The Art of Illuminating - An Antique Books Guide

Illuminating or Illumination is the art of embellishing words and letters in a decorative way. Put simply, illumination makes writing beautiful. It's rare and amazing if done right.

Some bibles and other religious works are lucky enough to have been illuminated and this is often done with gold and other colours too to create an artistic and extravagant effect. Below is one of the best examples around - a 19th century missal.

Take a look!

Thanks for reading and please share!

Antique/ Vintage Maps in Books - The Value of Cartography GUIDE (Repost)

Maps In Books

This post may not be the most interesting but it represents an aspect to book collecting that is nonetheless important.

A book with a map is a special thing, and a particularly valuable asset in some cases.

Antique book collectors find great interest in books that show particular places or travels and come with a map to help the reader guide themselves along the route the author or character takes.

In some cases, with antique maps found in books, the information may no longer be up to date or correct but that is expected and adds to the value in most instances.

Some maps, much like illustrations by famous artists (eg Arthur Rackham) will be removed by fans or collectors to frame or sell individually (and thus increase profit). Therefore to have a book complete with map can be a somewhat rare thing.

Below I have listed some types you may see:

The Fantasy Map

Some fantasy or fictional books contain maps to give the reader a sense of the journey undertaken by leading characters.

The Lord Of The Rings is one of the best examples of this, with early editions featuring large, fold-out maps at the back of the book.
The value of a book with the map can be more than half again the overall amount that the book is worth.

The Map End/ Front Paper

Some books have a map as the front or endpaper (the page inside the cover).
This adds to the overall presentation of  book and makes the book suitably more interesting.
Again, Tolkien comes to mind among the more collectible.

Maps of Exploration

Some antique books will detail the adventure, travels or exploration of  a particular person.

In some cases these book will contain maps to show the travels that they undertook.

As these are often historical maps, they can be quite sought after and the books that have such maps are often worth a fair amount more than those that are missing them.

Classic (Vintage) Fold Out Maps

Not a book as such but these large scale folding maps are available in almost every bookshop or charity shop across England at least.
With older cloth version dating pre 1950's being worth more than later paper copies, these are the classic map and can be quite valuable if particularly early, of a popular area eg London Central or if you have a set.

Map of the Heavens etc

Maps of land aren't the only type available. There are maps of the heavens. maps of the ocean bottom and many other maps besides.
The map below is from a book printed in 1850 and is valuable in itself, especially as it is a double page plate.

Colour Antique Maps

Antique maps found in books are generally black and white.

Maps with colour are generally more collectable although watch out that they haven't been coloured by a reader!
The maps below is not entirely correct compare with modern maps and dates from a book printed in 1872

Vintage Travel Guide

There are many series of vintage travel books containing maps.

Below is from the classic Ward Lock Travel Guide series but Baedekers is a more valuable series in comparison. Maps from the Baedeker books can be removed and sold individually so valuable are the books

These books will feature many maps along with illustrations to help a tourist travelling to such country as the book is about.

A collection or set can be worth a lot although here age is of importance for the pre 1900 books are far more valuable than later editions such as the book below.

 Removed maps

The map below dates from the 1770's and may well have been removed from a book.
Pre 1850's books can be particularly valuable if containing a map or several. In many cases these maps may have been removed to sell individually.
These are generally good for framing and hold often a limited value purely from interest or age.

Artistic Maps

Some books feature maps that have been creatively designed or artistically created.

These ae generally more modern bu pre 1930's books with such maps can be of great interest to collectors depending on the book title and the artist (in some cases).
Below is a map from a discovery book designed to show the 'Illumination' of the human race through exploration of the various continents.

City Map

City maps, especially when part of a map booklet or book are particularly valuable.
The rate at which things change in a city means that such maps are often hugely outdated and thus if interest for readers to see what the historic world was like.

Look for tube maps or central city maps older than 1930 for some value

And that concludes this brief guide about maps.
I have tried to include what I know but I am sure that there are many other types of maps out there to be found in books - cartographers may be turning in their graves around the world knowing that I have written this!

I hope the guide helped at least in showing how important maps can be to books.

Thanks for reading and as ever a share, comment or +1 is much appreciated

Antique Book Problems and Flaws GUIDE (Repost)

Antique Problems

Old and collectable books can suffer from a whole host of problems that may reduce the value significantly.
When a collector buys a book they often search for the best condition book; the copy that is closest to how it would have been when first published.

Listed below are a few of the more common problems affecting old books - look out for these and remember that some books can still hold value despite such flaws but many will suffer drops in value because of it.

Separation of Boards

Some older books have separated into two or three parts - here the front and back boards (or covers) come away completely from the text block. In this case books are rarely worth much unless rare or pre 1800

No Dust Jacket

A book without a Dust Jacket is not always worthless - in most cases the D/J just adds considerable value to a book that may already hold some value.
In 40's to 50's books having a D/J generally makes your book saleable and pre 1930's books with dust jackets are often collectable.

Remember that the D/J can in fact protect the covers of the book as per it's original use and as such books with them are likely to be in better condition than those without.

Missing Front Paper

Some books have had the first few blank pages removed - often due to an inscription or book plate. It is always wise to leave the book complete however.
Books missing such pages do not usually drop too much of their value.

Disbound

A disbound book is separate from the covers - the text block no longer stays attached to the boards. These books are often valueless unless extremely rare or if you are willing to pay a professional to repair the book.

Stamps

Books with stamps are often less desirable due to the fact that they have been in a library or institution of some sort.

In some cases they can hold a little interest/ bring provenance to the book.

Ex - Libris

Ex- Library books are often  ones to stay clear of. With stamps, stickers, writing and other damage these copies are only worth buying or collecting if they are particularly rare or old or sought after.

Browning

A book with browning is usually just an antique book.
Browning in the pages is sometimes due to paper quality and other times down to tobacco staining or other environmental situations.

Inscription

Inscriptions are common and usually not a problem UNLESS they cover text or feature on an important page. The example below shows a name written on the Title Page - arguably the most important page of the book. This decreases the value a fair amount.

Creasing

Usually irreversible, creasing can lower the value of a book to an extent.

Self Repair

When a book is damaged and someone has attempted to repair it in an amateur way as seen below, the effect is often worse than had they left the book alone!
Leave it to the experts if the book is valuable enough. Otherwise stay clear or keep for personal reading.

Cracking hinges

The front and rear inner
In many old copies, the binding can be seen due to cracking of the hinge. Whilst this is not always a problem it can lead to more serious weakness in the book and so often is wise to stay clear of.

hinge is often a place that can suffer wear and tear.

Foxing

Foxing is the bane of any book collector's life.

Mny books have it - it is simply an age and storage related problem resulting in brown spots appearing throughout the book. Sometimes this is only in the first few pages, sometimes it is only on the edges of the pages but it always lowers the value by a small amount at least

And there we have it!
I have tried to include as many problems as I can think of and to show them accurately in the hope that this guide may once again help you, the reader.

Top 10 eBay Book Selling Tips (Repost)

The eBay Guide

Selling on eBay can be a simple and successful process, resulting in good prices for your books.
However, it is important to list the book correctly and so I have compiled a list of the ten most important things to remember when listing.
(For a full guide with pictures please follow this link:
http://theantiquebooksguide.blogspot.com/2013/08/ebay-book-selling-guide_4.html)

1. Photograph the book well
Make sure it is photographed in a well lit location - if you have a white background anywhere in your house that would be ideal.
A bath can be perfect for this.

2. Title the book successfully
Use up the word limit for the title with thematic terms as well as the author, book title and date where possible

3. Define the book accurately
In the listing make sure you fill in all available section including the era - these catagories help book searcher's find your book

4. Describe the book effectively
The description section is best to start with a short detail based sentence about your book.
I often follow:
Author, Book Title, Publisher, Publication date, Number of Pages

5. Sell the book through description
Describe what is especially nice or impressive about your book - is it in excellent condition?
Does it have decorative covers? Gilt (gold) edging to the pages?
Illustrations inside? etc

6. Don't overprice or underprice
Set the price that is fairest to you and the buyer
Compare with other titles available on eBay or abebooks.co.uk and make sure you are not overcharging or undercharging for your book.
A slight lowering will undercut competition

7. Make sure your postage is correct
Weigh the book if possible (if you don't have scales compare with a tin of beans or a bag of sugar to see if the wight feels approximately close).
Remember to check insurance coverage also for if your book sells for over £30 you may need to consider a more expensive form of postage to cover the insurance. Always get proof of postage also.
Royal Mail Price Finder:

http://www.royalmail.com/price-finder

8. Check for errors in the listing before finalizing it 

- it is easy to misspell the title, leave typos in the description or use blurry photo's without realizing - all of which can reduce the value or interest in your item.

9. Choose the longest possible time for your item to be listed 

- this means that more people will have the opportunity to search for and bid on your book.
Remember that the value of your book may be reliant on who is looking on eBay when you are listing.

10. Post the book quickly
This gives you the ebst possible feedback and completes the transaction.
Make sure their payment has gone through before sending.

Lastly, if you are offered or asked for Buy It Now prices through your Messages go careful - this may mean your book is quite valuable and you don't want to undersell it.

As usual I hope this guide helped.
It would be great if you could share, comment or view my other posts!