Finding the right dealer to sell our book

Our local Habitat for Humanity chapter was given a book that is
extremely old and possibly worth quite a lot of money. Can you folks
on this list point us in the direction we should go with this?

The book is a 1730 edition of Jacob Bohmen's Questiones Theosophica. A
web search shows that Bohmen was a rather well known German
philosopher, although his belief that the Bible would tell him how to
turn junk into gold makes him a bit of a laughing stock today. This
book must have some theological value, as it appears that modern
version is still in print.

This copy is leather bound with an intact although somewhat worn cover.
It's about 4" x 6" and more than 2 inches thick. This copy has an
inscription in the flyleaf dated 1843. There's at least one fold-out
page that is intact.

This is perhaps a book that a university library would like to buy, or
a private collector. We would like to maximize its value so as to turn
it not into gold, but into part of the price of a home for a needy
family.

I don't think this is one for E-bay. We would really appreciate some
informed advice.

Thanks very much,

Gigi in North Carolina
Please feel free to email me at

"Gigi" wrote in message
oups.com...

Our local Habitat for Humanity chapter was given a book that is
extremely old and possibly worth quite a lot of money. Can you folks
on this list point us in the direction we should go with this?

The book is a 1730 edition of Jacob Bohmen's Questiones Theosophica.

Boehme (usual spelling) is still in the histories of philosophy,
but is nowadays remembered chiefly as a mystic rather than
either an alchemist or technical philosopher. This book of his
was printed a century after his death, thus is probably valued
more by its binding than its contents.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Our local Habitat for Humanity chapter was given a book that is
extremely old and possibly worth quite a lot of money. Can you folks
on this list point us in the direction we should go with this?
The book is a 1730 edition of Jacob Bohmen's Questiones Theosophica.
A web search shows that Bohmen was a rather well known German
philosopher, although his belief that the Bible would tell him how to
turn junk into gold makes him a bit of a laughing stock today. This
book must have some theological value, as it appears that modern
version is still in print.
This copy is leather bound with an intact although somewhat worn cover.
It's about 4" x 6" and more than 2 inches thick. This copy has an
inscription in the flyleaf dated 1843. There's at least one fold-out
page that is intact.

You might contact Adam Maclean, who maintains a huge alchemy website.
He's a rather prickly customer, but should give you a straight answer
about this.

Who owned it in 1843 might be of interest.

The buyers willing to pay most will probably be private collectors
rather than academic institutions.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

This site has information of some interest, although no value given for
your book:
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/Versluis.html
You can get a free appraisal or information by emailing swann
galleries. One possible addressis . They do
book auctions all the time and if you can simply provide some photo
attachments of the book's exterior and title page, etc. as well as
whatever relevant info they ask for, you'll get some idea of value.
Good luck!
Gigi wrote:
Our local Habitat for Humanity chapter was given a book that is
extremely old and possibly worth quite a lot of money. Can you folks
on this list point us in the direction we should go with this?

The book is a 1730 edition of Jacob Bohmen's Questiones Theosophica. A
web search shows that Bohmen was a rather well known German
philosopher, although his belief that the Bible would tell him how to
turn junk into gold makes him a bit of a laughing stock today. This
book must have some theological value, as it appears that modern
version is still in print.

This copy is leather bound with an intact although somewhat worn cover.
It's about 4" x 6" and more than 2 inches thick. This copy has an
inscription in the flyleaf dated 1843. There's at least one fold-out
page that is intact.

This is perhaps a book that a university library would like to buy, or
a private collector. We would like to maximize its value so as to turn
it not into gold, but into part of the price of a home for a needy
family.

I don't think this is one for E-bay. We would really appreciate some
informed advice.

Thanks very much,

Gigi in North Carolina
Please feel free to email me at

wrote:

This site has information of some interest, although no value given for
your book:
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/Versluis.html




Are you sure this is the correct address? I cannot find any reference
to Foxe or Martyrs.


Francis A. Miniter

Gigi wrote:
Our local Habitat for Humanity chapter was given a book that is
extremely old and possibly worth quite a lot of money. Can you folks
on this list point us in the direction we should go with this?

The book is a 1730 edition of Jacob Bohmen's Questiones Theosophica. A
web search shows that Bohmen was a rather well known German
philosopher, although his belief that the Bible would tell him how to
turn junk into gold makes him a bit of a laughing stock today. This
book must have some theological value, as it appears that modern
version is still in print.

This copy is leather bound with an intact although somewhat worn cover.
It's about 4" x 6" and more than 2 inches thick. This copy has an
inscription in the flyleaf dated 1843. There's at least one fold-out
page that is intact.

This is perhaps a book that a university library would like to buy, or
a private collector. We would like to maximize its value so as to turn
it not into gold, but into part of the price of a home for a needy
family.

I don't think this is one for E-bay. We would really appreciate some
informed advice.

Thanks very much,

Gigi in North Carolina
Please feel free to email me at


I'm an online bookseller and fairly knowledgeable of rare books. E-bay
would be a great place to test the interest and market value of this
binding if one had good feedback and a history honest transactions. Put
a huge reserve on it-I'm thinking like $10,000 - just to see what
people bid on it. Condition is the most important aspect of selling it.
If you're unwilling to put it up at auction, I would send a thorough
set of pictures to Ken Miller or Baumann Books. Swann is an excellent
resource as well but if it's not to their standards they'll likely not
reply.
If you want, send me some pics at
http://aristocratbooks.bravehost.com/ and I'll research and give you a
ball park figure of what I think.

Thanks to all of you. I will pursue some of the suggestions made here.

Gigi

Yes,
You have to scroll down to find it.
Francis A. Miniter wrote:
wrote:

This site has information of some interest, although no value given for
your book:
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/Versluis.html




Are you sure this is the correct address? I cannot find any reference
to Foxe or Martyrs.


Francis A. Miniter