“Legitimate Contender For World’s Most Expensive Book” ?(Twelfth edition)“Hiya kids, hiya, hiya, hiya!”Froggy, the croaking - and long-croaked - gremlin, has risen from the graveyard of 50s television to pluck his magic twanger once more and bedevil a hapless victim. This time, a deluded "rare book dealer" is his prey.Who’s the poor sap? Why it’s Milliondollarauctions123, aka Ebay’s most egregious example of sub-amateur rare bookseller, who declares, after stating his headline above:“Far more important than $30.8 million Codex Leicester.”A page from daVinci's Codex LeicesterThe book in question? Alfred Thayer Mahan's The Influence of Seapower Upon History 1660-1783. What’s the asking...
The Miracle of the Two-Week Rare Book: A Nancy Drew Mystery
We rare book collectors and dealers have, apparently, been asleep. While we’ve been aslumber, the meaning of “rare” has undergone a radical transformation guaranteed to startle us to wide-eyed wakefulness.“RARE NANCY DREW APPLEWOOD THE MESSAGE IN THE HOLLOW OAK Item #200366792295. FROM A SMOKE AND PET-FREE HOME, THIS IS A FIRST OR SECOND EDITION!!! HOLLOW OAK IS A RARITY- I DID NOT FIND 1 ON EBAY INCLUDING COMPLETED AUCTIONS!!!"Once upon a time, Ebay provided auction records for the prior three months. Far from a reliable indicator of rarity at that short interval, not too long ago the time frame was...