Collectible maps are wonderful. Changed borders, different and unusually named geographic regions, and more. These elaborate and fascinating rare maps span the world and many are embellished with beautiful artwork. You will see sea monsters, whaling scenes, sailing ships, emblems and learn what a cartouche is.
This selection goes from Sri Lanka in 1513, when large sections of the globe remained unexplored, to war-torn China in 1944.
The year began brightly with an inscribed first edition of Ian Fleming’s debut 007 novel, Casino Royale, selling for more than $46,000. The book, published in 1953, remains one of the most desirable of all modern first editions.
The other sales on our top 10 most expensive sales of January list aren’t bad either with appearances from Hermann Hesse, Aldous Huxley, Marcel Proust and Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
The New Yorker’s Book Bench blog referred to me to the World Carrot Museum site where there is a wonderful article on carrot illustrations in manuscripts.
Apparently, carrots were being written about as early as AD 512. The illustrations in this article are well worth seeing.
I have never blogged about carrots in literature before.
The University of Victoria, here on Vancouver Island, just a hop, skip and jump away from AbeBooks HQ is a wonderful resource for educational and antiquarian book collections. They also do much for the bookish and literary community, including annual collector’s talks, which always prove fascinating – and this next one sounds to be no exception. The speaker will be Victoria’s own Ron Greene, talking about the joy of being an accidental collector, as well as discussing and displaying much of his large selection of collectible postcards, many of which relate to early Victoria.
In downtown Victoria, there is a one-of-a-kind store called Capital Iron. The building itself is a beautiful, huge Tudor-style structure built in 1863. Begun as a scrap and ship-breaking business in 1934, Capital Iron has expanded over the years into a unique shopping experience. From outdoor supplies and hardware, to kitchen goods and a garden shop, and the world’s most weird and wonderful basement of antiques and oddities (which used to feature a genuine iron ball and chain), it is a Victoria institution and still going strong.
Ron Greene ran Capital Iron until 1997, and it was his father, Morris, who began it back in 1934. Ron was awarded the Heritage Canada Regional Award of Honour in 1982 for the restoration of the Capital Iron facades, and was the recipient of the Royal Canadian Mint Medal for Numismatic Education in 1991. In 2010 he was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni for the Faculty of Humanities.
For those interested in collecting, the history of Victoria or postcards, this is sure to be a great afternoon not to be missed.
Ron Greene “The Accidental Collector”
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Room A003, Archives and Special Collections Classroom – Lower Level
William C. Mearns Centre for Learning/McPherson Library
Refreshments follow lecture. Free admission but limited seating
Enter a used bookstore and you will encounter the unique smell of old books. But where does that aroma come from? It’s down to science and the fact that books are full of organic material that reacts with the environment.
Learn more about book care at the AbeBooks’ Book Collecting Guide.
I’ve mentioned before how much I love the part of my job that allows me to forever stumble across new and different varieties of beautiful and unusual books, and today is no exception.
Perhaps you’re familiar with our feature on Cosway Bindings. If not, to synopsize, traditional leather bindings are adorned with beautifully inset miniature portraits in the covers. The bindings are named for the portrait painter Richard Cosway. The book pictured at top – Evangeline by Longfellow – is an extraordinarily gorgeous example with portraits set into the back cover as well as the front. I’ve never seen that before; usually the back cover is leather, or leather and gilt, but in this instance, the back cover has three portraits inlaid as well, and 11 portraits on the front cover. As well, the text is richly decorated throughout with traditional decorative illuminations.
For sale at the tidy sum of $91,800, this one is a smidge out of my price range, but I sure what love to hold it in my hands and look through it. Anyone want to go halfsies? You can have it Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, and I’ll have it Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays, and we’ll alternate Sundays.
The oldest title in this selection of historic veterinary books was printed in 1756. In those days, man’s best friend was the horse and equine health was a vital area of medical science.
Once used by farriers, farmers and veterinarians, these books are now treasured by collectors. From hoof to tail, trotter to toe, these are the early animal care books the experts turned to. Enjoy.
It’s a good question. Why does this book, or rather books as Birds of America is a four-volume set, sell for such massive prices? John James Audubon’s Birds of America already holds the record selling price for a printed book when a copy went for $$11.5 million in December 2010.
On 20 January, another first edition copy comes up for auction at Christie’s and there is much speculation that the old record will fall. Things like recessions go out the window when Birds of America first editions come up for sale.
Birds of America is most significant for its sheer beauty. It’s a landmark book because of its illustrations. Audubon’s 435 hand-colored engravings are life-size. The first edition four-volume set was printed in the double-elephant format, which means they are huge books – almost 40 inches high.
Aside from being famous in the rare book world, Birds of America has also great ornithological importance. Some of the birds Audubon painted are extinct and he also discovered new species. The book was published in parts between 1827 and 1838, and Audubon funded the first editions himself. He toured to promote his artwork and sold prints – on a pay-as-you-go subscriber basis – to the rich and famous of the era.
The set being auctioned at the forthcoming auction is in excellent condition and has been in the same family – the Duke of Portland’s – for generations. Experts say around 200 copies were produced and Christie’s has reported that only 120 complete sets are known to exist. Sadly, many copies have been broken up. There are rare books that are scarcer but most Birds of America first edition copies are owned by institutions, who will never part with them. It’s major news when a first edition comes up for sale. We’ll be watching with great interest.
(Pictures courtesy of Christie’s)
The Duke of Portland’s four-volume set of John James Audubon’s Birds of America is to be auctioned later this month, reports the Fine Books blog. The estimated selling price is a huge $7-10 million but it could break the current world record of $11.5 million held by Lord Hesketh’s rare books and manuscripts in December 2010.
If you aren’t a Duke or a Lord, don’t bother showing up to the auction. Commoners will be turned away.
This is the only year-end list where you will find the Grinch, a Hobbit, Karl Marx, 007, the Boy Wizard, Gray’s Anatomy, Picasso, banned French poetry, a postcard from Mexico and a book about dentistry.
From art to religion, science to self-help, mystery to poetry and beyond – discover what the world’s big spending book collectors put on their bookshelves during 2011 with AbeBooks’ Most Expensive Sales of 2011.
Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press changed the world. Today book collectors also view the invention of the printing press as a major cultural turning point – books made before and after this point are vastly different and so booksellers, collectors and historians dub books printed in this time of transition ‘Incunabula.’
Travel back more than 500 years and see the books that counted before the start of the 16th century.
Welcome to AbeBooks’ Book Collecting Guide – a new educational section of the website dedicated to helping you understand the basic elements of book collecting and the terminology of booksellers. Our guide covers everything from what to collect to caring for your book collection.
The guide includes an in-depth glossary of book terms (full of pictures), an explanation of book conditions and a list of abbreviations.
And this is just the start… we’re going to adding new videos and pages as we put them together.
Visit the Book Collecting Guide.
A bloke in Finland says he cracked the mysterious language in the Voynich Manuscript. I am not sure that I believe him. The Daily Mail has the story.
November was an exceptionally healthy month for collectible book sales at AbeBooks. Top of the pile was a rare copy of Das Kapital by Karl Marx that sold for $51,739. That’s one of the most expensive sales to ever go through AbeBooks since we were founded in 1996. This sort of price is a fairly regular occurrence at auctions but $50,000+ is a huge sum for an Internet sale.
The first edition of Das Kapital came in three volumes published in 1867, 1885 and 1894. The last two volumes were published after Marx’s death in London in 1883.
The other major sales of November included a set of Aspen magazines for $22,915, a Dr. Seuss first edition for close to $10,000, a Penguin limited edition of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a signed deluxe edition of Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a signed Martin Luther King book and a letter (which can be read in full) from Virginia Woolf to Clive Bell, a fellow member of the Bloomsbury Group.
It’s now possible to ‘read’ the mysterious Voynich Manuscript at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library website. The Voynich Manuscript is an undated book written in an unknown language. It is named after the antiquarian bookseller Wilfrid Voynich, who bought it in 1912.
The manuscript seems to offer information about plants and their possible uses for medical purposes. However, many of the plants are not known species and the text can’t be read. It’s been analysed by codebreakers from both World Wars and remains a mystery.
Roughly 500 years old, the Voynich manuscript was donated to Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library in 1969
The University website states:
Based on the subject matter of the drawings, the contents of the manuscript falls into six sections: 1) botanicals containing drawings of 113 unidentified plant species; 2) astronomical and astrological drawings including astral charts with radiating circles, suns and moons, Zodiac symbols such as fish (Pisces), a bull (Taurus), and an archer (Sagittarius), nude females emerging from pipes or chimneys, and courtly figures; 3) a biological section containing a myriad of drawings of miniature female nudes, most with swelled abdomens, immersed or wading in fluids and oddly interacting with interconnecting tubes and capsules; 4) an elaborate array of nine cosmological medallions, many drawn across several folded folios and depicting possible geographical forms; 5) pharmaceutical drawings of over 100 different species of medicinal herbs and roots portrayed with jars or vessels in red, blue, or green, and 6) continuous pages of text, possibly recipes, with star-like flowers marking each entry in the margins.
If you are interested, there is a book called The Voynich Manuscript: The Unsolved Riddle of an Extraordinary Book Which Has Defied Interpretation for Centuries written by Gerry Kennedy and Rob Churchill.
You are currently browsing the archives for the antiquarian category.
