“les Essais de Montaigne” Sells at auction for $9,600

Posted on December 10, 2014 inBook Auction, Book News, RARE Books for Sale, Uncategorized

A rare book “les Essais de Montaigne” garnered strong interest from many antiquarian book dealers and was finally hammered down at $9,600 at Kaminski Auctions Sale.

EST: $3,000 - $5,000

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Literary treasures abound in rare book store

Posted on July 23, 2014 inBook Collecting, RARE Books for Sale, Signed books

Erin and Bob Van Norman opened their rare book store Van Norman Rare Books on Main Street earlier this month

Nestled between the Shirt Shack and the Covenant Creations Salon on Main Street, Rapid City's newest bookstore doesn't look particularly remarkable from a distance.

But one step through the door of Van Norman Rare Books reveals a treasure trove of history, literary tales and a collection of rare books accumulated over a lifetime.

That green-colored book in the glass display case by the front door? That's a first-print, first-edition copy of "The Theory of the Leisure Class, An Economic Study of Institutions," by Thorstein Veblen. Published in 1899, it's valued at about $3,000.

The book next to it? "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas," written and signed by Gertrude Stein.

Walk a little further into the store and look in the small cabinet in the right corner of the shop. There, you'll see books published generations ago, such as "A South Dakota Guide," a travel guide published in 1930 by the Works Progress Administration that runs for about $200; and "A History of the Rod," by Rev. William Cooper, which details techniques for spanking delinquents with a rod.

Those are just a few of the gems to be found at the store owned by Bob Van Norman and his wife Erin Van Norman. They opened the store in early July at 519 Main St. with roughly 15,000 rare books and collectibles that Bob Van Norman collected over a more than 50-year period.

Bob Van Norman, 68, said he started collecting books when he was still in high school, and it became a lifelong passion.

"When I was 17, I told someone that I was interested in reading and going to law school and that sort of thing," he said. "That person took me to her home, got a ladder out, went up into her attic and gave me old, leather-covered law books. I had no idea if they were worth anything, but it started there. I loved the smell, I loved the touch."

That love affair with all things bound continues today. Van Norman showed off one of his latest acquisitions called, "La Perspective Pratique De L'architecture," a guide to French architecture in the 18th century written by Louis Bretez that was published in 1751. Van Norman said it hasn't been priced yet because while the interior of the book is in excellent shape, the exterior is not.

Spend five minutes talking to Van Norman and it becomes obvious that he is a voracious reader.

One of his favorite books is "The Life Work of 'Farmer' Burns," published in 1911, which tells the story of wrestler Martin, "Farmer" Burns. According to the book, Burns traveled to various towns to demonstrate his physical talents and his feats of strength, Van Norman said. Apparently the strength of Burns' neck was so legendary that townspeople would pay to watch him be hanged and survive the drop thanks to his sheer strength.

When he talks about "Outwitting History," an autobiography of Aaron Lansky, one can hear the admiration in Van Norman's voice. As a college student, Lansky and some friends basically drove around and collected books written in Yiddish. Lansky eventually collected more than a million books written in Yiddish and became the founder of the Yiddish Book Center. Though they have never met, Van Norman admires Lansky since he also places a high value on history.

The store hasn't been open for too long, but many of its sales have been to a mixture of teachers, librarians, tourists and lawyers, he said.

Although Van Norman's book collection makes up the lion's share of the merchandise, he also has various portraits, paintings, and other collectibles he acquired during his extensive travels, such as a handmade desk set made in Bulgaria that he bought when he lived in Uzbekistan. There's also a fossilized dinosaur egg from China.

Van Norman, who said he has visited 57 countries, also greatly enjoys telling stories of how he came upon certain pieces of his collection. He couldn't stop smiling as he recounted a tale of how he acquired a movie card of "The Lone Ranger," signed by the original lone ranger, Clayton Moore.

"I was in Buenos Aires two years ago in Argentina when I went into this junk shop," he said. "The guy spoke no English, just a Spanish variant, so I started humming the 'William Tell Overture,' he joined in, clapped me on the back and gave me a good deal."

He said the store will probably have an online option for people to purchase books, but he greatly prefers selling books to people in person. It's more enjoyable when a person can see and touch a book and maybe chat about the piece before any sale is made.

"I've bought a few things online to fill out the collection, but it's not as much fun," he said.

Plenty of books can be called rare, because they're hard to find, but those aren't works Van Norman is interested in. Van Norman said he is interested in books that are rare — and valuable.

"A rare book is one that has value beyond the pages and cover," he said.

The fame of the author, the public's appreciation of the work, quality of the content, its age and condition — those all contribute to a book's value, he said. Ideally it is a first-print, first-edition copy of the work to qualify. Other factors can contribute to a book's value and rarity, such as if it's signed by the author, or was later censored.

The prices of the items in the shop range from $15 to $5,000. The shop has first-print, first-edition copies of extremely recent works for people who might want collect them as an investment. If enough time passes and the author becomes famous enough, the original print run of a classic book can reach well into the tens of thousands of dollars.

For example, the original copy of the James Bond book, "Moonraker," by Ian Fleming is worth $15,000. An original copy of Harper Lee's classic, "To Kill a Mockingbird," is worth $15,000 to $20,000, he said.

Van Norman's primary occupation is as a criminal defense attorney, so his wife, Erin Van Norman, often runs the day-to-day affairs at the store.

"We want to sell people who will have an appreciation for the written word," Erin Van Norman said. "just like we do."

The shop is open on Tuesday from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.. Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from Noon to 6 p.m. It is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

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Elmore Leonard estate sale includes signed, first edition books

Posted on March 6, 2014 inAuthors, Book Auction, Book News, Collectible Book, First Edition, RARE Books for Sale, Signed Book, Uncategorized

TORONTO — Famed author Elmore Leonard’s personal items are up for grabs this week in Michigan.

The Get Shorty writer died last August at 87.

The estate sale at his home in Bloomfield Hills — about 30 minutes outside Detroit — runs Thursday until Saturday and features first edition and signed books as well as furniture, lamps, linens and rugs.

Photos of what’s available for purchase can be found at estatesales.net.

Many of Leonard’s 45 novels were adapted into movies, including Be Cool, Jackie Brown and the made-in-Toronto Killshot.

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Rare Book Week Comes to New York City in April

Posted on February 20, 2014 inBook Collecting, Book News, RARE Books for Sale

Source: Luxury Travel Magazine

Antiquarian book dealers, collectors, and the intellectually curious will gather in New York City for Rare Book Week, April 1-8, 2014.

Coordinated by Fine Books & Collections magazine, Rare Book Week is the largest gathering of its kind anywhere in the world.

Rare Book Week is headlined by the 54th annual New York Antiquarian Book Fair, which runs April 3-6, but is preceded by several rare book and manuscript auctions, including those at Christie's, Heritage Auctions, Sotheby's, and Swann Galleries. Several more auction houses, including Bonham's and Doyle New York, will offer collections to round out Rare Book Week after the fair weekend. Rare Book Week also includes The Manhattan Vintage Book & Ephemera Fair, known as the "Shadow Show," and The Professional Autograph Dealer Association (PADA) Show.

Exhibits on tap during Rare Book Week include part two of the New-York Historical Society's highly successful tripartite series, Audubon's Aviary: The Complete Flock. The Rose Seder Book will be on display at the New York Public Library, and Columbia University is hosting a major exhibition focusing on the career of twentieth-century maverick publisher Samuel Roth. There will also be a total of four new exhibits at the Morgan Library & Museum including one on The Little Prince entitled The Little Prince: A New York Story. Additionally, The Grolier Club is hosting an exhibit on one of its founders, Theodore Low De Vinne, who was one of the most important American figures of the nineteenth-century book world.

According to publisher of Fine Books & Collections Webb Howell, Rare Book Week is, indeed, rare. "Throughout the year, there are book fairs, auctions, and events around the globe," says Howell. "But you simply cannot find anywhere in the world the confluence of antiquarian book events found in New York during the first week of April."

Fine Books & Collections will coordinate guest participation in events, including ensuring that people know when and where events are happening.

More information about Rare Book Week can be found on the web at www.rarebookweek.org, where events will be continuously updated and added.

For more information about Fine Books & Collections visit www.finebooksmagazine.com

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Era ends: Liquidation sale at Berkeley’s Serendipity Books

Posted on November 12, 2013 inBook Auction, Collectible Book, Collectors of Note, RARE Books for Sale, Uncategorized

Source: Berkeleyside
November 7, 2013 11:00 am by Frances Dinkelspiel
Photo: Scott Brown

When Peter Howard, the owner of Serendipity Books, died in March 2011, he left behind more than one million books crammed into his two-level store on University Avenue in Berkeley with the oak barrel hanging out front.

Howard’s collection of rare and antique books was considered one of the best in the country; he often sold books and manuscripts to places like the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley or the Lilly Library at Indiana University.

The collection included so many amazing items that Bonham’s held six different auctions of his holdings, selling off early editions of John Steinbeck, a broadside by James Joyce, many modern first editions, early baseball memorabilia — even poet Carl Sandburg’s guitar.

But there are still books left to sell. More than 100,000 books, in fact.

On Saturday at 10 a.m., the doors of Serendipity Books at 1201 University Ave. will open for what will surely be one of Berkeley’s most memorable used-book fairs. Eureka Books of Eureka, California, acquired the remainder of the Serendipity collection, and will sell the books on most weekends through Dec. 15. The books start out at $5 early in the sale, and will drop to $1 each in mid-December.

“It was a one of a kind place,” said Scott Brown, the co-owner of Eureka Books, who was also a longtime Serendipity customer. “I don’t think there is another bookstore like Serendipity around.”

The bookstore was a jumble of books stacked high in shelves and in boxes and bags when Howard, 72, died of pancreatic cancer. The auctioneers moved out most of the books, but the store was still a wreck when Eureka Books came in to sort, said Brown. Workers spent weeks reassembling the place.

The mystery section of the second floor was virtually impassable, with bags of books blocking the floor. Many books were still stacked up on high shelves and were unreachable; the Eureka staff brought them down to viewing height. The shelves in the front room were almost empty, but now have been refilled with books from other parts of the store. (The shelves and other fixtures are also for sale.)

“It would not be wrong to say there were 1,000 bags and boxes filled with books in the store,” said Brown. “By the time we unpacked those I would say the whole ground floor was full again.”

Even though the best books were auctioned off, many gems remain, said Brown. There will be an entire section of 18th- and 19th-century leather books on sale for $5.

“While there are no $1,000 books laying around, we left many, many things that were priced in the hundreds,” said Brown.

Howard’s daughters plan to keep the University Avenue building and find a new tenant after the sale, said Brown. They donated Howard’s correspondence with literary luminaries like J. D. Salinger, Graham Greene and Larry McMurtry to the Lilly Library, he said.

A number of leather-bound old books will be on sale for $5 at the Serendipity Books liquidation sale.

Howard started Serendipity Books in 1967 in a small store on Shattuck Avenue and moved to the University Avenue location in 1986. Howard collected a voluminous number of books – he often bought individual’s entire collections. He had a reputation as an astute rare-book dealer. He discovered and saved many important manuscript collections, as well as collecting works by both well-known and lesser-known writers. He consulted with major libraries on what to buy and how much to bid.

“He was one of the major antiquarian book dealers of our time,” said Victoria Shoemaker, a literary agent, close friend and former neighbor of Howard’s.

Howard made some notable purchases in his lengthy career as a bookseller.

In the late 1990s, he bought the 18,000-volume collection of Carter Burden, a descendant of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and a progressive New York politician and businessman. The size of the collection prompted Howard to install space-saving compact shelving, making Serendipity the only bookstore in the world to have such shelving.

In 1991, Howard was offered the archives of Thomas M. Jackson, an Oakland grocer who had served as secretary for the California chapter of the NAACP from 1910 and 1940. After Jackson died, in 1963, someone took his papers to the Berkeley dump. Someone else rescued them and asked Howard to help them find a proper home. Howard sold the papers to the Bancroft Library.

Later in that decade, someone found 946 letters exchanged between two Japanese-American teenagers who met at an internment camp in Utah. Tamaki Tsubokura and David Hisato Yamate were separated for a few years during the war, and they wrote to one another frequently. These letters were also dumped at the Berkeley landfill and later rescued. Howard brokered their sale to the University of Utah.

One indication of the reverence in which Howard was held by the rare-book community came every two years around the time of the Antiquarian Book Fair in San Francisco. Howard would throw a huge party at Serendipity Books the Wednesday before the fair. He would clear the books in his store out of the aisles and off of the tables, tent-over the parking lot, and have Poulet cater the meal. He would have a suckling pig, and the printer, Alistair Johnson, would print up the menu, said Dahm. The party was so popular that the store and tent were jammed.

The liquidation sale will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. almost every weekend through Dec. 15th. Check Here for schedule.

All books will be $5 on Nov. 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, and 17th. Then the price will drop to $3 each book on Nov. 21, 22, 23, and Dec. 5, 6, and 7. The prices drop to $1 on Dec. 12, 13, 14, and 15th.

Visit the Serendipity Books Liquidation sale Facebook page.