It is now known to many people how much HPK paid for the B42 because
Arthur
Houghton told me. The copy had been on offer for several years through
John
Fleming. HPK approached Arthur and asked how much he wanted for it. Arthur
told him. HPK showed up the next day with a check.
What exactly is your problem, mcd? Is it a rather tough worm in your
little
inside?
Gabriel Austin
-----Original Message-----
From: Rare book and manuscripts [mailto:EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU]
On
Behalf Of Martin Davies
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 3:08 AM
To: EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
Subject: Re: [EXLIBRIS-L] NY Auction Bidding Legislation
I don't know that Kraus had a hand in selling three B42s, at least it
doesn't seem so from Roland Folter, 'The Gutenberg Bible in the
Antiquarian
Book Trade', in Incunabula: Studies in Fifteenth-Century Printed Books
(London, 1999), 271-351. What does appear there (pp.341-2) is that Kraus
bought the Shuckburgh-Houghton Bible from Houghton in 1970 (Houghton had
had
it from Scribner's in 1953 for $200,000), offered it for sale at $2.5m in
1971, and sold it finally to the Gutenberg-Museum in Mainz in 1978 for DM
3,700,000. That sum was equivalent in 1978 to about $1.74m. It is not
known
(except to Gabriel Austin) how much Kraus paid Houghton for the book, but
it
"was later reported in the press as 'between one and two million dollars.'
I
agreed with Houghton not to reveal the exact sum." (HPK, A Rare Book Saga
(NY, 1978) 238). But "If and when I sell it, the price will be profitable
[a
stop-press paragraph p. 241 announces its sale to Mainz]. Meanwhile I've
gained more publicity and stature by owning the book than any amount of
cash
could buy", p. 235. So it appears that Kraus did not exactly make a great
deal of money on the B42 but did indeed think the publicity he got from it
was the main thing. Far and away the leading buyer and seller of that
book,
by the way, has been and now must remain Quaritch (Folter, p. 272).
mcd
----- Original Message -----
From: "s cheiner" <drscheiner@YAHOO.COM>
To: <EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 10:23 PM
Subject: Re: [EXLIBRIS-L] NY Auction Bidding Legislation
Wasn't this one of three B42s Kraus had some
participation in buying and selling? By the way, what
do you think was the value of the free publicity Kraus
received from the Houghton B42 all the years he had it
in stock?
C.J. Scheiner
--- Gabriel Austin <gabrielaustin@EARTHLINK.NET>
wrote:
Hans Kraus bought the Houghton Gutenberg for $1.5
million in the mid-1960s.
He finally sold it 10 or 15 years later for $2
million.
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