The National Post profiles the top three rare book collectors from a contest to find Canada’s best book collectors under the age of 30.
Winner - Charlotte Ashley
2nd place - Vanessa Brown
3rd place - Naseem Hrab
Archive for the ‘antiquarian’ Category
Canada’s top under 30 book collectors
Friday, July 3rd, 200915 Collectible Editions of Alice in Wonderland
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009Everyone seems to be chattering about the gorgeous teaser photos from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and I can see why - the rich color, fantastical distortion and surreal decor certainly lend an air of magic and excitement to the project.
And I can think of no better subject for Burton’s brand of weird, dark, beautiful and grotesque art than Lewis Carroll’s Alice books. From the hookah smoking caterpillar to the Cheshire cat, Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum to the white rabbit, the books were wonderful and nightmarish, hallucinogenic and marvellous, full of lush, strange imagery throughout.
If you’ve never read the book of Alice in Wonderland it’s well worth it. Carroll’s talking animals, funny backward logic and adventures are perfect for children, and the vivid imagery and bizarre story are dark and interesting enough to have adults turning pages, too.
Here are some more beautiful Alice in Wonderland pictures - this time, of some of the collectible, unusual and always gorgeous editions of Alice in Wonderland available on AbeBooks.
Flea market copy of The Federalist goes for $80,000
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009A soldier from Indiana lived the ultimate rare book dream yesterday, according to this report from AP. His rare leather-bound first edition of volume one of The Federalist sold for $80,000 at auction. A nice little earner before he goes to Iraq for a second tour of duty.
Indiana National Guard Capt. Nathan Harlan was 16 when he paid $7 at flea market for the 1788 book that’s the first part of a two-volume book of essays calling for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
First Edition On The Origin of Species Sells for £15,625
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
First Edition copy of On the Origin of Species
A first edition copy of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species sold at auction in Edinburgh, Scotland yesterday for £15,625 (approx. US$25,832) , over the estimated value of £10,000 to £15,000.
The book was found in a family home near Inverness and was purchased by a collector from southern England.
Only 1,250 copies of the book were printed in its first run in 1859 and another first edition sold in April of this year for £35,000 (US$58,000).
2009 marks the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth.
368-Year-Old Book to Star at Calgary Book Fair
Thursday, June 11th, 2009Ok, I know and freely admit that it is ignorant but here in Canada when we think of Calgary, Alberta we tend to think of horses, rodeos, cowboys and stetsons. Sorry but that’s just the image the Stampede and oil industry have perpetuated. But the city really has come up literary trumps with this year’s Calgary Book Drive and Sale, supported by the Calgary Herald.
A copy of The Historie of the Reigned of King Henry the Seventh found on AbeBooks
Amongst hundreds of other books from a fire hall donation bin, a treasure was found - The Historie of the Reigne of King Henry the Seventh, published in 1641 by the Rt. Hon. Francis, Lord Verulam (Sir Francis Bacon). Authenticity of the book has been confirmed by Calagarian antiquarian expert Cameron Trevealen of Aquila Books.
The book is expected to make a nice contribution to funds raised by the book sale to support Calgary’s Servants Anonymous Society, which helps young women escape sexual exploitation, and literacy programs that receive funding from the Canwest Raise-a-Reader initiative.
Interested in checking out the book sale? The sale runs over two weekends, June 12 to 14 and June 19 to 21 — at the Crossroads Market, just off Blackfoot Trail and Ogden Road S. E. in Calgary.
Poor Richard sells for $556,500
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
A rare copy 1733 of Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard Almanac has sold for $556,500. It’s the second highest price ever paid for a book printed in America reports AP.
In case, you don’t know this was a yearly book published between 1732 and 1758. It was a pamphlet with prints runs of about 10,000, which was pretty substantial for a colony. They contained weather information, household tips, puzzles, and various other thigngs to pass the time.
In his autobiography, Franklin described his almanac as “a proper vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people, who bought scarcely any other books; I therefore filled all the little spaces that occurr’d between the remarkable days in the calendar with proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality, as the means of procuring wealth, and thereby securing virtue; it being more difficult for a man in want, to act always honestly, as, to use here one of those proverbs, it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright.”
Ulysses first edition sets record price
Friday, June 5th, 2009
To buy a rare James Joyce, or to buy a very nice house. It’s the kind of delemia some people face. Yesterday at the Olympia Antiquarian Book Fair in London someone purchased a copy of the most collectible book from the 20th century, Ulysses by James Joyce. Or more exactly a signed, first edition which was limited to 100 copies and printed on Dutch handmade paper.
As reported by The Guardian the novel sold for £275,000 (about $440,000), the highest price on record for a 20th century first edition.
This is a fine example of how condition and scarcity are everything in book collecting. If you look on AbeBooks there are other Ulysses first editions for sale for a fraction of the price, somewhere around $50,000 would net you a nice copy. But not that won’t get you this edition with its Dutch handmade paper and shorter print run.
The extra 400 affords the shorter print run on the higher quality paper and a virtually untouched copy - it was only opened only once (just to the racy bit at the end), and was kept out of the light in its original box. Pom Harrington described the colour as:
“The colour is amazing – this lovely Aegean Sea, Greek flag blue which would normally have darkened into a more dirty blue but because it has been in a box it is a complete thing of beauty,”
The Book Borrowers Exhibit at the Bellevue Arts Museum
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 
A week or so ago my boyfriend told me our plans for the day were a surprise, but that he was sure it was so up my alley it was practically made for me - and he was right. We went to the Bellevue Arts Museum in, well, Bellevue, and saw their current exhibition called The Book Borrowers.
The exhibit showcases the work of artists who, through various techniques and transformations, have created sculptures, objets d’arts from books. There was a copy of Shel Silverstein’s beloved book The Giving Tree in which the tree had been painstakingly carved and brought forward to cast its own shadow: a three-dimensional paper tree. The detail and intricate lines were amazing.
There was a half prone figure created from books. Encylopedias and phone books, sandblasted into the appearance of stone, became stumps, mountains, a replica of the grand canyon. Some works were minute, microcosmic, with moving parts (I had a very hard time keeping my hands to myself). Some were abstract and strange, clearly intending a subtext beyond form or function. Some were so amibitious their completion amazed me. But all began with the humble book, printed words and pictures on paper, and brought from it something new.
From the web site:
A book can be many things: an object, a source of knowledge, a cultural artifact or an idea. From each volume, layers of meaning and subtext can be mined, not only from the words and images inside, but from the subtle design elements, the materiality of its pages and spine, and its symbolic value as a recorder of human evolution. For 550 years, the printed page has been our primary means of communication, though it is steadily being overtaken in the digital age.
The Book Borrowers highlights 31 works from locally, nationally and internationally renowned contemporary artists transforming books into sculptural works. Pieces in the exhibition explore the book’s inherent qualities and reflect upon this unique juncture in time. Manhattan White Pages turned into the head of Buddha, laser engraved volumes poignantly dissected, stacks of encyclopedias sandblasted into monumental landscapes – the works in this exhibition reveal new and unexpected layers of meaning that go beyond the book as a source of information and offer a fresh look at its place in an increasingly digitally oriented world. The Book Borrowers is both a nostalgic homage to the book and a reflection on our current progression beyond it.
The second paragraph was printed on one of the walls of the exhibit, and I was surprised to find that while I was fascinated by it, it also made me feel very melancholy. The idea of print media ceasing to exist, or being something for specialty collectors (like music on vinyl now) rather than the norm is heartbreaking to me. I love books. I love the weight of them, the feel. I love the softness of the pages of an old, old paperback. I love the thin ribbon bookmark that comes in some hardcovers. I love when there’s a blank, creamy page, empty save for the author’s dedication. I love a stack of books next to my bed, precarious, teetering, enticing. I love a book that has been read in the bath, and the way its pages become wavy and crimped, like a cocker spaniel’s ears. The Book Borrowers exhibit was comforting in that it showed the book will always be valuable, always be art, even if its form changes. The obvious dedication, time and skill that the artists put into each piece suggested reverie and respect. Books will always be loved. But the sense of loss at the words on the wall was real.
The part that devastates me perhaps most of all is the idea of losing that bookstore smell. I don’t believe it will ever come to that entirely, and if it does it is a long way off, but the notion was jarring. The smell of new bookstores is different from used bookstores, is different from libraries, is different from antiquarian collections, but they all have the musty, spicy, underlying smell of paper at their root, and my nose knows nothing better. I have difficulty imagining walking into an e-reader factory, closing my eyes, inhaling and smiling.
*Exhibition ends June 14th, so if you’re in the Seattle area and want to view it, now’s the time!
A surreal week with Max Ernst
Friday, May 29th, 2009
We have a new feature in our Rare Book Room this morning and it should appeal to fans of the surreal and the strange. It’s all about Une Semaine de Bonté (A Week of Kindness) by German artist Max Ernst.
Created in just three weeks in 1934, Une Semaine de Bonté is a very bizarre collection of 182 collages where humanity is mixed with mythology and the animal kingdom. There are ladies with serpent wings and gentlemen with lion heads. Many of the dramatic scenes display death, distress, bondage, nudity and violence. Discover more about Une Semaine de Bonté.
Rare homosexual novel sells for $12,000
Friday, May 1st, 2009
A rare first edition of Imre: A Memorandum – one of the most important novels in the history of American gay and lesbian literature – has sold for $12,000. The book, which was AbeBooks’ most expensive sale in April, was written by Edward Irenaeus Prime-Stevenson under the pen-name of pseudonym Xavier Mayne.
Published privately in 1906, Imre: A Memorandum is considered influential because it is essentially a homosexual love story where the relationship is portrayed in a positive light . Prime-Stevenson (1868-1942) was an American author who turned away from a legal career to become a mainstream writer. However, he also wrote under the pen-name of Xavier Mayne and this book was a landmark in homosexual culture.
Read more about Imre and see our top 10 most expensive sales.
First edition of Darwin’s Origin of Species Goes for £35,000
Thursday, April 30th, 2009 
According to CBC News, a first-edition of Charles Darwin’s On The Origin of Species went for £35,000 (almost $60,000 CDN) at auction on April 27th in London.
I love the name of the high bidder: Hamish Riley-Smith. With a name like Hamish Riley-Smith, he SHOULD be a wealthy collector. I hope he bid on a smoking jacket, too. What a great name. 
We have a pretty impressive array of collectible copies available on AbeBooks, from some very affordable copies all the way up to and including one priced at £110,000.00. Hint hint, Hamish - wouldn’t you like a matching pair? Or get one for a chum.
Happy Birthday Shakespeare, You Mountain of Mad Flesh!
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
Oh man. This is so great.
Today is the day widely recognized/celebrated as William Shakespeare’s birthday. By my calculations, the bard would be turning 445 today. Huh. No spring chicken. So, in honour of William Shakespeare’s birthday* today, check out this fantastic Shakespeare Insult Generator.
Among my favourites that I saw:
“[Thou] mountain of mad flesh!”
“Thou art the rudeliest welcome to this world.”
“[Thou art] like the toad, ugly and venomous.”
“Thou puking sheep-biting baggage!”
and my very favourite:
“Thou wimpled rump-fed hugger-mugger!”
Aw, Willie. You say the sweetest things.
*from Shakespeare’s wikipedia page: “William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, a successful glover and alderman originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowning farmer. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised on 26 April 1564. His unknown birthday is traditionally observed on 23 April, St George’s Day. This date, which can be traced back to an eighteenth-century scholar’s mistake, has proved appealing because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616. He was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son.”
Arthur Rackham’s Illustrations
Friday, April 17th, 2009
If you love art, and illustration - and I think by now I know you well enough to say you do - you should check out our feature on Arthur Rackham.
Rackham’s pieces were known for their luxurious use of color and keen attention to detail. His styles ranged easily from vivid, bright splashes of color to more muted, subtle tones. He became a member of the Royal Watercolour Society and mastered the watercolor method of painting, seen in many of his works. Many of the books Rackham illustrated include both his black and white and color plates. As well, some, such as Hawthorne’s Wonder Book, include Rackham’s experimentation with partially colored prints, similar to the effect seen with Japanese woodblock art.
Much of Rackham’s work depicts gnomes, fairies, goblins or other creatures from mythology, folklore or fable. His work has been an inspiration to many, including film director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) and modern illustrator Brian Froud.
AND, because not all of you can be as rolling in wealth as some of us (*polishes diamonds absentmindedly*), we’ve arranged the books by price.
Some of these are children’s classics - Sleeping Beauty, Hans Christian Andersen Fairytales, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Mother Goose - and the legendary tales are made SO much more enchanting my Rackham’s art. The stories become objects of art, to treasure.
Stolen library book returned after 145 years
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009A stolen library book has been returned nearly 145 years after it was half-inched by a Union soldier during the American Civil War, reports AP.
The 1842 book, the first volume of W.F.P. Napier’s four-volume “History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France From the Year 1807 to the Year 1814,” was returned recently by a friend of one of the soldier’s descendants to Washington and Lee University’s Leyburn Library.
A Tale of 9,000 Mislaid Books
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
First Edition The Picture of Dorian Gray signed by author, Oscar Wilde
I thought I was bad for misplacing books but I have nothing on the British Library. Granted, they have 650km of shelves and 150 million items whereas my dwellings probably wouldn’t take up the amount of space Shakespeare paraphernalia would.
The Guardian reports that 9,000 books are missing from the British library - that’s MISLAID missing not STOLEN missing, although some may have met their fate with people who just don’t get the concept that wanting something doesn’t mean you’re entitled to take it. For the mislaid items, there is hope that they will be found and put back in their rightful homes.
Interestingly, a lot of the missing books date to just before or after the library’s move from the British Museum to St. Pancras.
Included among the missing are:
- First edition Charles Dickens novels
- First edition John Updike books
- A 1555 edition of 12th-century Jewish scholar Moses ben Maimon’s Letter on Astrology
- A 17th century guide to Rome
- First edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- An 1876 illustrated edition of Alice in Wonderland
Keith Rathmill, of library security firm SA Secure, said he was surprised the list was not longer - one small library which consulted his firm had lost about a fifth of its collection in four years. “It is a huge collection and no building is secure,” he said. “There’s theft from all libraries, but the British Library can think itself lucky it isn’t in a worse situation - it doesn’t attract the dregs of society.”
I think I shall be kinder to myself the next time I can’t find my keys.