William S. Reese

William Sherman Reese (July 29, 1955 - June 4, 2018) was an American bookseller and founder of the William Reese Company. and was the basis of a two-part series updating the rare book market in 2025 in The Book Collector.

His collection of essays, Collectors, Booksellers, and Libraries: Essays on Americanists and the Rare Book Market. was characterized as an appropriate tribute to his extensive knowledge. Reese was widely regarded as "the greatest American antiquarian bookseller of his generation, highly respected for his extensive knowledge of Americana, exploration, natural history, color plate books, and literature." Reese was profiled in the 2019 documentary The Booksellers, directed by D.W. Young

His private collection was sold at Christie's in 2022.

Selected publications Reese, William S., and Grolier Club. 2022. Stamped with a National Character : Nineteenth Century American Color Plate Books. New York: The Grolier Club. Reese, William S., and Ink, Inc. 2018. Collectors, Booksellers, and Libraries : Essays on Americanists and the Rare Book Market. New Haven: Overland Press. Reese, William S. 2017. The Federal Hundred. New Haven: William Reese Company. Reese, William S. 2017. The Best of the West : 250 Classic Works of Western Americana. New Haven: William Reese Company. Vinson, Michael, and William S. Reese. 2016. Edward Eberstadt & Sons: Rare Booksellers of Western Americana. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Reese, William S., James N. Green, and John C. Van Horne. 2001. The Michael Zinman Collection of Early American Imprints. Philadelphia: Library Co. of Philadelphia. Reese, William. "The Rare Book Market Today." Yale University Library Gazette, vol. 75, nos. 3–4, April 2000, pp. 146–165. Reese, William S., and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. 1991. A Herman Melville Collection Exhibited at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University : On the Occasion of the 100th Anniversary of His Death. New Haven: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Reese, William S. "Joseph Sabin," American Book Collector 5, no. 1 (1984):3-24. ISSN 0196-5654