On a recent trip to Vegas, I happened upon a beautiful little rare book store tucked inside the shops of at the Palazzo Hotel. It had so many wonderful old books displayed - first editions, signed, really splendid volumes, many of which are displayed in the shop. It is a serious book playground. The shop allowed me to take photos, so I've got a few below to share. I apologize in advance for poor photo quality.
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This book isn't signed, so it is a steal at $4,500. It's a beautiful cover.
Did you ever see the movie with Bing Crosby? My sister and I used to watch it whenever it came on when we were little.
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| $28,000 for Pooh Bear... |
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| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Lewis Carroll, although if you are going to have an expensive copy of a Lewis Carroll book I strongly believe it should be Alice in Wonderland. |
The catalogue for the holiday season was filled with rare books goodness, including a first edition of Her Majesty's Secret Service, signed by Ian Fleming and first edition of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, unsigned.
Bauman's Rare Books also has a store in Manhattan at 535 Madison Avenue, between 54th and 55th and another in Philadelphia at 1608 Walnut Street, 19th floor (they only see people by appointment at the Philadelphia store. You can see more of what they have at their website here. If you are near the Manhattan or Vegas stores, I'd heartily recommend stopping by. I've only covered less than a tenth of what they had on display.
Rare books are sometimes put away with no indication of how valuable they are. It would be good if the people who buy them always made an attempt to trace the previous owners of these collectibles. Tracking the former owners of rare books would probably make it possible to find other unusual items in the same category.
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