THE BLOG
Tips on how to find the age of an antique book, how to sell antique books, and help with liquidating estates.
This Month’s Featured Auctions: June, 2019
Featured Antique Book Auctions Each month, we highlight our featured rare and antique book and ephemera auctions, highlighting certain items of interest to collectors. Check out our current auction listings for these and many more items. Complete 6 volume set of The...
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Is My Old Bible Worth Money?
Pointers on Finding the Value of Antique Bibles"How much is my old Bible worth?" We get this question a lot about antique Bibles, and though the answer isn’t in black and white, the bottom line is that the value of an old Bible very often depends on condition and...
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Tips for Dealing with Antique Books During Estate Liquidations
What to do when estate liquidations uncover antique book libraries So you’ve walked into an estate liquidation situation, ready to evaluate and catalog the properties when you come upon a collection of old books - maybe even a full library. With an entire house to...
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Collector’s Dream: The Card Magic / Gambling Routine Manuscripts of Ed Marlo
It’s pretty amazing when your hobby and your business get to mingle. Last year, I had just such an experience mixing business with pleasure. Anyone who enjoys the art of card magic and gambling routines like I do will probably understand my excitement. I’ve loved card...
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Miniature Antique Books: A Quick Introduction to a Tiny Subject
A Little Luxury: Early Miniature Antique Books and Their Uses Miniature antique books have been around for centuries. Initially published primarily for personal convenience, miniature books first came on the scene around the 15th century. The little volumes were often...
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Susanna Rowson, Early American Literature’s Forgotten Female Author
New-America's First Best-Selling Female Author and Her Saucy Novel Once upon a time, a character named Charlotte Temple was wildly embraced by newly independent American readers, hungry for romance and excitement after the trauma of recent American Revolution. These...
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Zelda Fitzgerald’s Gal-Pal Meets an 18th Century Dutch Atlas
"Though the Jazz Age continued it became less and less an affair of youth. The sequel was like a children's party taken over by the elders." - F. Scott Fitzgerald Jazz Age revels would do well to sober up quickly when confronted with this antique atlas book, which,...
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Harry Houdini’s Massive Magic and Spiritualism Library Lives On Today
Houdini’s personal collection of rare antique books on magic, witchcraft, psychic phenomena and spiritualism still exists in the U.S. Library of Congress.
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Meet “Tamerlane”, the World’s Rarest Edgar Allan Poe Book
Just 50 copies of Poe’s “Tamerlane and Other Poems” were self-published by the author in 1827. Only 12 are known to exist today, one selling for over $600k.
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Why Prices on AbeBooks and Comparison Sites Don’t Show Real Value
One big stumbling block in buying and selling books in the age of the internet is the dependence upon websites like AbeBooks and Amazon for evaluating worth. This is a scenario we run into often with many of our customers. More often than not, Average Joe will inherit...
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Lost on Titanic: The Legendary Jeweled Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Somewhere, on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, lies one of the most desirable rare books in the world. The book is Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyyat, translated and published in 1860 by Edward FitzGerald. It's location today? Not preserved in a rare book library, but lying...
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Thomas Jefferson: America’s Most Extraordinary Antique Book Collector
"I cannot live without books." - Thomas Jefferson Did you know that one of America's most influential founding fathers was also one of early America's most extraordinary antique book collectors? That's right, Thomas Jefferson, acclaimed statesman and third President...
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