Rare Book Monthly Articles - February - 2012 Issue

Las Vegas:  A Potemkin Village

On the crowded planes fired from distant places, rifle shots of people determined to have fun and heading for the Las Vegas bulls eye - McCarran Airport, are warming up in expectation of becoming overheated once they reach the strip.  The flights are the dead spot that precedes the hoped for euphoria.  Whether the draw is the gambling, the girls or adventure, everyone has a reason for going, an objective.   Even the prissy sorts that will soon parade their “I’m not doing this or that” are part of the tapestry.  Howard Hughes, it turns out, had a good eye for depravity and we, today’s recrui...

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Looking Back at Book Prices in 2011

The last few years have been economically trying for just about everyone, and book selling certainly hasn't been immune. While precisely what is happening to dealers is impossible to know (most don...

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Peter Howard - first auction of his stock

The second passing of Peter Howard, the selling of his remaining collections and stock begins this month with Bonhams sale on the 12th of 271 items culled from inventory.  The sale is scheduled to ...

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AbeBooks Top Ten for 2011 Shows Prices Are Rising on the Book Listing Site

AbeBooks has released their list of the Top 10 highest price paid for books on their website, and the list may be more telling for what prices were paid than what is on it. AbeBooks, even as the le...

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B-corps for Booksellers? New structure has some obvious and not so obvious advantages

AE readers first learned about B (for benefits) corporations in 2010 when we visited the warehouse facilities of Better World Books of Mishawaka, Indiana. The rapidly expanding high volume booksell...

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San Francisco Book and Paper Fair February 4-5

The San Francisco Book and Paper Fair, featuring 184 exhibitors, will be held in San Francisco at the Concourse Exhibition Center on Saturday and Sunday February 4th and 5th.  The fair brings toget...

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The ABAA Antiquarian Book Fair

The 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair will be held Friday February 10th through Sunday the 12th at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California.  Exhibitors are members ...

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Austin Book and Paper Show January 2013

The Austin Book, Paper and Photo Show was held at the Norris Conference Center in Austin, Texas January 14 and 15. The event was sponsored by the Texas Bookseller's Association and Heritage Auction...

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Audubon's Birds of America Takes in $7.9 million at Auction

The latest sale of “the most expensive book in the world” was concluded on January 20. At Christie's in New York, a double-elephant folio first edition of John James Audubon's Birds of America, the...

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Doug Johns Re-Locates to Albuquerque

Doug Johns, long of San Francisco and for many years involved in the sale of books, maps, manuscripts, ephemera and historical artifacts has, with his wife Celeste, moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico...

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Heritage - A sale for Bibliophiles

Heritage Rare Book Auctions in Beverly Hills and Dallas is offering a broad selection of collectible works on paper on February 8th.  The emphasis is on collectible.  The sales will be conducted in...

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Borders is Buried, but Kobo Lives On

The final significant steps in the dismemberment and burial of Borders have played out, and we now know how many bones are left to be picked over by creditors. Not many, at least if you are an unse...

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Bernice Bornstein sells the Boston Book Fair to Marvin Getman

Bornstein Shows, for many years a leading east coast trade show promoter for the works on paper field, has sold the very popular “Boston Book, Print and Ephemera Show” to Marvin Getman and the Impa...

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Legendary Parisian Bookseller George Whitman Had Died

To last in the book selling field for a long time, you have to have an at least workable business model, and a dedication to the field of books. To last in the field a very long time, you also need...

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Fifteen New Catalogues Under Review

This month we review fifteen new bookseller catalogues. The William Reese Company offers a collection of works with a notable provenance. Sophie Schneideman Rare Books presents a selection of books...

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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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