Rare Book Chat

Bonhams Auctions dedicated a sale this week to a "curated selection" of items owned by the great Diane Keaton and one item in particular caught the eyes of Jeremy and Michael. Her own copy of the Annie Hall script? Pretty cool, we thought. But how much is it worth? We had our own guesses, but (at least) two bidders had very different ideas. All of which led to the big question: What do prices real...

Jeremy discovers great letters at auction by David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Francis Bacon, and Henry Moore, but ends up learning more about the recipient of all the letters, Vera Russell, than about the writers of the letters. So many great artists wrote to her with profound admiration and respect. What does that say about her? Who was this Vera Russell, who seemed to be at the nexus of the 20th-cen...

Ah, the hi-jinks of Gregory Corso! This New York Tale has everything: stealing from friends, mob bosses, broken record collections, Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs (sort of), and what must have been the great charm of the Beat poet Gregory Corso. All of this leads to some (semi-) profound questions on authenticity in the book world. If you have a Corso tale, we'd love to hear it! Drop us a no...

Condition is one of the most confusing topics in the rare book world and we're here to help you solve.... nothing, actually. But we do explore the thorny issues involved in evaluating condition and hopefully offer a framework that may be a useful guide as you contemplate the next addition to your library. We'd love to know your thoughts! How do you evaluate condition? Please reach out to us on Ins...

All hail the questers! In this episode we celebrate those humble individuals who had the curiosity and courage to write to famous people with intriguing questions... often leading to intriguing answers. We also explore a curious photobook on innovative packaging, and admire a man who bought his freedom with a cure for poison.  Questions or comments? As usual, please don't hesitate to reach out to...

George Washington sticking to his morals and Winston Churchill in love! Jeremy and Michael discuss two important letters currently on the market and use them as a springboard to explore some urgent issues in the world of rare books. As always, please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or comments. You can email us at: hello@rarebookchat.com And, most importantly, enjoy the show!

"My Diary - Please respect it": So wrote the photographer Margaret Bourke-White at the beginning of her hand-written diary. And respect it we do! We cover a lot of ground in this episode exploring diaries, notes, and documents written without an eye to a future audience. Through the diary of a Revolutionary War soldier to the journals of an Apple Executive, we explore the strange accidental nature...

Join us as we talk with special guest Adam Douglas of Peter Harrington Rare Books about collecting Shakespeare and specifically about that Holy Grail of collecting, the 1623 Shakespeare First Folio. It is a rare event when one becomes available and Peter Harrington is currently offering a copy. We pick Adam's brain about the specifics of their copy, the history of the creation of the Folio, why Sh...

In 1940, the year of Fitzgerald’s death, there were only 7 copies of The Great Gatsby sold. Fitzgerald complained to both Zelda and Max Perkins that he was a forgotten man and that clearly there was no demand for his book. He was crushed, and died thinking Gatsby was a failure. Then, a year later 155,000 copies were printed…. What happened?  We dive in into the strange afterlife of The Great Gatsb...

When is a George Orwell signature not a George Orwell signature? Is it safe to be around a person who collects true crime artifacts? Also - there was a world record set last week and it involved the Book of Mormon... Join Jeremy and Michael as they debate the big questions in the rare book world. As always, we welcome your questions or comments at: "hello@rarebookchat.com". Enjoy the show!

This episode is all about maniacs! Bibliomaniacs, that is.... They may be extreme, they may be passionate, and, ignoring some unsavory criminal activity, they may even have served to preserve culture over the years.  If you have a story about a bibliomaniac - or perhaps you are a bibliomaniac! - please drop us a note at hello@rarebookchat.com Enjoy!

Special guest! Hélène Golay of Capitol Hill Books joins Jeremy and Michael to discuss post-war diplomacy through fine dining, Jeremy's hungry cat leads to an impulsive purchase of an early manifesto on the personal computer, and Michael and Jeremy realize they are often competing with themselves for the price of a book. Enjoy the show! Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or comme...

Whose Bible would be more fun at a dinner party, Mick Jagger's or Harry Houdini's? And what about that curious Wodehouse manuscript coming up for auction? So much to think about, including Michael's feeling that there is an alarming lack of respect for comic literature in the rare book market.  Thank you for listening! Do you have any ideas for us? Email us at hello@rarebookchat.com. We'd love to...

All about a book that was not inscribed by Calvin Coolidge to Ernest Hemingway, the gloves Lincoln wore the fateful night of the assassination, and a marvelous Harry Potter curiosity... Enjoy!

Special guest Sarah Funke Butler (funkeliterary.com) joins Jeremy and Michael to discuss a fascinating and newly unearthed trove of letters from Ernest Hemingway to the groundbreaking journalist Lillian Ross. You think you knew everything about Hemingway? Well, think again - this collection of letters has forced us to reconsider our understanding of "Papa". We'd love to know what you think? Don't...

In this episode we talk about dime novels and the lurid crimes they depict, and the now forgotten authors of those gazillions of highly popular novels, as well as two items of scatological interest, one of which has a very distinguished provenance. 

A quick chat about Valentine's Day gifts from the 19th century -- and the all important question of whether love was even possible in the olden days. Plus, a little more (but not much!)

We begin this episode with Michael bemoaning a missed opportunity to buy the head of Albert Einstein, and then we welcome Darren Sutherland, Senior Specialist in the Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams Auctions, to discuss two upcoming sales. The first is a fascinating single-owner complete collection of books from the Kelmscott Press, assembled by a man described as having “the most remarkable...

Welcome back to another episode of Rare Book Chat, where we dive into the delightful world of historical curiosities and the sometimes grim realities behind them. This week, we have a rollicking discussion that swings from the California Gold Rush to 17th-century plague remedies, and more —because, why not? Gold Rush Diary: We kick things off with a riveting look at a collection of autographed let...

In this episode, Jeremy and Michael discuss William Morris, wallpaper, and the birth of fantasy literature, with an analysis of Morris's influence on J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in particular. Then a game of would you rather - a spectacular copy of Orwell's 1984, or a mini-collection of dystopian novels? Also a half-hearted stab at the big question: why do we collect? Email us with questions, su...

In this episode, we explore a delightful tea party invitation that connects Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, and Michael Faraday. The conversation then transitions to a rare first edition from 1832, which addresses a fundamental challenge in computational theory, one so perplexing that researchers have enlisted artificial ants to help sniff out a solution. For links to the items discussed in this ep...

In this episode of Rare Book Chat, we're diving into the revolutionary impact of Bill James's work on baseball and far beyond. Known to us (with affection) as the "Pork and Beans Man," Bill James transformed the way we think about baseball analytics, introducing statistical evaluation in sports with his groundbreaking work, "The Baseball Abstract." We discuss a very rare 1978 printing of James’ Ba...

In this episode we discuss the sale price of a the extremely rare ratification printing of the US Constitution sold at Brunk Auctions last week. Was $11M high or low? Listen to the episode to find out why it was probably a bargain.

In this episode of Rare Book Chat, hosts Michael DiRuggiero and Jeremy O'Connor discuss a rare ratification copy of the US Constitution with Seth Kaller, the pre-eminent dealer of rare and important American historical documents. The conversation explores the document's historical significance,  the complexities of its journey from creation to ratification, the role of compromise in the Constituti...

In this episode of Rare Book Chat, hosts Jeremy O'Connor and Michael DiRuggiero explore the fascinating world of rare books, spotlighting three legendary first editions: Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, and Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. They discuss what makes these books so valuable, why Jeremy thinks Das Kapital is cheap compared to the other two, Michael...