r/rarebooks

Caesar's commentary about the Gallic Wars, including a large map and other illustrations.

Prince & Princesses. Andrew Lang / Mrs Lang. Illustrated by Henry Ford.

Longman’s Green, 1908 First Edition

Ok, not rare but in excellent condition. Found at a house call, my friend wanted to downsize, so I took a few boxes of books. No idea why they had this or why it's in such good condition. It's the best condition I could find online.

I also wrote a blog post about finding rare books

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for some advice from anyone with experience authenticating rare historical signatures, especially if you know of someone in the Houston, TX area.

I have a copy of 22 Cells in Nuremberg signed by Dr. Douglas M. Kelley. Because of how rare the signature appears to be, I'm hesitant to ship the book to PSA or Beckett. I'm not even sure whether they would be able to authenticate something this uncommon.

I met with JSA at one of their events, but they weren't able to issue either a Letter of Authenticity or a Letter of Opinion because they rely on exemplars in their database, and they don't have enough known examples of Dr. Kelley's signature to compare against.

I've spent quite a bit of time researching his handwriting and have attached several examples that I've found. The problem is that I still don't feel like I have enough documented signatures from the 1940s–1950s to confidently establish provenance.

So far I've:

• Met with JSA.
• Contacted the Holocaust museum in Maryland, but they don't provide scans of handwritten archival material. I'd need to visit in person, which I'm willing to do (likely in mid-August).
• Contacted UC Santa Cruz, which also requires an in-person appointment to view handwritten documents.
• Attempted to contact Mr. Douglas M. Kelley Jr., but unfortunately I haven't received a response.

If anyone knows of:

• an authenticator who specializes in rare historical signatures,
• archives or collections that may contain Dr. Kelley's handwritten letters or signed documents,
• or any other avenues I should pursue,

I would be extremely grateful.

My goal isn't to get a quick opinion—it's to document this signature as thoroughly as possible using authentic examples from the 1940s and 1950s. Any advice or direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Got it for 75 USD, and I’m pretty sure I got a pretty good deal on it. Never ever parting ways with it though because this is such a perfect day to get it. (4th of July.)

Poetical Works of Francis Ridley Havergal: Under His Shadow; the Ministry of Song; Under the Surface.
Publisher is J. Nisbet and Co., London

I’ve recently found a set of unbound plates of Gustave Doré’s Don Quixote engravings, with no information available on the wrappers they came in. They seem to follow the style of the original 1863 French edition [1] with a darker paper tone on very crisp, white, ~200 g/m² paper (note the thin border). The print is likewise very crisp, high quality. I have a hard time imagining they are contemporaneous to the book given their pristine appearance, but also I haven’t been able to locate a modern portfolio edition of this work, or similar reproductions. Any ideas?

[1] https://www.livre-rare-book.com/book/5472636/70409

Not sure what to do with these but they seem really cool and unique!

My neighbor was getting rid of a pile of stuff and this was in it. It's in pretty rough condition. I don't know anything about old books, so I photographed it and ran the images through an AI and got this:

• It seems to be a Book of Common Prayer, printed in London by Robert Barker, 1636
• Bound together with a Geneva "Breeches" Bible (colophon dated 1599, but supposedly that date was reused for years?)
• Maybe a metrical Psalter bound in too
• Handwritten notes on the endpapers it called "17th-century Puritan theology"
• A later inscription, "Leonard, January 1865," initials R.R.T.

Suggestions on what to do with it...

Always been curious about this edition and love the illustrated page and old advertisement page

It's a second impression but still 1934. Can't find other signed copies on bookfinder etc.

Found this today for $21. It says it was published in 1882 by Houghton, Mifflin and Company, and is illustrated by The Paint and Clay Club. What I’m unsure about is what EXACTLY I have here, who Matthew Blake is, and why is the page in this book?

Hi!
I’m a noob. I just came across these two Asimov books - 1982 The Foundation Trilogy and 1985 Robots and Empire.

They are at a local thrift store for $350.
It seems like it might be worth it?

Should I do it? I would love any opinions :)

Many thanks

EDIT: price is in aussie dollars, for both books.
I am an Asimov fan, and also know a guy (sadly not named John), for whom these would be a perfect gift. But $350 is also a lot of money…

The book was calling out to me at the thrift store and it was half price so only paid about $1.50 for it. Not a rare book in any form but I thought the letter inside would be interesting to some here.

There were 107 auctions archived to the RBH data base for the week ending June 21.

Three auctions saw their totals reach a million dollars. Of particular interest to those who follow antiquarian books and related fields were: Sotheby's Books and Manuscripts sale on June 17th with receipts of $2.1 million; Christie’ Collections of the Chateau de Tourney Library on June 18th with total of  $1.3 million.

Not quite as rich, but also bringing good results was Lyon and Turnbull (Scotland) Books and Manuscripts on June 16 which saw sales reach . 217.75% of estimated value.

The Dominic Winter(UK) sale of Children's & Illustrated Books, Private Press, Modern First Editions, Playing Card on June 18 was also of interest. Some of the highlights of the week included French and Spanish literature, antique Bibles, and rare manuscripts and interesting ephemera.

For the week turnover was $18.46 million, a little less than last week. The average lot brought $1,421. There were 17,374 lots offered, of these 12,968 found new homes. For the week 74.64% of all lots offered were sold. 

The calendar for next week includes 118 sales.

Sale were denominated primarily in Dollars ($), Pounds (£), and Euros (€).

Here is the RBH FREE LINK - any viewer may use this link to see the complete report for the past week and list of upcoming auctions for next week: 
https://www.rarebookhub.com/auction_updates/1110

Not all the reported results or upcoming events are specifically book related.

Disclaimer: OP is not affiliated with any auction firm or dealer.

I am originally from the States but live in the UK now. My wife and I had to return to the States for a wedding last week and I happened to pick up this copy of Tinkers at a 2nd and Charles for $6. I noticed at the shop that it was signed and thought that was a nice little bonus, but now looking at it more closely at home I realized that it's also a first edition, first printing. A little research online and I discover that there were only around 250 of these made and that the book is worth around $1,700 (or at least that's the only price I could find it listed at). Would I be a fool to try and sell it now and turn a profit? Should I expect it to appreciate in price over the coming years and just hold on to it? What's the smart move here?

Hi there, I found volume 1 and 2 of Don Quixote, first edition, published in 1904. I'm struggling to find any info about it online. I want to resell them but don't know how to price it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I've been tasked with cataloguing my late grandparents' collection of books. There's been quite a few interesting ones, but I can't seem to find any reliable info on this first volume of Dion and the Sibyls by Miles Gerard Keon. A complete edition was published in 1898 but, if the date on the title page is to be believed, this one predates it by 30-odd years. Some research says there is a 2-volume version, which is what I think this is from. What exactly am I looking at here? Any idea where I could find a Volume 2 to complete the set?