Category Archives: Creating a Collection

A Book Sent in a Time of Crisis: George Washington’s Copy of Tour in Holland in MDCCLXXXIV.

In February of 1798, as the young American republic stood in a period of mounting political anxiety, Elkanah Watson sent a small book to Mount Vernon. Inside, on the front pastedown, he had written simply:…

Matthew Raptis’ Debut Work of Nonfiction: Provenance: The Hidden Lives of Books.

In the study of rare books, age alone is seldom the decisive measure of significance. Far more consequential is provenance — the documented history of ownership that situates a volume within lived experience. A book…

Where Modern Fantasy Began: Tolkien’s Signed 1937 Hobbit.

In 1937, a quiet revolution in storytelling began. George Allen & Unwin published a small book by an Oxford professor—The Hobbit, or There and Back Again—in a modest print run of only 1,500 copies. Every…

In the News: Harcourt Book Bindery in Charlestown Preserving Craft for 125 Years.

The story above was featured on WBZ CBS News Boston on December 8th 2025.

Mark Twain and the Shaping of American Literary Identity.

Lauded by William Faulkner as “the father of American literature,” American writer, humorist, and publisher Mark Twain is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in American literary history. Active during the latter…

In the News: A Jazz Age gem: Author-signed copy of ‘Great Gatsby’ on sale for nearly $1M in Palm Beach.