RareBooks

Have a Glass of Wine at the Bookstore

Filed under: Wine, Books

A nearly 200-year-old bookstore in Sydney is uniting bibliophiles and oenophiles with a simple, yet brilliant idea: serving wine in their reading room.

Like languishing in the library of someone's country home, guests at Berkelouw Books in Leichhardt, Sydney, can lounge on plush couches and at comfortable tables with plates of cheese and Australian wines while perusing their selection of rare, out-of-print, secondhand and new books. It's a wonderful way to create community, allowing book-lovers to enjoy a book in their store the same way they would at home.

Berkelouw Books has a rich, six generation history of trading in rare and antiquarian books. "Now that people are getting to know about us, we've had great success with our boutique wines and lots of positive feedback," owner Colin Cappelleri told Reuters.

It makes the Starbucks in Barnes & Noble seem positively vulgar.

[via Reuters]

Tags: australia, Berkelouw Books, BerkelouwBooks, bookstore, rare books, RareBooks, sydney

Rare Galileo Text Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

Imagine a time when the idea that the Earth revolved around the Sun was considered a dangerous notion. That was Galileo's world and this year marks 400 years since his first demonstration of the telescope. His first glimpses of the planets and other heavenly bodies changed our world forever.

PBA Galleries of San Francisco is auctioning off first edition, second issue, of the book in which the first English translation of Galileo's "famous dialogues" were published, arguing the correctness of the heliocentric theory of planetary motion, as demonstrated by his observations with the telescope. This volume is Thomas Salusbury's Mathematical Collections and Translations and contains the first versions of Galileo's theories in English. The majority of it is made up of Galileo's The Systeme of the World in Four Dialogues. Wherein the Two Grand Systemes of Ptolomy and Copernicus are Largely Discoursed of...This is the second issue, with a new title-page and contents list. When it was first issued in 1661, it was to be Volume One of a two volume work. In 1666, however, shortly after Volume Two was printed, the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the city. Nearly all copies of the second volume were lost. A small quantity of unused sheets of the first volume remained and in 1667 these were supplied with a new title-page and contents-list with reference to the material in Vol. II omitted. This second issue is very rare and estimated to sell for $30,000 to $40,000 at auction on September 17 at PBA Galleries in San Francisco.

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Tags: galilieo, rare books, rare documents, RareBooks, RareDocuments

Antwerp's Beautiful Reading Room

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Books

There's only just over a week left for easy access to one of Antwerp's more hidden treasures: the Nottebohm Room. This reading room is in what used to be the City Library, recently renamed the Hendrick Conscience Library (or Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience in Flemish), for its location on Conscienceplein in the city center.

The Nottebohm Room is everything you'd imagine a traditional reading room should be, all dark wood paneling, inviting desks, and two stories of books that will bring a respectful hush over any book lover. The library's collection dates back to 1481, and includes more than a million books, with 6,000 rare books, folios and other priceless book-related artifacts, including a delicately calligraphed and illuminated history of Rome written by Eutropius . In the early 20th century, the Nottebohm Room was the gathering place for Antwerp's literati -- you can see some more pictures of it here, although the page is in Flemish.

It's my understanding that the Nottebohm Room isn't open to the public regularly, but it's currently hosting an intimate exhibit of modern hand printed books called "Mooi Marginaal", and the contrast between these modern and often whimsical works, along with the nostalgic presence of the entire sweep of publishing history is a fine reason to fit this in when you visit this jewel of a city in Flanders. The exhibit is on until June 14th, Tuesday through Sunday, and admission is free.

Tags: antwerp, antwerpbelgium, belgium, books, libraries, library, rare books, RareBooks

The Szyk Haggadah Among Rare Books Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Books

Swann Galleries' April 2 auction of fine books will include a copy of one of the most famous versions of the Haggadah, the Jewish religious text that tells the story of Passover. The Szyk Haggadah was illustrated by Arthur Szyk in Poland in the 1930s and is famous for the beauty and detail of its pictures. Last year, a new reprinting of the text was announced at a hefty price of $15,000 each. The version Swann Galleries is selling is one of 125 copies on vellum, signed by Szyk and editor Cecil Roth and is in the original gilt-pictorial blue morocco binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, London, 1939, It is estimated at $15,000 to $25,000.

This is just part of a sale that coincides with the New York Antiquarian Book Fair and includes works on cards and the occult from the collection of Stuart R. Kaplan founder of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., a leading publisher of tarot decks and card games. The sale will also auction off a copy of Golden Cockerel Press Four Gospels, illustrated by Eric Gill, one of only twelve printed on vellum, bound in white pigskin by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, Waltham Saint Lawrence, 1931 which is estimated at $40,000 to $50,000. A set of David Roberts's The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia, first edition in book form in the issue with hand-colored proofs before letters, 6 volumes in the original bindings, London, 1842-49 is likely to be one of the top lots at $80,000 to $120,000. The books will be on public exhibition at Swann Galleries at 104 East 25th Street in New York City on March 28 and March 30 to April 1.

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Tags: book auction, BookAuction, rare books, RareBooks, swann galleries, SwannGalleries

Harry Potter Book Sells For Over $19,000

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Books

The Harry Potter economy is alive and well. A softcover copy of the first Harry Potter book sold for a record $19,120 in a rare books auction through Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas Texas on Friday. The 1997 first edition of Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone with the original publisher's illustrated softcover wrappers also featured an illustrated card signed by the author, J. K. Rowling. There were only 200 copies in the first printing and the winning bid this time was nearly double the previous record for this book set last October ($10,750). The winning bidder is from Dubai and is said to be a comic book collector whose wife is a Harry Potter fan.

Gallery: Documents At Auction