By Bruce McKinney

This month I write about a mostly forgotten place, Rondout, New York, once a transportation hub at the intersection of the Rondout Creek and Hudson River [map link] that rose on opportunity and fell with its withdrawal. It was alter-ego to a Kingston that was better known, a lucky place where many found ...more

By Bruce McKinney

The upcoming November 19th single owner sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in New York of the Jay T. Snider collection of early and important Americana with a strong emphasis on Philadelphia will provide an important test of market interest and financial capability at a time when the United States and Europe are experiencing the most significant economic downturn in a generation. The market is divided between those ...more

By Bruce McKinney

At auction on October 19th at John McInnis Auctioneers in Amesbury, Massachusetts, four lots in the category of Books, Manuscripts and Ephemera, did well. The evidence suggests it's all about publicity. The New York Times recently carried an article on the rising number of unsold lots in art auctions. The bad news never reached Amesbury.

John McInnis Auctioneers is not a household name much beyond ...more

By Bruce McKinney

"All my life I've been a book collector and, for four decades, a bookseller." Thus are you introduced to Rosemary Sullivan, who in her three score and ten, is about to dispense a substantial portion of her inventory at the first of two sales to be conducted by the Three Rivers Auction Company of Washington, Pennsylvania. The first sale is November 16th. The second is planned for next spring. Mrs. Sullivan ...more

By Bruce McKinney

Click here for the November AE Comet.

Genealogy is the history of people and local history the history of places. There was a time when the history of people and places were essentially the same but that time, for most, is long past. Certainly, old families and their descendants ...more

By Renee Magriel Roberts

I'm at the computer today and should be doing something for the bookstore: entering a quantity of Ben Franklin-related materials, or putting together our pretty amazing catalog of Henry Lord Brougham bronzes, signed letters, books, and engravings. Or perhaps I should be making headway on the tens of thousands of really good books (that have been screened at least three or four times) and are sitting ...more

By Michael Stillman

A groundbreaking settlement was announced October 28 concerning the unauthorized digitization and viewing of copyrighted books by search giant Google. It promises a level of access to the content of out-of-print (and some in-print) books virtually unfathomable just a few years ago. What it means for physical, tangible books remains to be seen. It's hard to even guess.

Four years ago, Google began ...more

By Michael Stillman

Alibris has announced that it will be offering its sellers a new and extremely useful tool for valuing inventory. Access to their large database of sales history will now be available to all of their "Gold Sellers" (those who pay a monthly listing fee, which includes all but their smallest dealers). This data should be very useful in terms of setting prices, along with being helpful in determining how much ...more

By Michael Stillman

There was more bad news for the printed word, at least in newspaper form, in reports for the past six months recently released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The ABC officially monitors the circulation of newspapers, and they reported a decline of 4.64% in circulation for the April-September period of 2008 compared to last year. Newspaper circulation has been declining for years, but recently the rate ...more

By Michael Stillman

A prolific political cartoonist passed away last month. His story is one of the more remarkable ones you will hear. Boris Yefimov is not a name well known in the West, but he was the preeminent cartoonist of the old Soviet Union. He lived to see the entire span of that empire from the inside, from its violent birth through its growth to major world power, and finally its very public collapse and death - all ...more

By Michael Stillman

Two Ohio men were indicted on October 2 in connection with the theft of two rare and valuable books from the Rurtherford B. Hayes Presidential Library. Joshua McCarty and Zachary Scranton were charged with taking a copy of the Maxwell Code, valued at over $100,000, and another book from the library in August (see last month's issue of AE Monthly under the "Archives" tab for details). The Maxwell ...more

By Carl Burnham

No man of his time was better at promotion and entertaining crowds than P.T. Barnum. Barnum is attributed with the saying "Without promotion something terrible happens... Nothing!" An interesting leather bound ledger discovered on eBay is now in the hands of a museum that bears the promoter's name and contains handwritten documentation detailing artifacts donated from 1892 to 1915. The Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, ...more

By Karen Wright

I looked up "meta" in the dictionary and it can mean "among" or "with" or "change." I love being 'among books' and so does Tim Lohraff. While studying my brains out at the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar in August, I met Tim, who is 47 years-old, and who is opening Meta Books, a general used book store in Tacoma, Washington, in November 2008.

It may seem like opening a bookstore is a gutsy thing ...more

This month, we take a look at ten new bookseller catalogues in the Review section of AE Monthly. The William Reese Company offers a selection of early voyages, while Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books has books on travel and the East India Company. David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books presents inexpensive Americana, Joe Rubinfine American historical autographs, Clark Rare Books Americana and the West, ...more

By Michael Stillman

The latest catalogue from the William Reese Company is entitled Early Voyages from Vespucci to Vancouver. This is not just a catalogue by explorers whose names began with the letter "V." Think of Amerigo Vespucci and George Vancouver chronologically rather than alphabetically. Vespucci sailed to the Americas at the dawn of the 16th century, while Vancouver explored the coast of North America ...more

By Michael Stillman

James Pepper Rare Books has issued a new catalogue, this one being Catalogue 176. As usual, the focus is on literature, film and mystery, with most items being from the twentieth century. There is one major exception to this rule, which we will get to later, but all in all, those who have found items of interest in previous Pepper catalogues will undoubtedly do so once again. Here are some of ...more

By Michael Stillman

Libreria de Antano has issued a catalogue of Recent Acquisitions (1548-1990). Almost four and one-half centuries can cover a lot of ground, and this catalogue certainly does. The majority of the works offered relate to Latin America, although many are European in origin, and a few relate more to European subjects. Some even discuss issues concerning North America. Libreria de Antano has made ...more

By Michael Stillman

David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books has issued their third catalogue of Inexpensive Americana. Not that Lesser's material is generally very expensive, it's just that nothing in this catalogue of 18th and 19th Americana is priced over $250. Otherwise, this is a typical Lesser catalogue, filled with pamphlets discussing the burning issues of the day. As usual, Lesser gives us a look at America ...more

By Michael Stillman

Joe Rubinfine has released his List 162 of American Historical Autographs. While all of these documents contain autographs, only a few are simply signatures. Most are various sorts of documents, from simple signed printed forms to complete letters, to even an extensive collection of handwritten papers. In here you will find many of the nation's presidents, along with military leaders, ...more

By Michael Stillman

Frits Knuf Antiquarian Books has issued a new catalogue of The Illustrated Book and Book Illustration. This is truly a catalogue for those who believe a picture is worth a thousand words. It includes some antiquarian and rare illustrated books, titles about old illustrated books, and catalogues of such collections, including numerous auction catalogues of important collections. Offered are nearly ...more

By Michael Stillman

Clark Rare Books recently published their Catalog 935 of Americana, The West, and General. This collection includes many new acquisitions, primarily on the westward moving American Frontier. Clark's catalogues are always appealing for those who collect or are interested in the American West. They include both books published when the Old West was still new, and more recent accounts of ...more

By Michael Stillman

Waverly Books recently published their List 159. Waverly's collections are generally focused on literature, with many items being related to film or theater, such as working scripts. A few are related to art. They are overwhelmingly items from the 20th century, but can range anywhere from its first couple of decades to just a few years ago. There are 177 items offered in this latest list. Now, ...more

By Michael Stillman

Gene W. Baade Books on the West has issued their Catalogue 1108 of... you guessed it. Everyone will enjoy this catalogue since everyone loves the Old West. However, Baade gives us some additional reasons for buying books in these troubling times. "A Good book soothes your soul when the market is falling. An inspiring book quickens your mind when you are depressed. A stimulating book warms your ...more

By Michael Stillman

Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books has issued a new catalogue of travels, logically named Travel 2008, but, Including a small library of books on the East India Company. This would be the British East India Company, Shapero being a London bookseller. The remainder of the catalogue focuses on various specific geographic areas, except for a final section on mountaineering. This covers works ...more