Books

About Antique Books

There's a richness to antique books that transcends their status as one of the world’s most beloved collectibles. Books document the evolution of our need to make sense of the world around us. This urge can be seen in the first Gutenberg bible of 1455; the ‘First Folio’ of plays by William Shakespeare, published in 1623; John James Audubon’s monumental “Birds of America,” which was printed between 1827 and 1838; and even the pocket-size Beat-poetry paperbacks, published by City Lights bookstore in the 1950s and ’60s. Each, in its own way, reveals the priorities and passions of the culture.

Whatever the genre—be it biographies or cookbooks, children’s books or classic works of science fiction—and regardless of the title, most collectors focus on first editions. First editions are coveted because their print runs tend to be small. They're also considered to be the closest a reader can get to the author’s original intent for his or her work. Thus, first editions are particularly desirable if a book has been changed for the second printing...

Especially collectible are first editions of books that went on to win literary awards. The landmark children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” earned author and illustrator Maurice Sendak a Caldecott Medal in 1964, so its first-edition cover from 1963 does not feature the famous Caldecott seal.

Another, more recent, famous first edition is the 1997 version of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” which was published by Bloomsbury in the U.K. in a print run of 1,000. The book went on to sell millions of copies for Scholastic in 1998, when it was re-titled for the U.S. market as “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” No wonder copies of the Bloomsbury first edition routinely sell in the five figures.

Some people collect books for their aesthetic value. For these collectors, antique and vintage leather-bound books and sets are particular favorites. Some are covered in calf skin, which book binders found easy to dye. Others were made of Levant leather, which is goat skin and sometimes called Moroccan leather.

Examples of leather-bound books include individual works or collections by 19th century authors, from naturalist Charles Darwin, whose “On the Origins of Species” was first published in 1859 before being re-titled as “The Origins of Species” in 1872, to novelist Charles Dickens, whose monthly and weekly serialized stories were bound into classics such as “The Adventures of Oliver Twist” and “A Tale of Two Cities.”

American 20th-century novels such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” (1925), John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” (1939), and J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” (1951) are also highly collectible. And as cooking shows have become a fixture on television, vintage cookbooks have enjoyed a surge of popularity, the most famous of which is probably “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” which was written in 1961 by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck.

Prized science-fiction books from the past 150 years include Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” which was first published in France in 1870 before being translated into English in 1872. H.G. Wells gave us “The War of the Worlds” in 1898 and “When the Sleeper Wakes” a year later. Collectible modern science-fiction authors range from Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke to Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, and Philip K. Dick, whose 1968 “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” was the basis for the 1982 sci-fi-film classic, “Blade Runner.”

In all cases, a book that has been signed by its author is more sought-after than one that has not, although books with inscriptions (eg: ‘To my dear friend, so-and-so’) are usually not as collectible as ones with just a signature. Biographies and memoirs are a favorite of former politicians and retired generals, who have been known to use the bully pulpit of a book to tell their version of history. Such books can often be found with the author’s signature on the title page.

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Interviews & Articles

An Interview with Rare Book Collector and Appraiser Ken Sanders

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t read books. In grade school, I devoured library books. I also loved comic boo… [more]

An Interview on First Editions with Vintage Book Appraiser Matthew Haley New!

Strictly speaking, a book’s edition refers to the setting of the text. So the first time you set the text and print… [more]

An Interview With American Cookbook Expert and Rare Book Curator Peter Berg

Special collections is where we keep non-circulating rare materials which have to be used in the reading room. Our … [more]

An Interview With Children’s Book Curator Rita Smith

I started working as the curator of the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature in 1994, but I’d worked… [more]



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Books Videos



See all 16 videos


Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)

Google Book Search

Google Book Search

Want to do one quick search and pull up the mother lode of vintage books? Try Google Book Search, a database filled… [read review or visit site]

Baldwin Library of Childrens Literature

Baldwin Library of Childrens Literature

If you’re interested in collectible childrens books, check out this special digital collection from the Universit… [read review or visit site]

Feeding America

Feeding America

This archive of 76 influential American cookbooks from the late 1700s to early 1900s, assembled by the Michigan St… [read review or visit site]

Gallery of Book Trade Labels

Gallery of Book Trade Labels

Greg Kindall's collection of over 2100 colorful and historic book labels, pasted into books by publishers, printers… [read review or visit site]

Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves

Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves

This great blog, by an anonymous mom in Texas, is an ongoing bibliography of hundreds of vintage childrens books, c… [read review or visit site]

Vintage Cookbooks Photo Pool

Vintage Cookbooks Photo Pool

This Flickr photo pool features over 2,000 photos and scans of vintage cookbooks and old recipes from the 1940s to … [read review or visit site]

Rare Karate Book Collection

Rare Karate Book Collection

This visually interesting and highly specialized collection from the Hawaii Karate Museum focuses on rare and histo… [read review or visit site]

Czech Book Covers

Czech Book Covers

This Smithsonian microsite showcases Czech avant-garde book cover designs from the 1920s and 30s, complete with hig… [read review or visit site]

Bookscans.com

Bookscans.com

Bruce Black's gallery of paperback book covers from the 1940s and 50s. With help from numerous contributors, he's a… [read review or visit site]


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Recent News: Books

Source: Google News

Antique-book market in flux; value hard to pin down
Arizona Daily Star, February 6th

A: The market, including the antiquarian-book market, has changed since that appraisal. Value and demand may be very different today...Read more

The California Antiquarian Book Fair
LA Weekly, February 5th

iPads and iBall (text that is projected straight onto your eyeballs --coming 2012), The California Antiquarian Book Fair is a quaint idea -- a grand,...Read more

Dear Dear John,
Houston Chronicle, February 4th

Also, sending letters is fine and all when it's just Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft swapping antiquarian book tips, but there is not much point throwing...Read more

California International Antiquarian Book Fair Takes Visitors into the Rare ...
Business Wire (press release), February 4th

prints, maps and more at the 43 rd California International Antiquarian Book Fair in Los Angeles at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel from Friday,...Read more

COSHOCTON HISTORICAL CLUB
Coshocton Tribune, February 4th

COSHOCTON -- Mary Novak, a member of the Friends of the Library group, presented a program on appraising and collecting antique books at the last meeting of...Read more

How to Start a Home Based Antique Book and Magazine Business
Associated Content, February 2nd

Many people do and make a living off of selling antique books and materials such as these. Finding rare prints and selling them is a great opportunity for...Read more

Books Into Best-Picture Oscar® Winners To Highlight 2010 California ...
Seattle Post Intelligencer (blog), February 2nd

Embracing great books into great movies, the 43d California International Antiquarian Book Fair promises to be the most exciting yet...Read more

Antique Books Protect Laptops
FlashNews.com, January 26th

CHARLESTON, SC (Wireless Flash - FlashNews) – Antique books can provide serious protection for your hard drive. Design company TwelveSouth is keeping...Read more

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