WASHINGTON - Over the past two years, economic hard times have loomed as large at Washington National Cathedral as the Gothic spires that grace the city's skyline. The Rev. John Runkle, conservator of Washington National Cathedral, leafs through a rare Dutch Bible. Runkle is being let go at the end of June, a casualty of the cathedrals third round of staff cuts to help balance the budget.
At least one example of the printed word is in great demand even in the digital age: ancient Bibles.
An early copy of Paradise Lost could be paradise found for a John Milton enthusiast as the annual Calgary book sale has unearthed a rare copy of this epic poem. The early edition, from the 1700s, is expected to fetch several hundred dollars when it goes up for sale in a couple of weeks.
Entering new territory. Amazing. Speechless. Puzzled. The following from the Blog of the Library of Congress, i.e., it must be true ?! As this posting is being twitterized too, Library of Congress, here we come:
The comic debut of Superman has sold for an out-of-this-world price.
The copy of Action Comics No. 1 from 1938, which features the first appearance of the "Man of Steel" was bought by an undisclosed buyer for a record $1.5 million Monday on the online auction site ComicConnect.com. "This is the Holy Grail of Holy Grails," said Vincent Zurzolo, co-owner of the Web site.
"The Kindle is convenient, but I don't want to read a book from a little screen," said Dennis Melhouse, owner of First Folio Rare Books in Paris, Tenn. "You're not going to get a signed copy of Leaves of Grass on the Kindle." Sure enough, Melhouse sells a copy signed by Walt Whitman. He'll sell it to you for $8,000. While his business is down 30 percent, he doesn't blame technology. It's the economy, he said.
Whatever collecting is, it isn't a hobby. It's an obsession, an addiction. You get tired and a little annoyed of people humouring you, smiling indulgently when you speak of your obsession, as if it were some stamp and coin collecting phase from high school that you hadn't outgrown as an adult.
A comic showing the debut of superhero Batman has been sold for more than $1m (£655,000) at an auction in Dallas. The rare 1939 copy of Detective Comic No 27 was bought by an anonymous bidder from a seller who also wished to keep their identity secret.
While some college students are perfecting their beer pong, the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies, the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress are teaming up to tempt them into the field of rare book collecting.
