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.

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.

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.

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.

Christie's New York will auction off The Kenyon Starling Library of Charles Dickens on April 2. The collection, which could bring in as much as $2 million includes remarkable manuscripts, presentation copies, playbills, and original drawings. The collection is part of the William E. Self Family Collection. Bill Self moved to Hollywood in 1944, and appeared in numerous films, including The Thing, I Was a Male War Bride, Story of G.I. Joe, Red River and Sands of Iwo Jima and later became a highly successful producer for both television and motion pictures and the President of Twentieth Century-Fox 's Television Division. He was an avid book collector and met Kenyon Starling while bidding on rare books. Both had a taste for Dickens and traveled the world visiting major bookshops. Dtarling left his Dickens collection to Bill's family because of their mutual background, shared collecting interest and friendship. The Kenyon Starling Library of Charles Dickens is among the finest in private hands. Among the most significant lots is a presentation copy of Oliver Twist (1838) in a special presentation binding to his friend and fellow-author, William Harrison Ainsworth, and a presentation copy of The Uncommercial Traveller (1861) to the novelist George Eliot. The collection includes important autograph and manuscript material including an extremely rare manuscript page from the original manuscript of the Pickwick Papers shown at right which is estimated to sell for $150,000 - 250,000.

For fans of the Art Nouveau, Swann Galleries' December 19 auction of Art Nouveau Posters offers are chance to buy a rare treasure. Up for auction is a a book containing 138 hand-colored proofs by Art Nouveau master Alphonse Mucha. This book, in which Mucha applied watercolor coloring to sheets with lithographed outlines of his designs for Ilsee Princesse de Tripoli, is Mucha at his most ethereal. The book represents Mucha's most complete statement in the Art Nouveau style. The book hasn't been exhibited in 110 years, since 1897 when the Salon des Cent dedicated a show to over 400 of Mucha's works. The book is estimated to sell for $300,000 to $400,000.

The International Crane Foundation will be the beneficiary of a special auction of one of the best collections of rare bird art and books to go on sale. On October 5, Sotheby's in New York will auction off the collection of Brooks McCormick, chief executive officer of the International Harvester Co. and a student of ornithology. McCormick was a private man and noted conservationalist who did not like to advertise his wealth. The collection features works by Audubon, Mark Catesby and Charles Darwin. The pieces shown above are from a lot of Mark Catesby works valued at between $400,000 and $600,000. The estimated value of the collection is between $1.5 million and $2 million.

[via WiscNews]

With global warming proceeding briskly along, a collected polar-themed library might be even more of a precious relic. On May 24 Swann Galleries in New York will auction off 160 items from the Polar Library of Dr. John M. Levinson, a past President of the Explorers Club, who has assembled an collection of works on Arctic and Antarctic exploration. One of the star lots in the auction is one of only 65 extant copies of the first book published in Antarctica, Ernest Shackleton's Aurora Australis, 1908. This copy of the book is known as the "Veal" copy because boards from a packing crate containing veal were used to create its cover. This book is inscribed to expedition member George Buckley and signed by Shackleton and others and estimated to sell for $50,000 to $75,000. Other lots include other books by Shackleton, a complete set of first editions of all three of James Cook's Voyages, in nine volumes, copies of The South Polar Times, the first Antarctic newspaper, edited by Shackleton, Louis Charles Bernacchi and Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Charles Swaine's rare Account of a Voyage of Discovery of a North-West Passage from 1748, a set of first editions of each of William E. Parry's four Voyages, and artifacts such as a message buoy used on the 1901-02 Baldwin-Ziegler Expedition to the North Pole via Franz Josef Land and silver and china from various expeditions.