March issue of Fine Books now online

We just posted our Top Twenty, our annual report on the top prices paid for books and manuscripts at auction last year, proving once again that people will pay top dollar for religion (Islamic manuscripts) and rock & roll (Lennon's lyrics to "Give Peace a Chance"). Richard Goodman interviewed Abigail Rorer, whose wonderful book Mimpish Squinnies was honored at the Codex fair last month in Berkeley. We also found a completely driven collector (is there any other kind?), a neurologist in New Jersey, who has managed to assemble what may be the finest collection of American magazines anywhere. (So print may be disappearing, but not in this guy's house!) Also, look for a piece by our maps columnist Derek Hayes on the desk Barack Obama uses in the Oval Office (why maps? read it and see), a nutty story about a lost Mormon journal; a preview of a contemporary book arts show in Seattle; and, as they say, there's much, much more.