The summer is gone and it's been three months since the last update on eBay rare book prices. No incunables this time around but some solid early printing as well as crowd favorites and historically significant ephemeral Americana. I've changed around the methodology of reporting on eBay sales for this and future updates. I'm increasingly skeptical of high-value sales reported in the eBay "buy it now" category (i.e. at a set price with no bidding). Some of these end up re-listed suggesting that they weren't actually sold to begin with - so from now on I'll only be reporting on items sold through competitive bidding. This is by no means to impugn all no-bid sales but simply a matter of reliability and convenience for me. For those interested there were a number of interesting and pricey books sold in this format including a 1568 Vesalius and signed firsts of the hot books of the day - the Hunger Games Trilogy.

 

1.$8,600: The top slot this time around goes to the ever-collectible 1851 first American edition of Melville's Moby Dick. The American first can command over $30,000 but this copy features significant foxing and some other condition issues. Nonetheless a highly sought-after book and sold after 11 bids on July 3rd by Capstone Collectibles of Boxborough, MA.

2.$8,100: Pittsburgh bookseller Lux & Umbra remains one of the most consistent sellers of high-value books on eBay. This quarter they made the list with a beautiful 1503 Parisian Book of Hours printed on vellum [USTC 26042]. Full of illustrations and with historiated borders throughout, this item drew a lot of attention, selling after 38 bids on July 14.

3. $6,999: Third on the list is an edition of the ever-popular Hypnerotomachia Polyphili. The earliest editions of the lavishly illustrated work can sell in the six-figures. The edition here is  Béroalde de Verville's interpretation and reworking of the classic entitled Le tableau des riches inventions printed at Paris in 1600 (illustrated above). Copies of this edition have popped up in the trade a few times in the last decade including on eBay. A copy in not quite as fine condition made $3,450 at auction in 2005 while another brought 15,000 euros in 2007. This copy, offered by the Ottawa dealers Colin Borgal and Peter Jones sold after 30 bids on July 11.

4. $6,500.23: Salvador Dali's lithographed edition of Alice and Wonderland appears again this quarter (copy #2106 appeared at no. 5 last time around and #1653 was sold by the same dealer in the buy it now format in August). Beacon Estate Services of San Diego offered this 1969 Alice (copy #488) which sold after 4 bids on August 13 (it had originally sold for more than $8,000 on Aug. 1st before the buyer defaulted).  

5. $6,101: Bibliopathos booksellers of Milan grabbed the top spot in last quarter's listings with a 17th c. edition of Galileo. This quarter they made the list with Vincenzo Coronelli's Epitome cosmografica, o compendiosa introduttione all'astronomia, geografia, & idrografia, (Cologne [Venice], 1693). Full of prints, maps, and astronomical charts this is an attractive book and in fact this exact copy was sold in March at Christie's for £6,875. It's an interesting strategy to turn around an auction purchase this quickly using eBay but it didn't pay off in this instance despite heavy bidding, selling for just over $6,000 after 20 bids on July 1.

Though not formally listed in the Antiquarian Books category on eBay, a remarkable printed form completed in manuscript would have won the top spot. In June 1774 the Boston Committee of Correspondence circulated a printed subscription form to towns throughout the surrounding area in which residents would publicly pledge to boycott all goods and trade from Great Britain in order to protest Parliamentary taxes levied on the colony. Copies of these subscription forms, either completed or blank survive at the American Antiquarian Society, Boston Public Library, and Library of Congress. In June Armory Antiques of Rhode Island  offered on eBay a copy of one of these subscription forms (the 49-line version ESTC W4187) signed by the residents of Attleborough, Mass. and dated 13 July 1774 (correcting in Ms. the printed word "June"). This remarkable piece of Americana sold for $11,600 after 21 bids on June 24th.  For more on the subscription form and the politics surrounding it see William Hunting Howell, "Entering the Lists: The Politics of Ephemera in Eastern Massachusetts, 1774," Early American Studies 9.1 (2011), 187-217. 

 

About a year ago, we reported on the discovery of a lost novel by James M. Cain, a master crime writer of the mid 20th century, whose works include Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice. Today, that novel, The Cocktail Waitress, will be published for the first time by Hard Case Crime, a noir imprint founded by Charles Ardai.  Charles recently answered some questions for us about the hunt for the lost Cain novel, the challenges of editing posthumous work, and the book's standing in Cain's impressive oeuvre:

NP: When and where did you hear about the lost Cain novel???

CA: Back when I was first working on getting Hard Case Crime off the ground - this was about a decade ago -- I was talking with Max Allan Collins, and he said, "Did you know there is an unpublished James M. Cain novel?  You should try to track that down."  Well, I hadn't known - and tracking it down turned out to be much harder than anyone expected.
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NP: How did you track it down?  Tell us about the hunt...??

CA: It began with calls and emails to everyone I knew who might have an idea where the manuscript could be.  The agents for the Cain estate didn't have a copy, no collector I contacted did, no academics. So I widened the search.  Other agents. Other authors. Fans. But they were all dead ends.  Then I found myself talking about the search with my Hollywood agent, Joel Gotler, and he said that he'd inherited the files of an old-time agent named H.N. Swanson, who had been Cain's agent back in the day.  I asked him to check Swanson's files to see if there was any reference to THE COCKTAIL WAITRESS in them - and there not only was a reference, there was a copy of the manuscript! ??

But that turned out not to be the end of the search. Cain's papers are kept at the Library of Congress, and in among a batch of unrelated material I turned up several more drafts - some typed, some handwritten and almost indecipherable.  In the end, I had more COCKTAIL WAITRESS than I knew what to do with!  So the challenge became how to turn the multiple drafts into a single novel.

NP: Tell us about that.  How did you decide which parts to include from the different manuscripts???

CA: Well, some of the choices were clear.  Cain wrote his first draft in the third person, but all subsequent drafts were in his customary first person, and he'd said in interviews that he preferred the first person for the book -- so clearly we had to go with first person.  But other choices were less obvious, ranging from what name to give each character (Cain sometimes went back and forth four or five times) to how the book should end (he wrote several endings and told his editor he was still working on it).  In the end, I approached it the same way I would with any living author.  My job as editor is to take what the author hands me and turn it into the best book it can be.  It's easier when the author's there to answer questions and make choices - but it's not as though I've never worked on posthumous books before.  In fact, I seem to have made something of a specialty of it, having published posthumous work by Donald Westlake, Mickey Spillane, David Dodge, Roger Zelazny, and Lester Dent.  You do your best to be true to the book the author wrote, while giving readers the most satisfying possible read.
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NP: Who did the gorgeous cover art for your edition???

CA: Michael Koelsch, who previously painted our covers for SAY IT WITH BULLETS by Richard Powell, SOMEBODY OWES ME MONEY by Donald Westlake, and BLOOD ON THE MINK by Robert Silverberg.  All terrific covers, and his painting for THE COCKTAIL WAITRESS is probably my favorite of the four.
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NP: Where do you rank "The Cocktail Waitress" in the Cain oeuvre?  And what's your personal opinion of it -- did you like it?  Love it?

CA: It's great - as a long-time Cain fan, I still get goosebumps at hearing the master's voice one last time.  There are lines in the book, and plot twists, that only Cain could have come up with.  Will it knock THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE off its pedestal as one of the very best noir novels ever written?  Of course not, just as other great Cain novels didn't - not SERENADE, not JEALOUS WOMAN, not PAST ALL DISHONOR.  But I think THE COCKTAIL WAITRESS holds its own very well with those.  If you can only read one Cain book in your life, read POSTMAN - but why in the world should you only read one Cain book?  Read a batch - they're short, and oh so good.
 

Coming to auction this week is a small notebook kept by Thomas Edison, in which he penciled his lab notes regarding experiments he was conducting to find an alternative source for rubber. Edison had been asked by auto & tire tycoons, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, to figure out if rubber could be produced from anything other than a rubber tree, which did not grow in the U.S. and was becoming expensive to import. Edison duly tested thousands of plants, finding at least one possible substitute in Goldenrod weed. But the great scientist and inventor died in 1931 while still at work on the problem. This notebook, containing 117 pages in Edison's hand, records his rubber experiments between Oct. 24, 1927 and Jan. 9, 1928. It is expected to bring $15,000-25,000 at an auction in Philadelphia on Thursday. Most of Edison's lab notebooks are held by the Thomas Edison National Historic Park in West Orange, New Jersey.

Catalogue Review: Extant Americana, #1

If this is catalogue #1 from the New York City-based Extant Americana, our eyeglasses might be knocked off by forthcoming catalogues. There is so much visual punch on these pages, beginning with the cover illustration of a signed gelatin silver print of Fort Peck Dam by Margaret Bourke-White ($15,000).

How about a piece of watercolor folk-art depicting a black Union soldier holding some playing cards ($1,250). From the same period, a set of "extremely rare" hand-colored prints by Currier and Ives bound into a salesman's sample book, c. 1863 ($10,000). The prints are Civil War scenes, such as the bombardment of Fort Sumter and combat between the Monitor and the Merrimac. They show some foxing, but the colors are amazing.

The red-tinted tintype of a fireman and his dog is a fascinating piece ($2,250), as is (for all the wrong reasons) a real-photo postcard of the public lynching of John Heath in 1885 ($2,250). The rare German Army recruiting poster titled "Und Du?" by Ludwig Hohlwein is another striking image ($6,000).

Bright Buffalo Bill posters and circus posters, advertising broadsides, Civil War medical photos, and election ephemera are also offered throughout, not to mention important letters, presidential autographs, and cool things like an 1872 Skull & Bones Society gold lapel pin (in a group with a yearbook and additional cartes de visit; $2,750).

Nearing the end of this jam-packed catalogue, you'll find an original ink drawing by New Yorker artist Saul Steinberg that has never before been offered ($30,000) as well as a "women's rights" toy figurine depicting a crude caricature version of Sojourner Truth that is quite incredible to see ($10,000).

But's there more, so much more! You can download the full catalogue here: http://extantamericana.com/

Our occasional series profiling bibliomystery authors continues today with Marianne MacDonald, author of the Dido Hoare series.  MacDonald's books feature Dido Hoare, an antiquarian bookseller and amateur sleuth operating in London.  The first entry in the series, Death's Autograph, was published in 1996.  The most recent entry, Faking It, was published in 2006.

NP: Could you tell us a bit about the Dido Hoare series?  (For example, what inspired it? What's the next entry in the series?)

MM: My then husband ran an antiquarian book business in which I was a partner. It seemed to me that there was a lot of promise in that; I wanted to write an amateur series, and the book business allowed me (or Dido, to be precise) to make use of the fact that antiquarian books are a useful area for investigation. Some  can be very obscure and very valuable, and of course with strangers wandering into a shop almost anything could happen.  I had published quite a few children's books before this, but I'd always enjoyed reading mysteries, so I thought I would go there next. And when I finished the first one, I found I'd enjoyed the writing; and my agent sold it quickly to Hodder, who wanted some more.

NP: What sort of research do you conduct for the Dido Hoare series?

MM: Well, obviously I need to research the books. That's not difficult. I have been known to turn up in bookshops to look around and ask the proprietors a lot of odd questions about the trade. For some reason, I often had the feeling that I made them a bit nervous....  But my husband, and various friends who were also in the business, could always provide information and suggestions. And I like Dido and her father. I've really enjoyed writing the series.

NP: What do you think makes bibliomysteries so appealing to readers?

MM: That's easy: they are readers and so to some extent are interested in the books anyway, and prepared for the problems that come up.

NP: What do you enjoy about writing them?

MM: I simply love writing. I wrote my first published children's book, heavily influenced by Arthur Ransome, when I was still at high school in Montreal, and at university (McGill) there were two English lecturers, the poet Louis Dudek, and Edith M. Scott, who believed in what I was doing and encouraged me to try new things.

NP: Are you personally a book collector? (And if so, what do you collect?)

MM: Er...  Well, if you could see the inside of my flat, you wouldn't need to ask. Most of my walls are covered with bookshelves stretching from floor to ceiling and many of them have more than a single row of books. I like to tell myself that they are excellent insulation. I do try not to buy too many new books, if only because I've reached the point where the top of the clavichord is covered with piles of books a foot or two high. I do own a few books which could be described as collectibles, but frankly I buy books to re-read because I love them.  A first edition of The Lord of the Rings would be the most valuable thing of all, except that I read it seventeen times when it came out, and that valuable first edition of Volume 3 is barely holding together.

You can find out more about Marianne on her website.  Her books can be found in the usual spots.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that readers love lists. Collectors do, too. The Library of Congress made a splash this summer with its Books That Shaped America list and exhibit. The exhibit, which is on through the end of the month, is designed to kick off a discussion about books leading up to the LC's annual National Book Festival on Sept. 22-23. As some of you know, the Grolier Club is also busy compiling One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature, due to premiere in December, 2014. Is there any overlap between the LC & the Grolier exhibits? Last spring we spoke to curator Chris Loker about the Grolier Club list. We're following up on that conversation with some questions about both exhibitions.

RRB: Since we last talked in May of this year how has the Grolier Club exhibition progressed?

CL: The Grolier exhibition One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature has been making great strides in the past few months. When you and I talked last, I mentioned that we had completed the selection earlier this year of the "one hundred famous children's books" that will be displayed in the exhibition in 2014. I'm happy to report that this month we have completed the next step in our project, which is the complex job of arranging to borrow these one hundred famous children's books from nearly twenty institutions and private collectors in the US. We're pleased that this has been accomplished successfully.

In the course of completing this borrowing process, my advisory committee and I learned of the outstanding exhibition of books that currently is on show at the Library of Congress. Titled Books that Shaped America, this exhibition presents 88 books written by Americans from 1751 to 2002 that have had a strong influence on our lives in this country. Of the 88 books in the LC exhibition, 11 are children's books. And I'm delighted to say that all 11 of the children's books selected by the LC for their exhibition also have been selected independently by our committee for the "Grolier 100" children's exhibition. I take great encouragement from this strongly shared vision.

RRB: What do you think is the greatest similarity between the two exhibitions?

CL: Both the LC and the Grolier exhibitions have in common the goal of presenting viewers with books that cover a large span of time ~ the LC exhibition covers approximately 250 years of history; the Grolier exhibition covers roughly 350 years. Both exhibitions take the brave step of displaying books from centuries gone by that, while not well known today, were exceptionally well known in their time, and have left remarkable contrails as they have entered and influenced literary culture.

For example, the earliest children's book in the LC exhibition is a wonderful book titled A Curious Hieroglyphick Bible ~ and yes, that "k" at the end of "Hieroglyphick" is correct. This innovative book (shown at left), shown in the American edition of 1788 published by Isaiah Thomas, represented an effective and entertaining way to teach children biblical passages. It accomplished this by utilizing the "hieroglphick" tradition of replacing some words in each sentence with simple pictures. The result was an enjoyable way for children to receive and retain important information. This tradition continues today in the form of the "rebus" book for children.

While I don't generally talk about the books we've selected for the Grolier children's exhibition, I'll bend my own rule here just a bit to provide your readers with a taste of what they can expect from this landmark show. The earliest book in the Grolier exhibition is called Orbis Sensualium Pictus (often referred to simply as Orbis Pictus), which translates roughly as Visible World in Pictures. Written by Johann Comenius in 1658, this innovative work was an one of the earliest illustrated textbooks for young students, and functioned much like a bilingual (Latin and German) encyclopedia to instruct students in Latin, as well as to inform them of basic scientific and social components of the physical world.

Both of these fascinating books were exceptionally influential in their time, and remained in print for several hundred years.

RRB: What is the biggest difference in the two shows?
 
CL: The LC exhibition bases the selection of its 88 books on the concept of "influence," which is another term that might be used for books that "shape" a culture. In contrast, the Grolier exhibition bases the selection of its 100 books on the concept of "fame." Each of these words requires a detailed description that might best be illustrated by looking at specific books.

The LC exhibition has focused on books whose exceptional "influence" has "shaped Americans' views of their world and the world's views of America." Perhaps one of the best examples of this is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain in 1884 (shown at left). This iconic tale of Huck and Jim's trip down the Mississippi River is a work of the highest caliber in American literature, and so has left its mark as an exceptionally influential work. It also is a book that depicts encounters with racism, violence, and other evils of American society, and at times utilizes profanity and racial slurs. And this is another way in which the book has had an important cultural influence ~ it has engendered controversy which has set it firmly in the minds of the American public since its publication. In either regard, this book has had exceptional impact on American literature, and has shaped the work of important writers such as Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and many others over multiple generations.

In contrast, the Grolier exhibition will focus on books of great "fame." We have defined this term to refer to books of both great popularity and of literary merit. One of the best examples of this, and not a surprise to anyone interested to guess at books on the list, is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll [C. L. Dodgson] and illustrated by John Tenniel. Alice is one of the most famous books in the history of children's literature, and perhaps in literature in general. It was an immediate publishing sensation whose popularity has not waned in the nearly 150 years since its publication, during which time the book has never been out of print. It has sold millions of copies in hundreds of editions in over one hundred languages to adoring children and adults alike. But beyond its popularity, Alice has strong literary merit. It offers exceptional intellectual play with logic and mathematics, and is considered one of the finest examples of both the literary nonsense genre and the fantasy genre. Few books have ever achieved this level of fame in the world of children's literature.

RRB: What can you share about the list of books that the Grolier Club exhibition will display?

CL: Oh Rebecca, you've already gotten me to mention several books that will be part of the Grolier children's exhibition. I'm working hard to insure that when this exhibition opens it will offer viewers great intellectual interest, much joy of heart, and SURPRISE. If I say any more about books on the list, that sense of surprise will be diminished. What I will say is that, like the LC exhibition, the Grolier Club's One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature is likely to engender great discussion, and possibly controversy, about which books "made the list" as well as which books did not. And rather than looking at this as cause for concern, I welcome it as a great opportunity for compelling conversation, and for lauding the great depth and breath of literature for children.


The Grolier Club exhibition is scheduled to open in December of 2014. We'll be following along till then, checking back in with Chris every now and again to watch this major exhibition and catalogue take shape.
 

Can a bookshop exist without books?

A new "bookshop" in Japan attempts just that.  "Ika Bunko" specializes in bookish events, information, and products.  It recently took part in a book fair.  It has a store manager and two employees.  All it's missing are the books themselves.

Confused yet?

The store's "manager", Yuki Kasukawa, explained in an interview with The Ashia Shimbun, that Ika Bunko is like an "air bookshop." It exists without being seen.

Kasukawa and two friends decided they wanted to open a bookshop, but they did not have the money to actually, you know, open a bookshop.  Over drinks one night they came up with a better idea: why not open a virtual bookshop instead?  The start-up cost: zero.

And so Ika Bunko, which translates to "Squid Books," began operation.  They distribute a free weekly bookish newsletter and sell shirts and tote bags with the store's logo printed on them.  The even set up a promotional display recently at Books Ruhe, an real, live, breathing bookshop in Tokyo.


Perhaps one day Ika Bunko will graduate to actually selling books.  But in the meantime, they are content with their ephemeral existence.  Daisuke Nakajima, one of the store's part-time "employees," said in the same interview, "We would be happier if we can keep on going, wandering aimlessly, like squids floating in the water."

Is this afterlife the future of books?  Can a bookshop exist on a purely spiritual plane?

If so, there are a few historical bookshops I'd like to see re-opened.

Later this month the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers will meet in Zurich, Switzerland, for the 24th ILAB Book Fair.

The 33-page press release issued by ILAB presents a selection of highlights in books, manuscripts, autographs, prints, posters, and photographs from 64 dealers from all over the world. Seen here are but a few fine examples.

Daniel Crouch Rare Books will show this full color first edition Nuremberg Chronicle (Koberger, June 1493) formerly owned by Christoph Sigmund von Kirschberg, Baron of Lower Austria. The exquisite book is bound in seventeenth-century blind-tooled pigskin over bevelled oak boards. (475.000 CHF $500,000 USD)

Sims Reed Rare Books will offer this stunning Georges Crette binding of Balzac's Le Chef-d'Oeuvre Inconnu illustrated with thirteen etched plates by Picasso. It is one of 65 copies. (87.750 CHF $92,000 USD)

Dutch Natural history specialists Antiquariaat Junk has this very fine copy of Illustrations of the American Ornithology of Alexander Wilson and Charles Lucien Bonaparte, "one of the scarcest colour-plate books on American ornithology." Formerly in the library of Frederick Ducane Godman. (144.000 CHF $152,000 USD)

During the fair, the Zurich Central Library will exhibit Treasures from five centuries of printing in Zurich, and the Gutenberg Guild will demonstrate early printing techniques. The fair runs from Sept. 27-30, following the ILAB Congress on Sept. 22-26. For more information, or to download a book fair catalogue, go to: http://www.ilab.org/eng/ilab/ILAB_Congress_2012_Switzerland/24th_ILAB_Fair.html

Out this week is a wonderful surprise of a book called The Complete Engraver: Monograms, Crests, Ciphers, Seals, and The Etiquette of Social Stationery, written by Nancy Sharon Collins (Princeton Architectural Press; $29.95). At first glance, it might strike some as something nostalgic or sugary--for the type who keeps a faux quill on her desk. Not so. The Canadian designer Marian Bantjes, comes close to the book's intended readership when she blurbed, "For those who love everything fine." People who enjoy fine paper, fine design, fine printing -- the craft and the result -- can take away something from this book.

What I particularly liked is that is a terrific introduction to the terminology and processes that can seem complicated to those who were raised in a primarily digital design environment. Know the difference between a personal monogram and a cipher? Or, what the size of a calling card signifies? Or, how to tell the difference between wood engraving and steel engraving? You will. Collins' book is abundantly illustrated and her timeline of engraving, from Gutenberg (who dabbled in copperplate engraving) to today's specialty engravers is clear and useful.

The Complete Engraver is both a history and a how-to. This is one for the home library reference shelf.

To read an interview with the author over on the Crane & Co. blog, go here.

Every year Canada hosts an annual book collecting contest for anyone under 30.  Last year, the winner was Justin Hanisch, whose fish collection we profiled in a blog post.  This year's winner was Samuel Jang, an avid collector of Aesop's Fables.

To enter into the contest, participants are asked to submit a 1,500 to 2,000 word essay on their collection.  Jang's intelligent and well-written essay is posted in its entirety on Abebooks, who sponsors the contest.  If you have a few minutes, take the time to read his essay - it's well worth it and will encourage any optimism you have about the future of the book trade.

Jang began collecting Aesop's Fables at the age of eight, after a fortuitous Christmas gift from his parents of Russell Ash and Bernard Higton's illustrated edition.  A book collector was born that day: "The book's physical aspects enamoured me: The profuse illustration of The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse outlined in a blue border on the bright dust jacket, the smoothness of the thick pages as my tiny fingers opened the book and the spine made a cracking sound for the first time, and the irresistible "new book smell" of paper, ink and glue."

Jang, now in his late 20s, initially collected any children's book in English with Aesop in the title before graduating to older editions.  Jang also expanded his scope to include writers who popularized fables, such as La Fontaine and John Gay.  "Although I am a more knowledgeable collector today than I was at the age of eight, I still retain many of the same characteristics. I love Aesop's Fables just as much, if not more, because they are great stories that continue to stimulate my imagination and make me more aware of myself."  Jang continued, "My collection has value beyond its monetary worth; to me, it represents 18 years of personal growth as a collector, and the evolution of my long-held assumptions about what makes a "good book."

Jang also discussed his role as a book collector, "I see my role as that of a preservationist. I refuse to collect e-books and none of my books are ever for sale. In an age wherein digital technology is transforming our lives through social media, the internet and e-readers, the digitization of the book world has rendered books an evanescence of electron flows, limitless and searchable in seconds. Yet, an e-book can never capture the physical embodiment of a book, its smell, look, feel, and flaws - its beauty."

Read the entirety of Jang's essay here, accompanied by photos of selected books form his collection.

In addition to Abebooks, the Canadian book collecting contest is sponsored by the CBC and the National Post, and administered by the W. A. Deacon Literary Foundation, the Bibliographic Society of Canada, and the Alcuin Society.