An educational and informational site about rare, old and antiquarian books.
The first quarter of the year was another quarter of solid growth. As always, some of the genre and some of the authors in our Rare Books Sale Monitor (RBSM) performed better than others, but healthy fluctuations from one quarter to the next is the way sale pricing behaves. Take, for example, last quarter’s […]
{ 1 comment }
Rare books are collectibles and the month of April brings capital gain, estate or gift tax considerations to those of us residing in the United States. Whether you have decided to sell off parts of your collection or bequeath it to an heir, Uncle Sam wants to know. Failing to manage valuable asset holdings properly […]
{ 0 comments }
On September 1, 1939 4:45am Central European Time, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein leaves Danzig harbor to cross the channel to the Polish army fortress Westerplatte while German Wehrmacht begin crossing the border into Poland. It is the beginning of World War II. At the same time across the Atlantic in the United States, two partners […]
{ 18 comments }
At the beginning of last year in the midst of a slew of exciting exhibits and predictions made by institutions about the literary explosion that was expected to take place in China, we wrote an article titled “2012 – The Year of China.” We appropriately concluded that “only time will tell whether 2012 turns out […]
{ 0 comments }
The St. Cuthbert Gospel (formerly known as the Stonyhurst Gospel) undoubtedly qualifies as the oldest intact European book. It is currently on display in the British Library on long-term loan by both its private owners and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. The history of this book is the most dramatic exhumation of any manuscript known to mankind. Made […]
{ 0 comments }
And the winner is…..Ian Fleming. Never before in the history of the Rare Book Sale Monitor (RBSM) has there been such a spike recorded. The author that was only just last quarter added to the group of authors tracked, had his works, mostly books from Jonathan Cape and the James Bond series, see a phenomenal […]
{ 1 comment }
Historical trends on e-book sales from the last few years convinced a number of analysts to postulate and project that by the end of 2012 e-books will comprise 50% of total book sales. As the financial results from companies such as Amazon, Pearson, Simon & Schuster and Barnes & Noble got released, one indication became […]
{ 0 comments }
Even before posting our feature on the “The Poor Man’s Bible” last April and, more recently, “The priceless Gutenberg Bible” in September, the excitement surrounding rare religious books and, more specifically, old Bibles was on the rise. Collectors are increasingly pouring large sums of cash into ancient religious texts. The Rare Book Sale Monitor (RBSM) recorded […]
{ 2 comments }
If you are like me you probably have accumulated a few hundred or perhaps a few thousand books that have aged significantly. I am referring of course, to inventory ageing rather than years since publication type of ageing. Why are these books not selling? These are rare books without any flaws, quite scarce in fact, […]
{ 0 comments }
The Sotheby’s auction house organized the Bande Dessinée – Comics auction in Paris on July 04, 2012. The event consisted of 95 emblematic artists’ lots of what is also known as “the Ninth Art”, and it was managed by the famous comic book specialist, Jean-Marc Thévenet. From the total of 95 lots 68 did not […]
{ 0 comments }
Rare Books Digest Source Feed