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Articles - January - 2022 Issue

Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow

- by Bruce E. McKinney

Wishing you the best!!!

Wishing you the best!!!

For Rare Book Hub, 2021 was a complex year by every measure.  The volume of auctions and number of lots posted substantially increased.  As well, the percentage of lots sold rose as the median dollar value also took a jump.  Net-net, collectible paper was a very strong category as consignors lined up, auction houses adjusted, and bidders and buyers stepped in.

 

As to the first major report encapsulating the full year, this month’s lead story, the annual top 500 lots, tells us who the big winners were.

 

In February Mike Stillman will provide detailed analysis for the full year.  From what I can tell, 2021 may well appear to have been a once-in-a-century experience.  But given the positive trends the field has been experiencing over the past five years there’s no conclusive reason to suggest collectible paper will slow down any time soon.

 

To all who have shared the experience we offer congratulations and our thanks.

 

Bruce McKinney

Managing Partner

Rare Book Hub

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Posted On: 2022-01-31 02:07
User Name: bukowski

The RBG auction strikes me as odd. Commonplace books asking way too much. I deeply admire RBG, but methinks a relative is trying way too hard to make a buck.

Posted On: 2022-01-31 02:29
User Name: bukowski

I didn’t know the auction had ended when I posted my first comment. Weirdly high prices, almost as if the buyers were trying to boost RBG’s and their own liberal-democratic credentials by putting a price on her. I’m a lib-dem myself, but this auction smacks of a set-up. Reprints of obscure law articles going for hundreds of dollars? Dry legal tomes selling for thousands? Is RBG’s signature that valuable? I collect association copies of books myself, but come on, something’s fishy here.

Rare Book Monthly

  • <b><center>Sotheby's<br>Fine Books, Manuscripts & More<br>Available for Immediate Purchase</center></b> <b>Sotheby’s:</b> Ian Fleming. <i>Casino Royale,</i> London, 1953. First edition, first printing. $58,610. <b>Sotheby’s:</b> A.A. Milne, Ernest Howard Shepard. <i>Winnie The Pooh,</i> United Kingdom, 1926. First UK edition. $17,580. <b>Sotheby’s:</b> Ernest Hemingway. <i>Three Stories And Ten Poems,</i> [Paris], (1923). First edition of Hemingway’s first published book. $75,000. <b><center>Sotheby's<br>Fine Books, Manuscripts & More<br>Available for Immediate Purchase</center></b> <b>Sotheby’s:</b> L. Frank Baum. <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,</i> Chicago, 1900. First edition. $27,500. <b>Sotheby’s:</b> Man Ray. <i>Photographs By Man Ray 1920 Paris 1934,</i> Hartford, 1934. $7,860. <b>Sotheby’s:</b> Thomas Pennant. <i>Zoologia Britannica,</i> Augsburg, 1771. $49,125.
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Ian Fleming. Casino Royale, London, 1953. First edition, first printing. $58,610.
    Sotheby’s: A.A. Milne, Ernest Howard Shepard. Winnie The Pooh, United Kingdom, 1926. First UK edition. $17,580.
    Sotheby’s: Ernest Hemingway. Three Stories And Ten Poems, [Paris], (1923). First edition of Hemingway’s first published book. $75,000.
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: L. Frank Baum. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, 1900. First edition. $27,500.
    Sotheby’s: Man Ray. Photographs By Man Ray 1920 Paris 1934, Hartford, 1934. $7,860.
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Pennant. Zoologia Britannica, Augsburg, 1771. $49,125.
  • <b><center>Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!</center></b>
    Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!

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