ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Julian Wilson Associate Director Books and Manuscripts...

ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSIN THE

TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Julian WilsonAssociate DirectorBooks and Manuscripts Specialist

KATH’S EMAIL

“If you could talk about yourself and your experience of the Rare Books market, and how it is changing/ values of books ie is the price on Abe a work of total fiction?”

(13 May 2014 14:10)

NOT RARE(but well known)

Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray, 1859

Fine copy in original, unrestored, green cloth has a current auction estimate of £80,000 – 120,000

Frequency at auction: 2 – 3 times a year

GENUINELY RARE(and well known)

F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner, 1925

Fine copy in original, unrestored, dust-jacket has a current auction estimate of $120,000 – 180,000

Frequency at auction: approximately once every 15 years

GENUINELY RARE (but unknown)NASA & USGS. Geological Maps of the Moon. 1972-1998

Frequency: occasional sightings on the internet, but increasing.Individual maps sell between £30 - 300

Definition of an“Antiquarian” book

“An antiquarian book is asecond-hand book

that one can sell at a profit” (conversation with John Collins, c.1997)

The Big Six• The internet has caused a paradigm shift in the antiquarian book

market

• The recession of 2008/2009 has accelerated this paradigm shift

• Book collectors’ taste has fundamentally changed

• There is an ongoing change vis-a-vis online listings and auction offerings

• I believe there will be a splintering of traditional bookselling that bodes well for an elite few and ill for many

• The upside is that there has never been a better time for collectors

Adam Smith(1723-1790)

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.

London: 1776.

Price Realized

£68,500

Estimate

£45,000 - £65,000

SALE 1584 —

YATES, THOMPSON AND BRIGHT: A FAMILY OF BIBLIOPHILES

16 July 2014

London, King Street

EMERGENCE OFELITE GROUP OF

BOOKDEALERS

SMALL SPECIALIST

DEALERSWITHOUT

SHOPS

DIFFICULTY OF SMALL DEALERS

TO MOVE UP

GENUINELY RARE (but unknown)NASA & USGS. Geological Maps of the Moon. 1972-1998

Frequency: occasional sightings on the internet, but increasing.Individual maps sell between £30 - 300

The Rothschild Prayerbook.Book of hours, use of Rome [Ghent, or possibly Bruges, c.1505]

Sold for $13.6 million

Christie’s New York, 29 January 2014