Rare Book Hub

The Rare Book Hub is a resource for information pertaining to rare, antiquarian, and collectible boo Unified Search. At the top of most pages is a search bar.

The Rare Book Hub is a resource for information pertaining to rare, antiquarian, and collectible books and related ephemeral material – manuscripts, letters, maps, posters, broadsides, photographs, and prints (works on paper). It is based on the principle that “knowledge is power.” Here are some of the services offered. It provides access to three separate databases (click the name of the database

displayed to reveal the other two).

* Upcoming Auctions. This searches listings in the books and paper field at over 150 worldwide auction houses offered for sale right now. This is the only place where you can search for lots in the field across a broad spectrum of auctions from one location. Most offer online bidding. Free Service.

* Books For Sale. This searches listings offered by booksellers of collectible grade material in the field (rather than reading copies of out-of-print books). Free Service.

* Rare Book Transaction History. This searches a database of 5,486,608 records pertaining to books and related material. The vast majority are priced records from auction houses, though some notable bibliographies and classic bookseller catalogues are included. New records are added almost daily. Complete lot descriptions are provided. It includes a current value estimator for older records, a likely frequency of appearance estimator for rare items, and a “Get Keywords” function that displays the most commonly used words in the listings. There is no other database of records in the books and paper field even close to being this comprehensive. Subscriber (paid) Service. Matchmaker. Provides daily automated matching of new listings posted at auction and in Books For Sale based on your keywords. Subscriber (free or paid) Service. Matching also available for listings in the field posted on eBay. Subscriber (paid at Octavo or Folio level) Service. Records Tracking. Enables you to save records found at auction, in Books for Sale, and the RB Database for later viewing, or in the case of auction lots, to check sales price after the auction takes place. Rare Book Monthly. A monthly online publication of news, opinions, and analyses in the books and paper field, including separate sections reviewing bookseller catalogues and providing links to electronic catalogues. Issued the first of each month. Free Service. Subscribers (free or paid) may post comments and contributions. Auction Calendar. A calendar displaying auctions during the current, past, and future months. Click the date on small calendar seen on home and auction home pages to reveal larger calendar. Clicking on auction name displays lots in future auctions and results on past auctions once those have been posted. Weekly Auction Updates. A weekly e-mail update (mailed Sunday night) of results at auctions during the previous week and listings of auctions for the coming week. Receiving is optional. Recent Reported Auction Results. Spreadsheet presentation of detailed information about recent auctions. Past 7 days - Free Service. Older results – Subscriber (paid) Service. Types of Memberships. Free memberships are free and of unlimited duration. Most paid memberships are for one year, and can be paid annually (cheapest) or monthly. Visitor memberships can be purchased for 10 days or one month. All paid memberships include unlimited 24/7 access to the Rare Book Transaction History database as well as other benefits. Research memberships provide access to the RB Transaction History for one user (device) at a time. Octavo memberships provide for up to two users at a time, plus the right to list up to 10,000 items in Books For Sale (commission free) and automatically search eBay listings in Matchmaker. Folio memberships provide for up to five users at one time, plus the right to list an unlimited number of items in Books For Sale (commission free) and automatically search eBay listings in Matchmaker. Institutional memberships are also available to libraries and others allowing access to an unlimited number of users at any time based on IP recognition. Who Uses the Rare Book Hub? The website is designed to assist collectors, booksellers, libraries, auction houses, appraisers, educators, researchers, prospective collectors, and the curious.

09/01/2026

Rare Book Monthly Book Catalogue Reviews September - 2026 Issue

3 catalogues reviewed this month !

1. Zephyr Used & Rare Books has created a Summer Medley Catalogue. It would be appropriate for any season, but it just happens that this collection was put together during the summertime. Zephyr notes that "...summer gives us visions of reading great books," but so do winter, spring and fall. So, as summer gives way to fall, this will still be great catalogue. Here are a few selections. (...).

2. It's time to hit the road. Or maybe the sea. Travels a few centuries ago of great distances were more often by sea. Shapero Rare Books has issued a catalogue of Travel 2026. The catalogue is from 2026 but not the journeys. Europeans set off to see the world about which much less was known back then. They brought back tales of foreign lands. Here are a few. (...).

3. David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books has issued their Catalogue 220. It is a continuation of their long-running series of catalogues focusing on early America, primarily late Colonial times to post-Civil War Reconstruction. Here are a few of the items you will find this time (...).

Here’s the link to the reviews : https://www.rarebookhub.com/reviews

You might also want to have a look at the e-catalogues listed on our website (14 new offers) : https://www.rarebookhub.com/catalogues

09/01/2026

SEPTEMBER 2026—Rare Book Monthly Is Here!

- Dolly Parton put books into the hands millions of children through her Imagination Library. She was a national treasure. Goodbye, Dolly.

- What happens to the old books purchased in quantities of thousands? 404 Media has run a test to check our assumptions.

- Bound to be Found, a new service offered to Rare Book Hub members, can organize your collection and convert photos of your books snapped with a cellphone into value estimates and histories based on the 16.3 million records in the RBH Transaction History database.

- Caroline Schimmel, collector, bibliographer, has put together a collection of over 40,000 items called "Women in the American Wilderness."

- A headline in The Atlantic proclaimed "the end of reading is here." Is it an exaggeration ?

- E-catalogues, quicker and less expensive to create, are taking the lead.

- Where can you find 8,500 books about cats?

- Fall comes with a new season of book fairs.

- Found in a free book box: a 1773 French hunter's almanac. That doesn't happen everyday.

- A library book has finally been returned - 150 years late.

- A reader wanted to know why a book by Hubert Groves Beckwith was not in our database of 16.3 million records. There’s a reason...

- The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin is featuring exhibitions on Gertrude Stein, the library of Harry Houdini, and the Gutenberg Bible.

This is your link to all of these articles: https://www.rarebookhub.com/articles

08/01/2026

Rare Book Hub, August 2026.
This month we review four new bookseller catalogues.

1. Custer, the Gold Rush, a liver-eater & more from Old West Books.

2. Clavreuil has 100 books from the 15th-20th century.

3. Mark Funke features international science fiction.

4. David Lesser offers rare Americana.

https://www.rarebookhub.com/reviews

08/01/2026

August 2026: Rare Book Hub Monthly is Here!

- Midway through the year, we see sales at auction in the field of books and paper collectibles continuing to climb.

- Sellers of old and used books receiving unusually large, mysterious orders. Are ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude involved?

- Colonel Harland Sanders died 45 years back, but his estate only just came up for auction.

- The thief who stole over $200,000 worth of manuscripts from UCLA's East Asian Library has been sentenced.

- How many books are too many? T

- Bills have been offered in Congress to give the federal government more control over what books children can read in school, and to put the power of ruling on copyrights in the hands of the Executive, rather than Congress, where it now stands.

- Seth Kaller is a specialist bookseller, but sometimes timing can be so important that it demands the immediacy of a sale found at auction. Such was the case this past month for a 1776 copy of the Declaration of Independence on the nation's 250th anniversary in July. The timing paid out well.

- Dua Lipa is a famous singer but she also has a book club that puts out monthly posts of what she has been reading, and a collection of banned and censored books inside of a large book store in Portugal.

- Fleischer's Auction of Columbus, Ohio, has quickly become an important source for those who collect Americana.

- Il Ponte, the Milan based Italian auction house, had sales of over €18 million during the first half of 2026.

- Francois Maynard was a good poet but a provincial (one from the countryside, not Paris or Versailles)...

- The Dallas Antiquarian Book fair will only be open from now through August 2, so you need to get there right away.

- Two weeks later, make your way north to Loveland, Colorado, for the Rocky Mountain Book & Paper Fair August 14-15.

This is your link to all of these articles: https://www.rarebookhub.com/articles

07/01/2026

Rare Book Hub Catalogues Reviews - JULY 20206.

This month we review two new bookseller catalogues.

- Zephyr Used & Rare Books takes us from Spring to Summer.

- David M. Lesser Antiquarian Books has a new selection of antiquarian Americana.

Reviews: https://www.rarebookhub.com/reviews

Electronic catalogues have become the preferred vehicle for many booksellers. These catalogues and more can be found at the following link: https://www.rarebookhub.com/catalogues

07/01/2026

Rare Book Monthly Is Here! JULY 2026.

- The American Library Association just finished its 150th anniversary extravaganza. Six hundred thirty exhibitors and 15,000+ members of the library community attended the show. We were one of the 630!

- William R. Berkley, one of America's greatest collectors, has passed.

- Six thieves convicted of stealing millions of dollars worth of books from European libraries.

- One of, if not the largest library book fair is scheduled for July 10-14 this year.

- Book publishers won a verdict in court in the battle between them and the AI search engines, but how will they ever enforce that victory?

- If you can't afford a library, how about a virtual one?

- Augustin Courbé rose and bent, but mostly published a whole lot of books back in the 17th century.

- Useful internet and social media websites for those interested in rare books.

- And here are some book festivals and exhibitions in July.

- Freeman's is hosting a major sale of Western Manuscripts and Miniatures.

- William Reese Company Offers a Complete Copy of Edward S. Curtis' Monumental The North American Indian.

- The Detroit Bookfest takes place this year on Sunday, July 19.

- The 27 nations of the European Union have given the U. S. a collection of 27 special books in honor of the nation's 250th birthday.

This is your link to all of these articles: https://www.rarebookhub.com/articles

06/25/2026

Have to love France. Went for a walk yesterday, in a small town near Paris, went through a books box (where you can find and leave used books for everyone to enjoy) and found 3 books from the 18th century! including the rather rare Almanach du Chasseur (1773), Histoire de Turenne (1759) and a tome of Histoire de la Régence with two huge folding plates.

The condition of the almanach is quite satisfying; the Turenne might be a little bit rubbed, but it features a beautiful back with a "bunch of grapes" iron repeated "à la grotesque" that I hed never seen.

That's cool, will go for another walk later today. :D

06/01/2026

JUNE 2026 Rare Book Hub CATALOGUES REVIEW!

There are many new e-catalogues available to be read online now, including those from the 19th Century Shop, The Raab Collection, Tristan Navarro Rare Books & Manuscripts, Antiquates Ltd., Shapero Rare Books, Shelley & Son Books, Raptis Rare Books, Julian Browning Historical Autographs, David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books, Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Manuscripts, The Lawbook Exchange, Jeff Weber Rare Books, Seth Kaller Historic Documents & Legacy Collections, Voewood Rare Books, Charles Agvent, Antiquariaat De Roo, Antiquariaat Forum, Asher Rare Books, Librairie Clavreuil, Rare & Antique Books, Librairie Amélie Sourget,

Patrick McGahern Books, J & J Lubrano Music Antiquarians, Michael Brown Rare Books, Jordan Antiquarian Books, Boston Rare Maps, Kaaterskill Books, Sophie Schneideman Rare Books, Globus Rare Books & Archives, Nick Aretakis Americana, Schubertiade Music & Arts, Stuart Lutz Historic Documents, William Reese Company, Camille Sourget Librairie, Philip Salmon & Company, James Cummins Bookseller, Donald Heald Rare Books, Pandolfini Casa d'Aste, James Arsenault & Company, Jonathan A. Hill, Lorne Bair Rare Books, Libreria Piani, Christian White Rare Books, Adam Weinberger Rare Books, Konstantinopel Rare & Fine Books, Robert Frew Ltd., Rodolphe Chamonal, Dan Wyman Rare Books, Arthur Freeman Rare Books and Manuscripts, and Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller.

These catalogues and more can be found at the following link:https://www.rarebookhub.com/reviews?__cf_chl_tk=bRVY6dix7XGDwQjcgOjvACFKo2z3wCaLkkqSo9KZOec-1780310073-1.0.1.1-wUnWYR1SV2HOShpOGa9ZtVu7ajnVAoHptDZaBwYvgF0

06/01/2026

JUNE 2026 - Rare Book Monthly Is Here!

- The Berkley Collection celebrates America's 250th anniversary of independence with an exhibition of the Declaration of Independence in NY!

- Novelist Larry McMurtry was also a bookseller. Now there is a book about him by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Streitfeld.

- Knox County, Tennessee, schools censored Alex Haley's Roots from library shelves on “age-appropriate” grounds, simply complying with recent state laws demanding censorship.

- Several attempts made at creating rational spellings for the irrationality known as the English language.

- Google Translate just celebrated its 20th birthday. It is truly a unifying force in a divisive world.

- American functional illiteracy continues to rise. Meanwhile, reading for pleasure is falling.

- A spectacular sale of the Eric C. Caren collection of Americana held at Freeman's on June 30.

- If you are looking for this week's Weekly Auction Update, it is linked from the new Rare Book Monthly.

- Sotheby's calls it “the greatest private collection of material related to Benjamin Franklin to be formed over the last century.” They offer it for sale on June 24.

- Looking back at a community over a century ago through an old notebook we find a bucolic little town striving to grow with the new century.

- Jean Mocquet traveled the world at the turn of the 17th century, and what he saw horrifies even today.

- Bibliokleptomania is a dreaded disease. It was also, recently, the Economic Times' Word of the Day.

This is your link to all of these articles: https://www.rarebookhub.com/articles

05/02/2026

Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2026 Issue

Rare Americana from David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books
- by Michael Stillman

David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books has released their Catalogue 217 of Rare Americana. This is a new group of old items, mostly 19th century. There are books and various other forms of paper collectibles to be found. They cover the issues of their day, generally contemporary stories from the time. These catalogues are always a fascinating trip into the past. Here are a few selections. (...) : https://www.rarebookhub.com/reviews/2741

David M Lesser

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Los Angeles, CA

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http://www.rarebookhub.com/

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