Booksellers' and Auction Catalogs

A collection of great importance to the history of the American book trades is that of booksellers' and book auctioneers' catalogs, which include examples from the beginnings of the American wholesale and retail book trades.

Access

The General Catalog uses local (i.e., just used at AAS) genre/form terms to make findable hundreds of catalogs produced through 1900. Researchers can use the following terms:

Materials from 1840 to the present day are not cataloged and are filed alphabetically by firm name.

Resources

The Society published Robert B. Winans's Descriptive Checklist of Book Catalogues Separately Printed in America, 1694-1800 in 1981. His work and George L. McKay's American Book Auction Catalogues, 1713-1934 (New York, 1937), introduced by Clarence S. Brigham, provide annotated guides to AAS holdings.

McLoughlin Bros. Catalogs, Price Lists, and Order Forms