Rare Book Monthly Reviews - January - 2008 Issue

The First From Dragon Books

By Michael Stillman

This month we review our first catalogue from Dragon Books of Bel Air (Los Angeles), California. It is their "first complete catalogue," though oddly named Catalogue 7. Dragon was founded by Jay Penske, a lifelong collector who from age 7 determined he one day wanted to run a bookstore. The shop's name is derived from the first book he ever read, Dragon, Dragon, by John Gardner (it's a good thing the first book Mr. Penske read was not Here come the Teletubbies). Their specialty is "15th to 20th century literary works, as well as canons of poetry, philosophy, art, sci...

Europe and the Far East from the Antiquariaat Forum

By Michael Stillman

We recently received a magnificent catalogue from the Antiquariaat Forum of the Netherlands, entitled Europe and the Far East. Normally we do not comment on the art of the c...

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Panoramic Photography from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books

By Michael Stillman

Recently received from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books of London is a most unusual and fascinating new catalogue. When is the last time you received a catalogue that was less ...

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Antiquarian Chess Literature from The Book Collector

By Michael Stillman

This is our first review of a catalogue from The Book Collector of Fort Worth, Texas, and it can certainly be described as serving a book collecting niche: Antiquarian Ches...

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First Editions, History, Science and More from The Manhattan Rare Book Company

By Michael Stillman

The Manhattan Rare Book Company has issued a remarkable catalogue to open the new year. I have searched in vain for a title for this catalogue or even a number. I find none ...

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Canadiana from David Ewens Books

By Michael Stillman

We recently received Catalogue 63 of Canadiana -- North American Travel, from David Ewens Books. As the title suggests, these are primarily works relating to travel and expl...

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Legal Cases and the Law from the Lawbook Exchange

By Michael Stillman

Recently off the press is Catalogue 53 of Law and Legal History from the Lawbook Exchange. Most items in the catalogue fit the category of "antiquarian and scholarly," thoug...

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Thirty-two Rare Books, Prints and Manuscripts from Hordern House

By Michael Stillman

It is not often we see catalogues that are 8 x 11 1/2 and a quarter of an inch thick. When we receive one of this size that contains only 32 items, you can be confident that...

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Printing History and technique from the Veatchs Arts of the Book

By Michael Stillman

The Veatchs Arts of the Book has issued their Catalogue 59 -- Printing History and Technique. There are 144 items pertaining to printing, including many antique specimen boo...

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European Books About Books from Frits Knuf Antiquarian Books

By Michael Stillman

Recently arrived is Old and Rare Books 2008 from Frits Knuf Antiquarian Books of Paris. Knuf is a specialist in the "books about books" field, with a focus on European and E...

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Latin American and Spanish Works from Libreria de Antano

By Michael Stillman

Libreria de Antano of Buenos Aires has issued a catalogue of Recientes Adquisiciones (Recent Acquisitions). As the title implies, this catalogue is in Spanish, which is appr...

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101 Rare Books from Samuel Gedge Ltd.

By Michael Stillman

Samuel Gedge Ltd. Has just issued their Catalogue III of rare books. There are a great many London imprints, as befitting a British bookseller, but then again there are item...

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A Collection of Modern Literature from Ken Lopez Bookseller

By Michael Stillman

Just out is the latest catalogue, number 146 of Modern Literature from Ken Lopez Bookseller. Offered are primarily first and prepublication editions of works published from ...

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A Miscellany from Forest Books

By Michael Stillman

The latest catalogue from Forest Books of Redmile, Nottinghamshire, England, is their Miscellany Three. A "miscellany" is hard to describe, since it can contain just about a...

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Recent and Varied Acquisitions at John Michael Lang Fine Books

By Michael Stillman

John Michael Lang Fine Books has released a new list of books available, Recent Acquisitions List 24. These are not long lists, but nonetheless include a wide range of mater...

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Many Autographed Documents from David Schulson

By Michael Stillman

We recently received Catalogue 135 from David Schulson Autographs. Offered are autographs from a diverse group of well-known personalities - artists, musicians, actors, poli...

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Literature (and more) from James Cummins Bookseller

By Michael Stillman

The latest catalogue from James Cummins Bookseller is succinctly titled Literature. Perhaps that's a bit too succinct, as while the main focus is literature, there are also ...

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More Works from Film, Literature and History from James Pepper Rare Books

By Michael Stillman

Catalogue 168 from James Pepper Rare Books presents a new collection within their field: Literary First Editions, Mystery and Detective Fiction, Rare Cinema Material, and A...

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Literature, Photography, Letters and More from Waverly Books

By Michael Stillman

Waverly Books has issued its List 151 of books and ephemeral items, 150 in all. Most would fall under the topics of novels or literature, but there are also books of photogr...

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Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • 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
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    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
    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
    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
    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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