Exploration

The Rare Book Sale Monitor (RBSM) analyzes prices of rare books traded at on-line marketplaces, auctions and various book fairs to report valuation trends by genre and author.  The data collection process remained relatively static since the original collection was built back in 2011. The RBSM engine, however, has undergone several improvements in order to […]

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Nothing can be as fascinating in the world of exploration and discovery as some of the early Arctic voyages. Still one of the last frontiers on earth, the region that spans the Arctic Ocean and covers land areas in parts of Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, and the United States (Alaska), has attracted numerous explorers […]

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Having identified the Prime Meridian, where longitude is defined as 0°, as being Greenwich, we have also acknowledged the starting point of exploration. An imaginary great circle on the earth’s surface passing through the North and South geographic poles places tremendous appreciation to the explorers who first sailed ship from that point going into strange […]

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Ah, wouldn’t it be nice if every book you came across contained a set of standard information no matter who the publisher is? It would be nice if antiquarian books contained a page similar to the one contained in modern editions on the copyright page, with the edition, printing, state, copyright date, date of publication, […]

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Mapping America

by Admin on July 2, 2013

Beyond The Golden Age of Dutch cartography which produced some of the most spectacular Dutch sea charts, or “Pascaartes,” with cartographers Johannes Blaeu and Abraham Ortelius, and Dutch atlas publishers Gerard Mercator and Hondius & Janssonius , the 16th century brought the earliest map to depict America as separate from Asia. The northeast coast of […]

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Illuminated maps in rare books

by Admin on November 9, 2012

Over recent years, books of any period decorated with maps, particularly aged maps, have achieved a prominence of ever-increasing popularity. Although the majority of the best-selling books with maps fall under the traditional definition of ‘antique,’ a number of twentieth and late nineteenth century publications are seeing a fascinating growth in collector interest. Over the […]

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The rare books of Greece

by Liz on November 6, 2012

      When the word Greece is uttered, vibrant mental pictures rise up, much like the frothy spray of the Mediterranean as it lands on the pure white choral that its shorelines are so well endowed with. These picturesque mental pictures include such scenes as the warm European sun bathing ancient cities and castle ruins in […]

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What does it mean to grow a library? Does it mean we fill our heads with literature and our heads then become the library? Or does it mean we actually purchase books that we keep forever and display? Some argue that it does not matter the vesicle by which one reads a book; what matters […]

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The Mediterranean Sea is surrounded by 21 modern countries after serving as the cradle of civilization for the whole western world, and cultivating a popular theme for numerous rare and antiquarian books. The nations washed by the Mediterranean waters, may have their own history, geography, plants, animals, and people to explore, but they all share […]

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The Mediterranean Sea has been the cradle of civilization and many books have been written by travelers about their journeys to and from the Mediterranean lands. Unfortunately due to the many wars and uprisings suffered throughout history, many of the regional books have been destroyed. Many rare books capturing voyages through Constantinople and the Byzantine and […]

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