Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2023 Issue

Libbie Auctions, long missing, are reappearing!

40 Years of New England Auctions

40 Years of New England Auctions

The Libbie Auction Sales, long missing, are earning their rightful place among the important American auction houses.  They lived and worked in the shadows of Bangs, Anderson and American auctions in New York during their heyday – 1878 to 1919.  They dominated New England sales and they were based in far off Boston.

 

Their importance was captured in American Book Auction Catalogues but in the older auction record services didn’t often capture their lot details.

 

We have made a commitment to build a complete priced archive to remember and celebrate their history.

 

We are currently offering 34,633 records of their auction lots and are expecting to post another 250,000 by late summer.

 

Their particular strengths were New England and State of New York material from important collections significant from collectors and collections.

 

If you would to follow their history on Rare Book Hub, while logged in, go to the advanced search and select CF Libbie under SOURCE.  Then run search and you’ll be in Libbie’s world.

 

If you have any Libbie catalogues we are always buying them.  Once this project is complete the collection of their catalogues will be transferred to an institution.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

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