A meticulous ledger of the market that made literary reputations. A precise guide for collectors. Frank Karslake's Book-Auction Records, Volume 14 assembles priced and annotated records of London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow and American book-auctions, presenting a priced auction record anthology that maps historical book sales across two continents. The volume's auction catalog annotations and careful price entries serve as an antiquarian book price guide and a primary source for book collecting history, showing how provenance and demand shaped value from Victorian era book auctions through to early twentieth-century dispersals. For the casual reader intrigued by provenance and price, and for the bibliophile who treats a catalogue as a map, this book rewards curiosity and method in equal measure. Karslake's clear listings and critical notes make provenance research accessible without sacrificing bibliographic rigour; a simple entry in a sale can open a wider story of edition, ownership and taste. As a bibliophile reference collection and a collectors and dealers resource, Volume 14 is equally useful to librarians, specialist dealers and independent appraisers: a practical library acquisition tool and a reference for book appraisers seeking comparable sales or verification. Its listings bridge London and American auctions and illuminate broader market patterns, so auction-room professionals, academic researchers of historical book sales and classic-literature collectors all find value here. It is a core resource for specialists studying rare book auction records. It documents public-room sales and private-library dispersals, making it possible to track editional rarities, provenance trails and price trajectories across genres. For the dealer pricing a plate, or the academic tracing reception and circulation, the volume supplies comparative data rarely gathered elsewhere, connecting collectors with the economics of the book trade. Use it as a comparanda source for valuation, provenance research or simply to savour the commercial life of books. Out of print for decades and now republished by Alpha Editions. Restored for today's and future generations. More than a reprint - a collector's item and a cultural treasure.
