when the Cape is home to a less ...more

By Michael Stillman

April was a busy month for leading online used bookseller AbeBooks.com. First, on April 9, they announced the purchase of Chrislands, a firm that builds, hosts and maintains bookselling websites for independent dealers. Five days later, they announced the opening of an Italian version of their website, AbeBooks.it.

Founded in 2001, Chrislands now hosts more than 1,000 bookselling sites. What ...more

By Bruce McKinney

On May 8th, the third and final portion of the Daniel G. Volkmann, Jr. Collection of rare and collectible printed material will pass before the gaze of dealers and collectors and under the hammer of PBA Galleries. This sale brings to a close the long collecting career of Mr. Volkmann who joined the fray in 1969, entering right as his Mother exited left. It was upon her death, upon inheriting her collection ...more

By Michael Stillman

Do you have a copy of the first edition of Charles Darwin's On The Origin of Species? If so, the Darwin Census is looking for you. The Darwin Census is conducting a worldwide search for all first edition copies of this enormously important and influential work. It plans to use the census to create a database of all known copies still in existence, and better understand the details of this printing ...more

By Bruce McKinney

As certain as the arrival of spring birds the Gold Rush Book Fair enters the calendars of those who live in northern California, who visit and who buy, sell, collect and trade the printed word in all its many forms. With fifty to fifty-five exhibitors it's a typical regional fair with a distinctive emphasis on collectible material, in particular the American west.

It's the 8th annual fair and this ...more

By Michael Stillman

A few weeks ago, I discovered that Google had added a wonderful new feature to my Gmail account. It seemed too good to be true. They were offering a service that would backdate my emails. So, let's say you were supposed to send a report to your boss this morning, but it took until afternoon to complete. No problem. Just date the email 9:00 a.m. and send it off. The boss will think you sent it on time, but ...more

By Bruce McKinney

The subject of the June issue of the Comet will be The Book as Art and Object. Books are valued for many reasons. Some individuals collect a field, others first editions or every edition of a particular book. Others collect all material by and about a particular subject or author. Others collect by genre. What all acquire are bibliographic materials about their field. What all hope to possess are exceptional ...more

This month we review 19 new booksellers' catalogues in Section Two. For those who like very old books, Lex Antiqua has incunabula and other books almost as old. Frits Knuf Antiquarian Books has reference works on incunabula and nearly as antique works. For those who like to travel, Maggs Bros. offers travel and voyages, while Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books presents 50 fine travel books. If your destination ...more