Trying to find the age of a book

[Joost]

Hi all,

 

My parents were cleaning out their bookshelves and they found a hardback copy of "Grimm's Fairy Tales". They gave it to me and now I'm trying to find out more about it. It looks old (more than 50 years old), but I have no idea how old . It doesn't have a publishing date, all it mentions is the the tekst:

 

"Printed in Great Britain, DEAN & SON Ltd., 41/43 Ludgate Hill LONDON E.C. 4"

 

and on the other side of the page:

 

"Made and printed in Great Britain by Purnell and Sons, Ltd. Paulton (somerset) and London"

 

I tried to Google the publisher and the printer but it seems they went out of business. Does anybody have any idea how to get more information? Thanks

[Kell]

Does it have an ISBN? You might try going to a library - they might have some kind of record.

[Janet]

ISBNs weren't introduced until the late 60s so if it's older than that then it won't have one.

 

It's really difficult to date books without more info than that. When I was cataloguing for the Bookbarn, I had to put 0000 on books without dates in them and then they were looked at by an in-house expert.

 

There aren't Roman numerals on the book, are there? Or you might find the information on the back pages of the book.

 

Other than that, it's really a case of taking it to a dealer.

[BigWords]

Look at the inside cover for the price. I have managed to date some books by comparing them with very similar publications from the same publisher.

[Joost]

No ISBN, no Roman numerals, no information in the back, no price inside the cover. And I found no information about the publishers so if anybody has ever hear of them, some information would be highly appreciated.

 

I did find a weblog from someone in India who found what seems to be the same book. His has a date written in it with a pen: 1964. I emailed him to ask if he has more information.

 

Thanks people

[sarah]

I have come accross the same problem with alice's adventures in wonderland and through the looking glass.

If you have any joy in dating it pls wld you let me know as I will do the same id I come up with anything.

cheers sarah

[Raven]

A thought that has just occurred to me, though the shop in question may not appreciate it, is that there is a specialist book shop on Charring Cross Road in London (between Leicester Square tube station and Shaftsbury Avenue) that deal in older books and they may be able to give you an appraisal if you take the book there.

 

I have no idea if this is a service they offer, or how good they would be at it, but it might be something to try.