An educational and informational site about rare, old and antiquarian books.
Among the many prominent British figures present at the opening ceremony of this summer’s Olympic Games, was the celebrated and acclaimed author J.K. Rowling. Judging from Rowling’s wild success in the literary world, it is no great surprise that she appeared at the occasion. In a span of merely fifteen years, she has captured the […]
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It should come as no great surprise to the avid rare book collector that one of the most desirable and well received gifts to present on Father’s Day is a rare book. Whether you are a first generation rare book collector, or you are a chip off the old block who has emulated your […]
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Rare books, like other collectibles such as art, fine wine, coins, gemstones and baseball cards, belong in the class of investments called hard assets. These tangible assets are considered by many to provide a safe haven from the stock and bond market and more recently the real estate market downturns (real estate is also considered a […]
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The first quarter of 2012 marks the return of the best performer of the Rare Book Sale Monitor (RBSM) category breakdown –Arts/Photography/Architecture, to pre 4th quarter 2011 levels. Our top performer showed a slight decline in price appreciation during the end of last year and had a mediocre 2011 performance overall, which was very uncharacteristic. […]
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As the year of the Kindle and the Nook came to a close, one trend proved to be here for the long haul: “digitalization is increasing prices of rare and fine physical books.” In fact, 2011 proved to be a great year for rare book sellers as collectors bid prices higher and there is every […]
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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 […]
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In a recent article, Rare Books: What makes them rare, we mentioned the nine reasons a book may become rare and in demand,with a high monetary value. One of the nine reasons mentioned was Scarcity. Scarcity is the factor that has driven the value to the book, ‘’Hebrew is Greek’’ by Joseph Ezekiel Yahuda, to […]
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The popular phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” is often used to convey that a complex idea can be represented and communicated more quickly and efficiently with just a single still image. In the world of rare books the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand …….”(fill in the currency), is sometimes more […]
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Recently Sotheby’s has auctioned a rare manuscript of an unfinished novel written by the well known and famous writer/novelist, Jane Austen. This rare manuscript was sold for the astronomical amount of 993.250 Sterling Pounds (1623K USD) to the Bodleian Oxford library and one can say that it stayed ‘’home’’ in the UK. Rare manuscripts have […]
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After several years of unprecedented growth during the last decade, sales of new books in the religion category have declined significantly. Since 2007, sales as reported by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), have declined by more than 25%. The year by year breakdown of revenues reported is as follows: 2010 2009 2008 2007 $585.4M $614.3M […]
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