Bible Scarcity Reaches the Civil War

December 20, 2014
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Collectors who buy and sell Bibles have pushed the pricing of older editions printed prior to the 1700’s in Europe, and prior to the 1800’s in North America, to unreachable levels for the majority of liturgical buyers. During the second half of the last century, institutional and private collectors have driven these editions of the […]

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Obelisk Scarcity

November 21, 2014
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A mix of censorship and bad novel-writing can provide the right ingredients in bringing about scarcity in rare books. That is exactly what the 1930’s, semi-underground literature publisher Jack Kahane created through his production at Obelisk Press. This is not to say that Obelisk published strictly smutty books since well known writers such as Henry […]

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Valuable Encyclopedias

November 7, 2014
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Stopping at a yard sale a few years back, I picked up a set of The Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition, produced during the year 1910.  Fascinated by the idea of owning a cross section of the trunk of the tree of knowledge just prior to the First World War, when the publication was at a crossroads with […]

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Happy 75th Anniversary Madeline

October 23, 2014
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“In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines”…… For seventy-five years, Ludwig Bemelman’s iconic words have graced numerous playrooms and nurseries around the globe, as children of all walks in life have snuggled down to hear all about the young girl Madeline’s many adventures. What is extraordinary about Bemelman’s creation is that […]

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Rare Book Sale Monitor update – 3rd Quarter 2014

October 10, 2014
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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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Rare, Signed and Forged

September 26, 2014
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As there has been an unfortunate increase in the number of forged signatures over the last few years, I have cut back my purchasing of rare books that are signed by their authors and are not guaranteed to be genuine. The following guidelines that I have collected from a variety of sources have proven to […]

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Endpapers – Work of Art

September 12, 2014
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Book collector interests may be driven by a particular author or genre (science, art, modern firsts, exploration etc.), a particular illustrator or artist, a certain series of award winning books, fine bindings in book design, cover or dust jacket art; a printer of fine press books, incunabula or books printed during certain periods, movable parts […]

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Exploration – No Discovery – Big Dispute

August 27, 2014
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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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There is no Business like Book Business

August 7, 2014
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A 43-year old book is soon to be the business bestseller thanks to Bill Gates.  The reprint of Business Adventures is scheduled to be released Aug 16, but digital publishers that reproduced it as an e-book have sent it to # 1 on Amazon and the New York Times bestseller lists. The book was originally […]

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Rare Book Marketplace Shifting Gears

July 25, 2014
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Towards the end of last century, antiquarian book dealer William S. Reese presented his much publicized view of “The Rare Book Market Today” at Brown University. In this historical retrospect beginning with the depressed years prior to World War II, 1945 was picked to be the year of the greatest buying opportunity, since rare books […]

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