• Results for the 2 June Bibliophile Sale at Bloomsbury London are here. The top lot was a collection of chromolithograph horse illustrations, which made £2,700.
• PBA Galleries sold Charles Bukowski & His Circle: The Collection of Ross Runfola, also on 2 June. Results are here. The highest price realized was $10,200 for an original Bukoswki watercolor.
• The top seller at Swann's 2 June Maps, Atlases, Natural History and Ephemera sale was a 1777 map of Connecticut, which had a $3,000-4,000 estimate but sold for a whopping $168,000. A manuscript map of Japan's Suruga province fetched $120,000.
• Sotheby's London's Music and Continental Books & Manuscripts sale on 8 June made £2,645,628. They've changed their results websites again, but hopefully this link will work. Mahler's copy of his Third Symphony made £163,250 but was not the top lot: that honor went to a seven-volume collection of illustrations of Russian artifacts (1849-1853), which sold for £169,250.
• The much-anticipated Valuable Printed Books and Manuscripts at Christie's London on 8 June must have been a bit disappointing. Only 39 of 81 lots sold, for a total of £1,781,100. The Pillone Library did not sell as a group, and apparently only one of the volumes sold separately: a 1478 edition of Dioscorides, which made £91,250. The unexpected high spot was a spectacular copy of Maria Sibylla Merian's first work, Blumenbuch (1675-1680). Estimated at £60,000-90,000, it ended up selling for £565,250.
• Of the 399 lots at the 13 June Christie's London sale of Printed Books and Manuscripts, 213 lots sold for a total of £492,275. The top lot was a third issue of Galileo's Il saggiatore nel quale con bilancia esquisita e giusta si ponderano le cose contenute nella libra astronomica e filosofica di Lotario Sarsi Sigensano (1623), which made £16,250.
• Some fairly healthy prices at the 14 June Bloomsbury London sale Books from the stock of the late John Sperr of Fisher and Sperr London, in 169 lots. As expected the top lot was William Curtis' The Botanical Magazine, which sold for £26,000. The complete set of Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie (1751-1780) sold for £8,500.
• Results for the PBA Galleries Fine Literature, Illustrated & Children's Books, and Fine Books in All Fields sale on 16 June are here.
• Sotheby's New York's 17 June Fine Books and Manuscripts sale the total take was $3,288,444. While a few of the expected top lots didn't sell, the Marc Chagall sketchbook made $602,500, and the René Magritte archive fetched $458,500. The flag from the C.S.S. Alabama sold for $218,500. A first edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales did much better than anticipated, making $206,500.

Preview of the remaining June sales:

• Christie's New York has Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts on 23 June, in 325 lots. A signed first edition of Joyce's Ulysses, from the collection of John W. Boylan is estimated at $350,000-450,000, while a collection of Franklin's Paris and Passy bagatelles could sell for $250,000-350,000. An early manuscript copy of Mateo Ricci's world map is estimated at $150,000-250,000. Lots of Bob Dylan manuscripts and many other interesting lots here.
• Bonhams will sell some Pacific Voyages and Hawaiiana books on 26 June.

Catalogue Review: Matthew David Jones, catalogue #1

Just a few weeks ago, I couldn't resist reviewing a bookseller's very first catalogue, and I'm happy to report (for the sake of the industry) that I get to do the same thing this week. Matthew David Jones is a bookseller in the San Francisco area who specializes in Greek and Latin classics and scholarly editions. He came to bookselling after several years in numismatics, and--full disclosure--he has written a few articles for FB&C over the past year. He just published his first catalogue, a glossy black-and-white booklet with fifty-four items to offer.

The 8vo edition of the complete works of Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius published by Baskerville in 1772 in its original full vellum binding is a neat find ($595), as is the six-volume uniform set in full sprinkled calf of Plutarch's Lives, printed for Lackington, Allen & Co. in 1803 ($475), and an Estienne edition of Diogenes Laertius ($2,395). A 1572 printing (third) of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, printed by Paulus Manutius, is in very good condition, even if rebound in maroon calf ($2,750). He also has a 1514 Aldine edition of Valerius Maximus in early vellum (seen here, $6,750). Who doesn't want an Aldine?

Philosophy, history, grammars; Aristotle, Hegel, Justinus. This is the specialty Jones has selected. But not all are Greco-Roman tomes, there is a selection of books on books from Basbanes and Dibdin and more than a handful of modern firsts that bear mentioning. A lot containing two Fran Lebowitz editions--Social Studies and Metropolitan Life--is interesting because the are, notes the catalogue, "a little smoky smelling" ($95). Since Lebowitz is "a notably staunch advocate of smoker's rights," it's interesting to muse on whether the smoky smell somehow enhances these books! Jones also has a signed edition of William Burroughs' Junkie from 1966 ($750) in the original green printed wrappers that shout "Olympia Press," and a signed first of Dave Eggers' Zeitoun ($50).

Check out the catalogue online or email matthew@hitliterature.com for a printed catalgoue.

On Saturday, Morphy Auctions of Denver, Pennsylvania, is holding a 900-lot antique advertising sale, featuring the collection of the Gotham Cigar Museum of Tampa, Florida.

"It's amazing how many different types of cigar-related items are sought after by collectors. This premier collection traces to the early days of the cigar industry in America and includes everything from cigar boxes to hand-painted cases to beautiful die-cuts and figural advertising pieces," said Dan Morphy, owner of Morphy Auctions.

Take a look at some of the eye-catching items up for grabs.

Photos courtesy of Morphy's.

On sale today is Paul Collins' newest book, Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked The Tabloid Wars. How do you know Paul Collins? FB&C readers may recall that he wrote for the magazine once or twice, that he is NPR's "literary detective," and that he is the author of such bookish titles as Sixpence House, a memoir of life in Hay-on-Wye, and The Book of William, a sleuthing history of the first folio.

This new book is an account of a grisly New York murder at the tail end of the nineteenth century. A human torso is found floating in the East River, severed limbs in Harlem, and a mysterious bloody pool in Long Island -- and who's piecing it all together but the newspapermen employed by Joseph Pulitzer (for the World) and William Randolph Hearst (for the Journal). The vile details of this murder mystery created the perfect storm for tabloid journalists, who, in many cases, worked harder and better at locating evidence and suspects than the police. Of course, they also plotted against each other, fighting for higher circulation.

Though a different case, Collins' true crime tale is reminiscent of Patricia Cline Cohen's The Murder of Helen Jewett. His publisher also makes an apt comparison to Larson's Devil in the White City. Which is to say that this is a book that has been thoroughly researched and has solid history within, and yet it is far from a dry, scholarly tome. The rich cast of characters -- a married midwife murderess among them -- is better than one finds in fiction. Collins is a skillful writer, and his narrative zips the reader from beginning to end.

Murder of the Century will keep you up at night, borrowing time from tomorrow to read ten more pages. Look no further for a summer read that will entertain and educate in the way that only the best books can.

In addition to occasionally posting here for FB&C, I recently assumed the editorship of The Standard, the online newsletter of The Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA). I am pleased to announce that the first issue in more than two years has recently been posted, along with a revamped design:

I've written previously for "Fine Books Notes" about the theft of one of Union College's Audubon volumes in 1971; having attended Union and knowing this particular set of Birds of America well, I take a great interest in not only their present well-being but also in the story of their theft and subsequent recovery. A just-released article [PDF] in the Union College Magazine, by the college's Director of Media and Public Relations Phil Wajda, sheds new light on the case, and calls into question the long-held view of just how the Birds came to be stolen and Texas book dealer John Jenkins' role in their recovery.

Wajda talked to the actual thief who broke into Union's library in 1971 and stole the Birds, damaging some of the plates as he cut them from their binding. Kenneth Paull, now retired and living in Pennsylvania, told Wajda that the theft was no spur-of-the-moment crime, but a carefully-laid scheme ... and that Jenkins himself was the intended buyer of the Audubons.

It's quite a tale, and certainly worth a read. Phil's done some really interesting detective work, and I'm going to be fascinated to know what more we learn about this case now that his story is out. I'm sure I'll have more to say on it soon, as well.

A loving look at designer Herbert Bayer's World Geographic Atlas (1953), the first in a series just posted by Nate Burgos, who writes on his Vimeo page, "This series is about the timeless character of books. Their message and what they look like are what is celebrated here. As our culture becomes digital in a lot of ways, it is all the more important (not to mention inviting) to revisit and learn from the early design challenges, creative solutions and general lessons that the 'old' print world keeps relevant."

Watch, and then stay tuned!

Rare Book Feast #1: Herbert Bayer's Book of Maps from Nate Burgos on Vimeo.

Book artist (and FB&C columnist) Richard Minsky announced today that his Third Exhibition of American Decorated Publishers' Bindings is being acquired by the Boston Athenaeum. The books will be available for study in the Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow Special Collections Room once they have been entered into the Athenaeum's system. He wrote today:

The three exhibitions in this series together have presented 1,100 cataloged designs, plus many variants, with 141 identified cover artists. All the original books will be available to researchers, with geographic diversity. The first exhibition is now available for study at the University of Alabama's W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library:
http://bindings.lib.ua.edu/gallery/minsky.html

The second exhibition is at the Lilly Library at Indiana University, Bloomington. It has not yet been integrated into IUCAT, and will be available when that is completed.

Institutional libraries often have hundreds of these books, still in circulating stacks. One use that librarians are making of the data file on the CD-ROM that comes with each catalog is to run a comparison with the library catalog for an automated search of these books in their collections. They then can be removed from circulation to preserve them, and can be the basis for an exhibition that will be of interest to Friends of the Library and the outreach community.

If you do not have the catalogs, there may be an institution near you that does: There is a fairly complete list at http://minsky.com/orderform-subscription1.htm#collections.

Hank Holland has lived with Cerebral Palsy all his life, but today he finds salvation inside a canvas living with his family in the twilight landscapes of Lockport, Louisiana. Following his mother's footsteps, Hank is a self-taught artist and believes his art is a testament in how to overcome obstacles and realize your dreams. Just three years ago on May 28, 2008, he picked up his first canvas, a few tubes of paint and a cheap set of brushes. Today he does shows across the south, his art hangs in homes and businesses across the country and beyond. In a recent interview he directed me to his Facebook page for his most recent work, and there I found these words on the day of his anniversary. "Wow 2800 paintings later and fans and friends from all over the world, I am so humbled. My work hangs in homes in all 50 states and 54 countries. THANKS Y'ALL for giving me a wonderful life."

A quick post today, as I point you instead to reading Brewster Kahle's blog post, "Why Preserve Books? The New Physical Archive of the Internet Archive."

Books are being thrown away, or sometimes packed away, as digitized versions become more available. This is an important time to plan carefully for there is much at stake. ...