HBG Obtains Confidential Sheen Medical Record !
A client of ours in Beverly Hills, sent us a confidential copy of Charlie Sheen’s medical record this afternoon.
Beware of Book Collecting
A well composed warning about the addictive qualities of Book Collecting .
Ahhh…to be employed by Asprey’s !
This from Bloomberg today. Very swank.Very posh.Very Tony. Very VERY !
Bin Laden – Bibliophile
Nope…this is not a manipulated image. We found this photo in a 2007 article about OBL.Just goes to show that all sorts of people are book collectors.Very nice library. Very bad man.
Pontiff adds Punch to HBG Booth
This past weekend, San Francisco hosted the largest and most prestigious Antiquarian Book Fair in the world. 271 Rare Booksellers from all corners of the globe, exhibited more than $70 million dollars worth of inventory. Of course, the HBG,Ltd. was pleased to participate.The highlight of the event for us was the appearance of the Pontiff, who took time from his busy schedule to bless our booth and do a little browsing. Thank you, your holiness!!!
Rare Book Miracle On Toast
The Rare Book world reacted with reverant astonishment today when it was announced that an image of one of the World’s Rarest books has been discovered on a slice of toast.
What appears to be a likeness of the dustjacket of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s highly venerated, The Great Gatsby, was discovered by a Marin County Hospital Food Service worker.
Mr. Jose kanusee was tidying up the coffee counter in the Cafeteria at Marin General Hospital when he noiced the now iconic slice.” I was just about to throw it out, ” Kanusee said. “It was stale, you know, someone had just left it by the toaster. I took it up to this antique bookstore in San Anselmo ( Heldfond Book Gallery, Ltd) and they immediately identified it has being the cover of this really important book. They couldn’t believe it ! They offered me about a month’s wages for it but, no way am I selling it.”
Considered by experts as quite possibly the most expensive piece of 20th century printed paper in book collecting, the 1st Edition Gatsby dust jacket is an exceptionally rare find which clearly contributed to the book recently fetching $180,000 at a recent auction in London.
“Hell,” Kanusee remarked, ” if that book went for 180 grand…this has got to be worth more than they offered me for it ! I mean, I’m no dummy you know.”
All Aboard
The largest and most prestigious Antiquarian Book Fair in the world is about to descend upon San Francisco. The ABAA sponsored event occurs every 2 years and is a showcase for the top Rare Booksellers in the world. As it has done since it’s election into the ABAA many years ago, the HBG will be exhibiting..Digging through our archives, we turned up this photo.HBG founder, Jay Gatz and his Head Cataloguer, Eva Braun,are seen travelling back from a buying trip to New York, where they had purchased some very select material to show at the 1965 S.F. Book Fair.
The 44th San Francisco International Antiquarian Book Fair. Concourse Exhibition Center. February 11-13 2011.
Ahhh…The French and Their Rare Books
Collecting illuminated manuscripts has long been a hobby of European royalty and the American equivalent, wealthy business people and philanthropists.Illuminated manuscripts remain highly collectible because each one is unique. Since this example was made specifically for a French aristocrat, the references within pertain specifically to a certain area of France at a specific time, and all done by hand, making the manuscript truly one-of-a-kind.
Oh My!
Look who clattered into our Main Gallery this afternoon, searching for Rare Books on welding and cardiology.Regrettably, the few items we had were beyond his budget.We had to give him 10 bucks just to pose for this photograph ! He did ask to use our restroom before leaving. Anyone have any hints on how to remove oil stains from tile grout ?
