Rare Book Monthly Articles - January - 2006 Issue

The <b>AE</b> Top 500 Book Auction Results For 2005!

By Michael Stillman Another year has come to a close, and before we move on to the new year at hand, it is time to take a look at the top auction sales for 2005. Exactly one year ago, we issued the first annual listing of the top 350 sales of books, manuscripts, and related ephemera at auction. This year we go 150 better. We present the top 500 list, and for those in a rush, the link to the AE 500 can be found near the end of this article. Some people fear that the growing presence of eBay and other online resources will spell the doom of the traditional auction. If so, there was no s...

Collecting at the Speed of Light

Bruce McKinney Listen Recently we added ABE books to the sources we run retained keyword searches on every night for MatchMaker members. It's an important addition. MatchMaker i...

de Ville Books vs Katrina

By Karen Wright We interviewed Joanne Sealy, Manager of de Ville Books in New Orleans. She and her Mom, who is a spry 85-year old, are still cleaning books, painting, and renewing the booksto...

Postscript to a Remarkable Sale

By Bruce McKinney On December 2nd in the minutes leading up to the 10:00 am start of the auction of Glen Dawson's Los Angeles Imprints, 1843-1873 at Johns' Western Gallery in San Francisco, bid...

Book 'em: Four Sentenced to 7+ Years in Library Theft

By Michael Stillman The case has not garnered the notoriety of the Forbes Smiley case, where the New England map seller allegedly sliced valuable old maps from Yale and other libraries' rare bo...

Simpler Solutions for Bookseller Automation

By Renée Magriel Roberts Long ago in a galaxy far, far away I was not a bookseller, but a VAR (value-added reseller) for ATT. Our company designed automated accounting systems for retail/point...

Crime and Punishment

By Bruce McKinney Fyoder Dostoevsky had it right. Crime and punishment are inextricably linked. These links are not entirely mechanical however. They are also emotional and as emotions c...

BISG Study Shows Rapid Growth of Online Book Sales

By Michael Stillman Looking back at news from the book world this past year, I ran across the BISG (Book Industry Study Group) survey of the used book world released in September. Most of you p...

Additions to the <b>AED</b>

By Bruce McKinney During the last month of 2005 we added interesting historical source material to the AED, the Americana Exchange Database, which now contains 1.293 million records. In some c...

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    Starting 10AM CST
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    Starting 10AM CST
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    Starting 10AM CST
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    Starting 10AM CST
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.

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