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Antique Book Collecting/Buying


AbielleRose

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Lately I have been very interested in beginning an antique book collection. I have purchaced 4 through eBay so far and am absolutely loving it! My favorite is a copy of Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poems printed in 1886. The binding is nearly perfect except for a little wear on the top and bottom and there are no dog-eared pages.

 

I was wondering if anyone else out there is into collecting books and if so what are your shopping habits? What kinds of books do you look for? Have you ever taken a class or a workshop on collecting or did you get interested elsewhere?

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1886? Wow, how much did you pay for that??

 

I have 5 old books, there's a thread about them on here somewhere.

 

I have Oscar Wilde's Importance Of Being Earnest (1920) and Picture Of Dorian Gray (1925), Alexandre Dumas' Count Of Monte Cristo and Stevenson's Kidnapped, both sometime in the 1940's and the second run of the original Pooh Bear book, from the 1960's.

 

I got all mine on ebay too :D I just happened to start looking through them one day on ebay and decided to buy some. Oscar's in particular go cheap because he's not as well know in America as say, England.

 

I only look for pretty editions in good shape. They don't have to be perfect, they don't have to be first or second editions, just pretty, maybe unusual, and more than anything, old. It's the history and age that I like more than anything :lol:

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Same here. The 4 I have are Mrs. Browning's Poems, The Poems of Robert Browning (I've always loved their personal love story! How romantic to fall in love through letters back in the 1800's?) printed in 1932, Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan printed in 1915 and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte printed in 1950. They are all cloth covers with good binding (except for Pilgrim's Progress but that is my fault :( ).

 

My E.B.B. cost about 30.00 USD. It is beautiful and my 'crown jewel'. Though it's supposed to decrease the value (which I don't personally care about, I just like the books) It has an inscription on the first page dated 1886. The handwriting is so beautiful and the woman writing it addressed it: Mrs. C.A. Muriell from Mrs. A.B. Clark. Nowdays if someone gives someone else a book they would write something like: To Nollaig, From Abby. How times have changed! I like to think about how many times Mrs. Muriell read the book and if when she died did one of her children take it and enjoy it too? It has a story beyond the story. :D

 

I looked around for a thread but must have overlooked it. If you find it would you please merge it? I would appreciate it! :lol:

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I love old books! I think I may have to start collecting them after seeing some beauties :(

 

A friend of mine recently went into a second hand bookshop, you know, one where as soon as you walk in you can just smell the lovely scent of very old books with that little bit of mustiness mmmmm :D .. oops sorry.. daydreaming again :lol: Anyway, she bought a really old copy of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol for

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I would have loved to have that Raven.

 

I AM going to have a very old copy of The Masque of the Red Death in the next ten years i have decided though :D

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I have a few old books, but none of them are what I would consider to be at the collectable end of the spectrum. The family bible (c'mon, I'm Scottish - we all have one handed down from the mists of time) and a small leather-bound edition of Hamlet (which, I'm led to believe, was used by actors) don't really compare to the titles which get big money at auctions. Not that the financial side should be your biggest concern when purchasing antiquarian books - they have a tendency to fall apart if you don't look after them.

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BF and I were collecting old books for a while. We have a first edition of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls that my mom gave us, and a few other old books. But then BF's mom and grandmother started buying every old-looking book they could find, even if it was junk. They would store them in his grandmother's house, which stinks horribly (she's a hoarder), so we ended up with a lot of useless old books that smelled terrible. We ended up giving those away, and for now we've stopped collecting cold books. :17:

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I need to dig out my family bible. None of us are religious so it's probably in a corner somewhere, but I KNOW it's old and would be worth having for that alone.

 

I'm not religious either but I love Bibles! A friend of mine actually has one written with Greek and Latin on one side and then translated into English on the other. It is so beautifully decorated and was printed pre-Vatican II.

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Strange as it seems, old bibles aren't all that hard to come across, and (mostly) they're relatively cheap. The collectability angle comes into play where religious texts are concerned, though financially they aren't as sound as, for example, first editions of major authors. There are some beautiful examples out there, but as I don't have a religious bone in my body I can only admire them for their aesthetic quality. There are amazing illustrations in some of them...

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  • 10 months later...

There's a charity shop near where I live that sells a lot of second hand books, and also has regular 'window sales'. I've never been to any of these sales, (the items for which are displayed for about two weeks in the windows), but I was passing today and I noticed a LOAD of very old looking books in the window. Literally, dozens. A lot are old gardening and science volumes, some volumes of children's stories, but I also saw a copy of Don Quixote, a lovely little Bible and a few others open to show illustrations. The sale is on the 26th - I can't wait to go in and nab a new bunch of old books :D

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  • 2 years later...

I sell antiquarian books in Chester! They are great even just to have on display because they just look so good.

You can get them for a reasonable price if you know where to look but many of them are very expensive, especially if they are in good condition.

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  • 3 years later...

Hello fellow book lovers!,

 

   I've recently joined the book club and I'm excited to share and be part of the book club. Im here in australia, and book collecting here is not as big as other countries, I assume since australia is a very young country and not much old books linger around, except of course if it is brought in to the country. 

 

   Anyway, I collect books mostly from the 1800s and older. I try not to buy from the 1900s as they are very common. The oldest one in my collection is from 1590. and I do have a few from the 1700s and some from 1600s.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Not much love for antiquarian books here then? I have a few books from the 1800s but no older than that. My favourite is a Mark Twain UK first edition from 1867 which only cost me £6. I didn't realise it was a first edition until I got it home and looked it up! Still trying to find out more information on it though.

Edited by Flip Martian
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  • 3 months later...

I've always loved books but lately more into old books. My oldest is from 1694 and is my favourite! I buy from eBay or second hand book shops - I'm not interested in first editions, I like reading the books, not just buying and displaying them!

 

Have been searching for clubs or meetups with others with similar interest - without luck. 

Seems like there aren't many of us around!

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1694?!! Wow. I don't suppose you have a picture of it? I think the idea of actually never reading the book is missing the point too - they were made to be read. While we've not got anything older than around 1850/60, I do find myself automatically looking for old copies of books available today - part of the joy in owning is that its been owned by others, and have a history. That to me is almost the most attractive part.

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14882277_1112557782193343_34292102136521

 

1693 actually.

 

I love knowing that the book has a history - many people read it and it's from a time when books were precious and made to be enjoyed - it was a luxury to own and read books, which is shown in the binding and the pages. The books were made to last and be appreciated.

 

Now everyone can write and get published and sometimes it feels like everyone does - some modern books come to mind where the writing is terrible, the plot even worse, but the books still sell in millions of copies.

 

I love books with letters - from a time when language mattered and words were chosen with care and passion. 

 

And so I could go on!  :giggle2:   :readingtwo:

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/aqpcscmlvpw3l4j/14882277_1112557782193343_3429210213652142026_o.jpg?dl=0

 

Not sure the link to the picture works in the previous message, so here it is again.

 

14882277_1112557782193343_34292102136521

 

1693 actually.

 

I love knowing that the book has a history - many people read it and it's from a time when books were precious and made to be enjoyed - it was a luxury to own and read books, which is shown in the binding and the pages. The books were made to last and be appreciated.

 

Now everyone can write and get published and sometimes it feels like everyone does - some modern books come to mind where the writing is terrible, the plot even worse, but the books still sell in millions of copies.

 

I love books with letters - from a time when language mattered and words were chosen with care and passion. 

 

And so I could go on!  :giggle2:   :readingtwo:

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14882277_1112557782193343_34292102136521

 

1693 actually.

 

I love knowing that the book has a history - many people read it and it's from a time when books were precious and made to be enjoyed - it was a luxury to own and read books, which is shown in the binding and the pages. The books were made to last and be appreciated.

 

Now everyone can write and get published and sometimes it feels like everyone does - some modern books come to mind where the writing is terrible, the plot even worse, but the books still sell in millions of copies.

 

I love books with letters - from a time when language mattered and words were chosen with care and passion. 

 

And so I could go on!  :giggle2:   :readingtwo:

 

The dropbox link worked, ta :) What book IS it, out of interest?

 

Interesting point actually - I have been known to make the same point on other forums about taking photos and making music - both are so inexpensive to do now with better technology that whatever makes a good one example then becomes more difficult to find.  A used bookshop owner I was talking to recently said that many modern books don't even get proofread now - they're just thrown out into the marketplace in the hope that some sell.

 

I enjoy reading memoirs from times gone by - I have a few dating from 1600s on (sadly in more recent editions!) by all sorts, ranging from visitors to the New World, a Bow Street Runner, landed gentry in the 18th Century, a Victorian shopkeeper... The language they use is so much more precise and clear. And of course the world they describe is now long gone and that fascinates me too.

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