About Us

The Quill & Brush was established in 1976 as an outgrowth of a part-time business run by Allen and Patricia Ahearn, who began issuing catalogs in the early 1960s under the name "Allen Ahearn, First Editions."

At present, the day-to-day operations of the Quill & Brush are handled by the Ahearns' eldest daughter, Beth Fisher. Allen continues to assist on the occasional book buy, while focusing mainly on Appraisals and Collection Development services.

The Quill & Brush specializes in first editions of literature, mystery/detective fiction and poetry, as well as collectible books in all fields. The firm focuses mainly on books published from the middle of the 19th century to the present. 

The Ahearns are the authors of Collected Books: The Guide to Values (4th, revised and enlarged edition published in 2011), Book Collecting 2000 (Putnam: 2000) and over 200 individual Author Price Guides, all of which require they keep current on the market prices for collectible books and make them uniquely qualified to offer professional appraisal services and to establish fair prices when purchasing books or libraries.

The Quill & Brush is unique in its proud adherence to their long-standing, stated policy of accepting the return from a collector of any book at any time (in the same condition in which it was sold to them) for full store credit of the original purchase price.

Their goal is to offer the finest copies of books available at a fair market price.

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