It has been an extraordinary privilege to play a part in the growth and development of the market for collectible paper over these past 21 years. A field that has been resolutely transitioning over the past 250 years, has been coming into full flower over the past two decades as the Internet brought the rare book community together.
While the Internet has been a positive force for many, for others it’s been tough. Listing sites have exposed the huge inventories of old and used books and for many, sales have been unrewarding for common material while much of the desirable material has been gravitating to the auction rooms. It’s been efficient but somewhere there needs to be a balance.
While the future for the auctions is assured, we all have long relied on dealer catalogues to seduce the mildly interested, converting them into life-long devotees. For that the field owes them a debt of thanks and all need to support them. For our part we would love to see more of their catalogues arriving for review.
As dealers continue to transition into the Internet I believe some of the responsibility to introduce the next generation of collectors is being necessarily embraced by libraries, knowing many of their future strongest supporters will learn about book collecting from them.
Simply stated, the future of the field depends on a well-educated and motivated audience. We all need to work together.
In closing, for these past 21 years we have worked to provide clarity. To do that, we have depended on memberships and we remember who purchased the very first one, the William S. Reese Company. Bill and his team supported us when we were just a fledgling. And now as we are providing more than 13 million records, as the market continues to transition, we will provide help to the field in the same spirit Bill offered it to us.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Book of Hours.- Heures de nostre dame a l'usaige de Romme, Paris, Antoine Chappiel pour Germain Hardouin, [1504]. £6,000-8,000
Forum, May 28: Colonna (Francesco). La Hypnerotomachia di Poliphilo, second edition, Venice, Sons of Aldus Manutius, 1545. £15,000-20,000
Forum, May 28:The Christ Child holding a crystal orb and surrounded by banderoles with devotional exhortations, on a leaf most probably from a Book of Hours, [Southern Netherlands, last decades of the fifteenth century]. £2,000-3,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Jackson (Shirley). The Haunting of Hill House, first English edition, signed presentation inscription from the author to Claude Fredericks, 1960. £2,000-3,000
Forum, May 28: Lennon (John). In His Own Write, first edition, first impression, signed by the author, 1964. £3,000-4,000
Forum, May 28: Doves Press.- Keats (John). [Poems], one of 200 copies on paper, Doves Press, 1914. £5,000-7,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Rodrigues (João Barbosa). Sertum Palmarum Brasiliensium, 2 vol., first and only edition, Brussels, 1903. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Newton (Sir Isaac). Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica…editio ultima, auctior et emendatior, Amsterdam, Sumptibus Societatis, 1714. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Kepler (Johannes). Ad Vitellionem paralipomena, wuibus astronomiae pars optica traditur, first edition, Frankfurt am Main, 1604. £5,000-7,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Tagliacozzi (Gaspare). De Curtorum Chirurgia per insitionem, libri duo, first edition, Venice, Gasparo Bindoni, 1597. £7,000-10,000
Forum, May 28: Lootsman (Jacobsz). The Lightning Colomne, or Sea-Mirrour, containing the Sea-Coasts of the Northern, Eastern and Western Navigation..., 1670. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Ribelles y Helip (José), Attributed to. An album comprising 33 finely executed watercolours of Spanish costume, bull-fighting scenes, and other genre subjects, [circa 1830]. £10,000-15,000
