Rare Book Sale Monitor 3rd Quarter 2011

The 3rd Quarter of 2011 contained no major surprises to any of our tracking monitor – RBSM, sales trends previously established.

The book category of Art/Photography/Architecture is still leading the way in the rare book category breakdown. The higher sale price comeback for this category started at the beginning of this year and has been climbing steady since then. While still lacking behind the highest level it exhibited during the first half of 2010, it is nevertheless on a nice upswing pattern.

Modern first editions, may be finally reaching a plateau after the phenomenal run they had during the first half of this year. We will closely follow their demand during the coming months to analyze trends and report on any major changes in sale prices. One event that is sure to have an impact, is the Sotheby’s auction – The Library of an English Bibliophile, Part II, scheduled to take place on October 20^thin New York. The event includes modern first editions by among others, William Faulkner, Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and J.D. Salinger.

We are also considering adjusting the authors’ report to remove J.K. Rowling or William Faulkner or both, who have exhibited a slight reduction in degree of interest. Needless to say that data collected during the remaining months is critical in identifying significant price shifs in the rare works of any of the authors we track.