1907 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Charles Robinson - An Antique Books Guide

Here is a blog post solely dedicated to possibly the rarest and most beautiful of the Alice's - the Charles Robinson edition.

First published in 1907, this edition features the gilt covers and incredibly intricate line drawings typical of this famed art-nouveau illustrator. Brother of Heath Robinson, Charles is best known for his illustrations of 'The Secret Garden' and 'Grimm's Fairy Tales'. His 'Alice in Wonderland' is much more obscure but is surely the most beautiful of all. The colour illustrations are bright and lively and reflect the fun of Alice in Wonderland but it is the black and white line drawings that really excel and show why Charles Robinson is often labelled as one of the eminent Golden Age illustrators.

For other rare editions please view my soon to be updated Alice Top 10 post:

http://anantiquebooksguide.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/top-ten-alice-in-wonderland-most.html

Take a look at the gilded covers and beautiful plates below in this rare one-off chance to see this book in detail.

Thanks for reading and please share/ +1 if possible. 

The Lord of the Rings Reader's Union Ed - An Antique Books Guide

The Reader's Union edition of J.R.R Tolkien's renowned Lord of the Rings series is somewhat of an oddity so I have decided to dedicate a brief post to this rare set. Estimated to have been printed to just 3,000 sets, the RU set was printed in 1960 - just five years after the books were first published.

With a distinctive illustrations of Sauron's eye, drawn by Tokien himself, this set was never released to the public and was purchasable only through membership of the RU. Inside, the book is almost exactly the same as the original first editions, with a very similar title page and a fold-out map tipped in at the rear of each volume.

A complete set has been sold in excellent condition at Bonhams for £375 but usually they reach only £125-£150. The original first edition set printed at the same time (1960) might reach between £200 and £250.

For more J.R.R Tolkien blog posts see the links below:

Values and guide to all of Tolkien's works

http://anantiquebooksguide.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/the-tolkien-guide-values-info-and-more.html

The art of Tolkien

http://anantiquebooksguide.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/the-art-of-jrr-tolkien-hobbit-and-more.html

Below are a number of photos showing the Reader's Union set compared with the George Allen & Unwin original sets.

RU set:

Original first edition set:

If you reached this far, thanks for reading and please share/ +1 and comment if at all possible!
Take a look at my many other blog posts for more antique books.

The Holy Bible Specimen & Christianity - An Antique Books Guide

In my aim to document every aspect of antique book collecting I must sometimes cover more specific topics, hence today's post.

A specimen book  is usually a book that is an example for what the finished book or series will look like. It isn't something exclusive to the Holy Bible, this is merely a good example of one.

In this case, the bible specimen shown below is just a few pages of what the real book will be like - basically showing the same quality, design and style as the eventual real product.

This particular book is of interest because it is virtually unrecorded and features very large images of incredibly high quality. It may seem surprising that the publishers needed a specimen for the Bible - the most popular book ever printed according to circulation figures - and perhaps this could relate to economic pressures at the time and the cost of such a high-quality publishing. It is also a great example of a specimen, showing example pages including birth/ deaths registry for the family that owns the book, example engravings and maps and an example of what the text pages may look like.

I have added a number of photos below to show what an antique bible specimen may look like. Thanks for reading.

Photographing for eBay - An Antique Books Guide

A wise man once said that pictures speak louder than words and never has this been more true than withe eBay. 

Ebay, more than any other buying and selling website, relies on photography.

With shops and official websites like Amazon, Waterstones or Topshop, the customer knows who they are buying from. With eBay it's a whole new game.

You have to convince the buyer that you are genuine, respectable and that your item is worth buying.

And the easiest way to do this is through photography.  I've highlighted below a few examples of how to show your item - bear in mind the following tips for success.

1. Sell against a bright background

Tee book on the right looks better, right?

Well that's because it's well lit, presented nicely and in a light setting.

Try the bathroom or a kitchen surface for good results.

2. Show more than just the overview

Show details, interesting features so that the buyer can see everything.

3. Be flash-phobic

Only use flash when you have to - it generally gives a bad or unnatural light and makes your item look rubbish. This is especially important with books or things with writing on them.

 4. Angles

Show off your item from as many angles as possible - models sell clothes by strutting down the catwalk and many websites now offer 3D images of items so make sure your item is seen.

Thanks for reading and good luck with eBay!

Please share and plus one if you found this useful!

UK EBAY SELLERS BEWARE - Price rises August 2014 - An Antique Books Guide

Here's what you need to know:
As of August 2014, eBay announced a rather sudden two-tiered price rise plan.
Firstly this involves raising the price of various listing elements.
Secondly this involves raising the Final Value Fee.

How will this affect you?
If you want the Gallery Plus option, you will be charged £2.50 instead of 95p - a rise of 163%.
Want a subtitle? From 35p the price has risen 185% to £1.
Buy It Now now costs 50p flat rate, changed from the previous 10p to 50p variable - a huge 400% increase.
Reserve price fee has risen from 3.5% to 4% - if you have a £100 reserve, this could mean a £5 difference.
The Final Value Fee was previously capped at £75 but will now rise to £250 - a 233% increase.

For example - If you were to list a valuable book for £100 with a subtitle, Gallery Plus, Buy It Now price of £150 and a reserve of £100, you will end up paying £3.10 more than you would have a month back.

Previously:
Earlier this year eBay quietly added the 10% postage fee by which ten percent of your postage fee is counted as a payable extra to the Final Value Fee.
This means that if you post worldwide, you could end up with considerable costs. If you require a courier to post worldwide for example, the cost to you for doing so could be as high as £10.

How to save money:
You will need to be clever with your Title, using key words.
For book put the publication date, the book title, the author and any extra details you can such as first edition, signed, illustrated etc.
For clothes, list the colour, size, brand, style/ design and if you have any extra words describe the pattern.
Only use standard images - as long as they are of at least 2MP quality users will still be able to zoom in - there's no need for Gallery Plus unless you are selling a car! If you still want larger images, see my blog guide showing how to add extra photos for free: LINK
Don't use a reserve - if you definitely don't want the item to go for less than a set amount, just start it at that - at least then the buyers know.
If you are thinking of adding a Buy It Now, make sure your item is popular enough for it - see which similar items sold/ didn't sell and set your price competitively.
See here for a guide showing how to see the value of your item: LINK

eBay is constantly monitoring the use and popularity of its features so hopefully by boycotting the features with price rises someone high-up might eventually listen.
Regardless, if you are still keen on using eBay to sell your items then at least now you know how to avoid being caught out.

I hope this guide helps - please SHARE and +1 so that others can see this important news!