Rare Book Monthly

Articles - July - 2021 Issue

Detroit Festival Of Books: July 18th, 2021 - Get Ready!

Book vendors getting organized, 2021 Detroit Bookfest, Eastern Market, Detroit.

Book vendors getting organized, 2021 Detroit Bookfest, Eastern Market, Detroit.

As cities begin to open up, post-Covid, Detroit (again) is showing its commitment to books and the culture of the book. The upcoming Bookfest, again at Eastern Market, Detroit, may set another attendance record, with participating booksellers from Michigan, Illinois, California, and some online sellers from Canada and Europe. This will be a face-to-face event, in real time, with online viewing as well. As you see in our photo, sellers are setting up, unpacking their wares -- printed materials, posters & prints, ephemera, vintage collectibles. Come celebrate in a spirit of recovery, cultural health, ethnic diversity.


For Maureen E. Mulvihill's article (and she knows the city well), CLICK HERE.


Posted On: 2021-07-01 20:19
User Name: wrb

Dr. Mulvihill's great article captures the excitement which surrounds this event. C. Hedger Breed, Book Club of Detroit.


Posted On: 2021-07-02 11:18
User Name: rplace36

It is an honor to be featured here. Thank you for the marvelous write-up. We are very excited for Bookfest! https://detroitbookfest.com/rare-book-hub-bruce-mckinney/

Ryan M. Place, Detroit BookFest 2021/ Book Club of Detroit


Posted On: 2021-07-02 21:47
User Name: mairin

Posting for D. Levine, M.D., former Detroiter.
___

This article is absolutely wild -- it put me over the moon, my friends!
Thank you, RBH & M. Mulvihill, an amazing piece.
I knew Detroit in the '60s -- worked for The Fifth Estate underground
newspaper, knew John Sinclair, promoted the MC-5 band,
attended Monteith College, read all the right books -- no one was hipper.
So this piece was a gift: it glittered, it dazzled me. Sending it around. Thanks
from many here, and congratulations Detroit Book Club, glad it's still around.
And Ryan Place, Bookfest organizer, a serious credit for you & your people.
- D. Levine, M.D., formerly of Cass Corridor, Detroit.
____


Posted On: 2021-07-03 01:38
User Name: mairin

Posting for Mark Samuels Lasner, Distinguished Book Collector (Delaware Book Club):
_____

Detroit — never been there, but Maureen Mulvihill’s description of what’s going on there, book-wise, makes me want to visit sometime post-pandemic. The city and its environs have long been deeply touched by bibliophily. Such figures come to mind as: George Booth (newspaper publisher, follower of William Morris, founder of the Cranbrook Press and Cranbrook Academy); also Charles L. Feinberg (Walt Whitman enthusiast, whose 25,000-item collection he donated to the Library of Congress); and certainly Donald & Mary Hyde (collectors of Johnson and Boswell, and of Wilde; he, president of the Grolier Club; she, the foremost woman collector of our time). And let’s not forget impressive holdings in the Detroit Public Library, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and elsewhere, many little-known beyond the city. Hats off (and I am a hat-wearer) to the Book Club of Detroit for being one of the principal organizers of the book festival! My local group—the Delaware Bibliophiles—might follow their lead.

- Mark Samuels Lasner
Senior Research Fellow, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press
marksl@udel.edu
____


Posted On: 2021-07-03 15:00
User Name: carlnudi

Carl Mario Nudi, former Letterpress Printer, Detroit Free Press / Florida Bibliophile Society.
.

What a wonderful event this is for old Detroit! As a former resident of the Detroit area (1966-1981) and longtime book collector, I can see that this event on July 18th is going to be a joyful day for Detroit bibliophiles.
Dr. Maureen Mulvihill's description of the Motor City rings true: she knows the city well, and I lived through much of that history. Detroit, like Chicago and New York City, has always had its ups and downs, but it never lost its soul, its urban grit & city pride. And Maureen was right-on when she ended her article with a captioned image of the glorious, monumental Spirit of Detroit sculpture. (A thrilling touch there, Mulvihill.)

The Detroit Festival of Books at Eastern Market is another example of how Detroit provides life and variety, securing its status as the durable keystone of the greater Metro Area. Successful new start-ups, such as Signal Return near Eastern Market, attest to that command position. I've visited Signal Return several times, a special place for me, having worked at the Detroit Free Press as a letterpress printer for 14 years. Now living in Florida, I make an annual pilgrimage to Detroit to visit family, and am always impressed with how the city continues to move forward, becomes more cosmopolitan and attractive to visitors and young entrepreneurs. As a former officer of the Florida Bibliophile Society and participant in the annual Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in St. Petersburg, I surely know how much work goes into organizing a big book event, and I heartily congratulate the Book Club of Detroit and Ryan Place for smart planning, deep commitment, & initiative. I look forward to attending the Detroit Festival of Books in the near future. (No party like a Detroit party!). Carl Mario Nudi.


Posted On: 2021-07-05 17:39
User Name: cmbrown

Thanks, Maureen, for posting. Exciting to think that in-person events are resuming! In some ways, COVID opened new ways of communicating, viewing, and collecting -- but nothing beats a live book fair: meeting the vendors, seeing the books. I won't be in Detroit, but I look forward to the return of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair next year!
.
Charles M. Brown, President, Florida Bibliophile Society.


Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    27th March 2025
    Forum, Mar. 27: Dürer (Albrecht) Hierin sind begriffen vier bücher von menschlicher Proportion, 4 parts in 1, first edition, Nuremberg, Hieronymus Andreae for Agnes Dürer, 1528. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum, Mar. 27: Book of Hours, Use of Rome, illuminated manuscript in Latin, on vellum, 26 fine hand-painted miniatures, 17th century dark brown morocco, [Lyon], [c. 1475 and later c. 1490-1500]. £25,000 to £35,000.
    Forum, Mar. 27: Brontë (Emily) The North Wind, watercolour, [1842]. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, Mar. 27: Titanic.- Mudd (Thomas Cupper, one of the youngest victims of the sinking of the Titanic, 1895-1912) Autograph Letter signed on board RMS Titanic to his mother, April 11th 1912. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    27th March 2025
    Forum, Mar. 27: [Austen (Jane)] Emma: A Novel, 3 vol., first edition, for John Murray, 1816. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, Mar. 27: Picasso (Pablo).- Ovid. Les Metamorphoses, one of 95 copies, signed by the artist, Lausanne, Albert Skira, 1931. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, Mar. 27: America.- Ogilby (John) America: Being the Latest, and Most Accurate Description of the New World..., all maps with vibrant hand-colouring in outline, probably by an early hand, 1671. £15,000 to £25,000.
    Forum, Mar. 27: Iceland.- Geological exploration.- Bright (Dr. Richard )and Edward Bird. Collection of twenty original drawings from travels in Iceland with Henry Holland and George Mackenzie, watercolours, [1810]. £20,000 to £30,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    The Library of Barry Humphries
    26th March 2025
    Forum, Mar. 26: Beckford (William) [Vathek] An Arabian Tale, first (but unauthorised) edition, Lady Caroline Lamb's copy with her signature and notes, 1786. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Forum, Mar. 26: Baudelaire (Charles) Les Fleurs du Mal, first edition containing the 6 suppressed poems, first issue, contemporary half black morocco, Paris, 1857. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, Mar. 26: Beardsley (Aubrey).- Pope (Alexander) The Rape of the Lock, one of 25 copies on Japanese vellum, Leonard Smithers, 1896. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, Mar. 26: Douglas (Lord Alfred) Sonnets, first edition, the dedication copy, with signed presentation inscription from the author to his wife Olive Custance, The Academy, 1909. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Forum Auctions
    The Library of Barry Humphries
    26th March 2025
    Forum, Mar. 26: Crowley (Aleister) The Works..., 3 vol. in 1 (as issued)"Essay Competition" issue on India paper, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1905-07. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum, Mar. 26: Rodin (Auguste).- Mirbeau (Octave) Le Jardin des Supplices, one of 30 copies on chine with an additional suite, bound in dark purple goatskin, Paris, 1902. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Mar. 26: Pellar (Hans) Eight original book illustrations for 'Der verliebte Flamingo' [together with] a published copy of the first edition of the book, 1923. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Mar. 26: Cretté (Georges, binder).- Louÿs (Pierre) Les Aventures du Roi Pausole, 2 vol., one of 99 copies, with 2 original drawings, superbly bound in blue goatskin, gilt, Paris, 1930. £3,000 to £4,000.
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Swann
    Printed & Manuscript African Americana
    March 20, 2025
    Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 7: Thomas Fisher, The Negro's Memorial or Abolitionist's Catechism, London, 1825. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 78: Victor H. Green, The Negro Travelers' Green Book, New York, 1958. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 99: Rosa Parks, Hand-written recollection of her first meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., autograph manuscript, Detroit, c. 1990s. $30,000 to $40,000.
    Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 154: Frederick Douglass, Autograph statement on voting rights, signed manuscript, 1866. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 164: W.E.B. Du Bois, What the Negro Has Done for the United States and Texas, Washington, circa 1936. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann
    Printed & Manuscript African Americana
    March 20, 2025
    Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 263: Susan Paul, Memoir of James Jackson, Boston, 1835. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 267: Langston Hughes, Gypsy Ballads, signed translation of García Lorca's poetry, Madrid, 1937. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 274: Malcolm X, Collection from Alex Haley's estate, 38 items, 1963-1971. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 367: Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, Auburn, NY, 1853. $2,500 to $3,500.
    Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 402: Anna Julia Cooper, A Voice from the South, Xenia, OH, 1892. $2,000 to $3,000.
  • Koller, Mar. 26: Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
    Koller, Mar. 26: Merian, Maria Sibylla. Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung, und sonderbare Blumennahrung. Nürnberg, 1679; Frankfurt a. M. und Leipzig, 1683. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
    Koller, Mar. 26: GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON. Faust. Ein Fragment. Von Goethe. Ächte Ausgabe. Leipzig, G. J. Göschen, 1790. CHF 7,000 to 10,000
    Koller, Mar. 26: Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
    Koller, Mar. 26: BIBLIA GERMANICA - Neunte deutsche Bibel. Nürnberg, A. Koberger, 17. Feb. 1483. CHF 40,000 to 60,000
    Koller, Mar. 26: HORAE B.M.V. - Stundenbuch. Lateinische Handschrift auf Pergament, Kalendarium französisch. Nordfrankreich (Rouen?). CHF 25,000 to 40,000

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions