The Basics Of Book Collecting GUIDE (Repost)

Here is the start of a basic guide that I hope will give you a little more insight into book collecting and selling, starting with the book itself.

BOOK DEFINITIONS:

Antique pertains to books dating over 100 years old whilst vintage can be considered anything printed between 1930 and 1960

Retro could be considered anything later than 1960 to an extent. Please note that all of these are just loose bands.

Each band holds some very rare books - not just antique books are collectable and sought after!

Modern first editions are something of a marvel with some of the most collected such as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone selling for late hundreds up to thousands.

Here begins a short definition of different book types, features and designs:.

Art Deco Book Cover

Here is an Art Deco cover - a classic almost William Morris design. These designs are often floral and always striking with bright colours in bold design.

1910's Period Book Cover

I am not sure what era thus can be attributed to but it is one of the finest I have seen with intricate gilt detailing and multiple colours used in the design

Vintage Book Cover

Here is an Enid Blyton first edition from the 1950's and a classic vintage book+

Fine Binding

Here is a classic example of a finely bound book.

Often with leather, calf or vellum edges and marbled covers, these books were expensive to produce, to buy and are to collect.

They are also often strongly bound even now and are the staple of Dark wood or classic libraries the world over

The Late Victorian Decorative cover

Here is a fine example of the late Victorian book cover.

With exquisite detailing and unique font giving a window into the book, these covers can be captivating and striking such as the example below.

Modern Gilt / Deluxe Cover

Here is a modern cover from the iconic Guild Publishing house. With an intricate gilt design and a faux leather effect cover this book appears to be far older than the 1970's publication it is

Art Nouveau Cover Book

Here is a classic art nouveau style cover, featured on the collectable Chiswick Shakespeare series printed between the late 1890's and  the early 1900's

Front/ Rear Papers (FFEP's)

Virtually every hardback book has a front and rear paper before the main text. Some are plain, others more decorated with a repetitive pattern such as many late Victorian publications, and others unique such as the classic Hobbit map.

Frontispiece

After the cover and the front paper comes the frontispiece.

Not all books have them but a good number of antique and vintage books do. Often in older books these are black and white illustrations but in rarer or more recent publications these can be in colour and really add to the presentation of a title

The First Edition Print Line

The first edition is something that any collector wants. Be it an antique book or a modern one, a first edition is a nearly surefire way to add value to the book.

Ending in a one, the number line can read differently on some books.

Older titles were only really given one publication or printing so first editions for some antique texts were rather easy to come by. Similarly modern first editions are a certain best seller so popular books such as the later Harry Potter books were given a large print run in first edition form meaning values for these are low.

The Dust Jacket

A dust jacket is and was a popular way to protect books. Many antique book after the 1900's were issued with such covers even when the covers were bold and decorative, purely to protect such designs.

Books of an age still with such dust jackets can double in value

Folio Society and the Slipcase

Firstly, some books comes with a dust jacket as seen above whilst others come with slipcases. These are often more recent and valuable or collected texts. 

Secondly, the Folio Society is synonymous with quality, being a publishers that reprints a great range of world famous texts 

Gilt edging

Back to the externals of a book.

Gilt edging or gilding is reasonably common on more expensive books of the past with great popularity found in the late Victorian period. To have a book gilded nowadays to such quality can cost hundreds of pounds.

Most antique books have a single edge that has been gilded - often the top. Some nicer books can have tripled gilding which means every visible edge is covered with the shiny gold dusting

Disbound

Below is an example of a book that is no longer bound.

This text is complete and almost as it was printed except for the fact that the binding - most likely glue - has loosened or weakened completely resulting in the text block being completely separate from the covers.

A reparation is needed but this can cost a lot of money so in most cases, such a book is best kept as a 'reading copy' i.e not to sell or collect!

A tipped colour plate (Dulac)

Plates are pages with illustrations, maps etc featured throughout some antique books.

Often these are illustrations and can add value to a book.

For example the illustration below is a colour plate painted by Edmund Dulac and is collectable by itself with some separating and framing such images.

Look out for Arthur Rackham, Harry Rountree, Heath Robinson and Mable Lucy Atwell for collectable illustrators. 

Colour Plate

Colour plates are unique to each artist and also rare in pre 1890's books. In earleir cases such as early 1800's and prior, books with colour illustrations can fetch handsome sums purely due to the colour plates. 

Wood Engraving

Another type of illustration is the wood engraving.

Often more basic, more popular and more frequent, these illustrations can be found in many antique books.

Steel Engraving

The steel engraving is a more intricate, advanced form of illustrations often requiring thicker, stronger paper or card to print upon.

These are rarer than wood engravings, often full page and more valuable.

And this concludes my first brief guide to Antique and collectable books.

I hope that you found it useful and I hasten to add that the guide is basic and soon to be added to in coming posts.

Furthermore I can only give my knowledge and thoughts such are not always correct.

Regardless I hope this first post is something useful, informative or interesting for you and that you will come by again!