Book collecting

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Some inexpensive collectible books: these are, left to right, by Tyndall, Collingwood, H. M. Field, Bryce, Woolf, and Asimov. Book collection.jpg
Some inexpensive collectible books: these are, left to right, by Tyndall, Collingwood, H. M. Field, Bryce, Woolf, and Asimov.

Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is bibliophilia , and someone who loves to read, admire, and a person who collects books is often called a bibliophile .

Contents

Book prices generally depend on the demand for a given edition which is based on factors such as the number of copies available, the book's condition, and if they were signed by the author (and/or editor or illustrator, if applicable) or by a famous previous owner. [1] For example, a first edition “And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street” can reach the price of $12,000 in the best condition.

History

In the ancient world, papyri and scrolls (the precursors of the book in codex form) were collected by both institutions and private individuals. In surviving accounts there are references to bibliophile book collectors in that era. Xenophon wrote disparagingly of a man who tried to collect more books than his friends. [2] Seneca the Younger was skeptical of those who collect books they do not read, [2] asking: "What is the use of possessing numberless books and libraries, whose titles their owner can hardly read through in a lifetime?" [3] Book collectors in western antiquity prized accurate transcription and high-quality materials. [2]

In 1344 the English bishop Richard de Bury wrote The Philobiblon , in which he praised the love and appreciation of books. [4] Philip the Good brought together a collection of "about six hundred manuscripts in his possession at the height of his reign", [5] which was the largest private collection of his day.

With the advent of the printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century, which resulted in cheaper and more abundant books, and with the contemporaneous economic, social and political changes of the Renaissance, book collecting received a great impetus. Jean Grolier, the Treasurer-General of France, was an important bibliophile and book collector of this period. [6]

With the advent of the Romantic era in the 18th century and its focus on the past, book collectors began to show an interest in old books, antiquarian editions and manuscripts. This new emphasis was nourished by the flood of old books onto the market following the dissolution of monastic and aristocratic libraries during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. [7]

The British Whig politician George John, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834) collected tens of thousands of volumes. Strengths of his collection included first editions of the classics; works produced by important early presses, and notably an almost complete collection of Aldine editions; and many Bibles. [8]

Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872) collected 40,000 printed books and 60,000 manuscripts. [9] He was "the greatest collector of manuscript material the world has ever known". [10]

The increasingly wealthy United States during the 19th century saw the appearance of "titan" book collectors such as the railroad magnate Henry Huntington and the financier and banker J. Pierpont Morgan. [11]

Prices

The Rothschild Prayerbook sold for $13.6 million while the St Cuthbert Gospel sold for $14.7 million. Both of these religious texts were sold in 2012. The Northumberland Bestiary sold for $20 million in 2007. The New Book of Tang sold for $17.1 million in 2018. William Shakespeare’s First Folio, printed in 1623, sold for $9.978 million in 2020. An Action Comics #1 issue sold for a record $3.2 million in 2014 with a cover price of 10 cents. [12]

Condition

Despite appearing in many films and other popular culture, wearing cotton gloves while handling old or rare books does not protect the book, and can increase the risk of inadvertent damage. [13] However, the theatrical effect of showing a rare book being handled with gloved hands may increase its selling price. [13]

Antiquarian book collecting

Antiquarian book collecting may be roughly defined as an interest in books printed prior to 1900 and can encompass interest in 19th, 18th, 17th, 16th, and 15th-century books. Antiquarian book collectors are not exclusively interested in first editions and first printings, although they can be. European books created before 1455 are all hand-written and are therefore one-of-a-kind historical artifacts in which the idea of "edition" and "printing" is irrelevant. Any book printed up to the year 1501 is known as an incunable or incunabulum. Such books command a premium and are particularly sought after by collectors interested in the history of printing. [14]

The beginning of Paradise Lost from a 1720 illustrated edition. Not a first edition but desirable among antiquarians. ParadiseLost1720Ed.jpg
The beginning of Paradise Lost from a 1720 illustrated edition. Not a first edition but desirable among antiquarians.

The first English movable-type printer was Caxton in the late 15th century. Editions of his books from the 15th century are very rare. Occasionally, 16th-century editions similar to Caxton's books appear among antiquarian book dealers and auctions, often fetching very high prices. The last Shakespeare First Folio of 1623 (first edition of the collected works of William Shakespeare) garnered a record-breaking $9,978,000 at Christie's in October 2020. [15]

Books owned by well-known individuals that also have a connection with the author (often as a gift from the author with a written dedication to the recipient) are known as association copies. [16]

The American School Library is an example of a very rare multi-volume boxed set with works by many popular or famous authors. Apparently the only extant full set is owned by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. [17] [18]

Prominent book collectors

In China

The history of book collecting in China dates back over two millennia. An important effort to collect books in China was made during the early Han dynasty by the government, as many important books were burned during the Qin dynasty. [25] From then on, book collecting began to flourish in China, particularly after the invention of block printing during the early Tang dynasty, with both imperial and private collections blooming throughout the country. However, the systematic study of book collecting began only during the Qing dynasty. [26]

Terminology

Virtual book collecting

Virtual book collecting can be described as collecting books in a digital format (virtually) on a computer or other electronic device. A bibliophile may acquire ebooks by downloading them or copying from borrowed media, such as CDs and DVDs. However, this may violate copyright law, depending on the license under which the ebook was released. Ebooks acquired from Project Gutenberg and many similar free collections cause no violation as they have gone out of copyright, have been released under a Creative Commons license, or else are in the public domain.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Bibliomania can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder which involves the collecting or even hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliophilia</span> Love of books

Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. A bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. S. W. Rosenbach</span> American collector (1876–1952)

Abraham Simon Wolf Rosenbach was an American collector, scholar, and dealer in rare books and manuscripts. In London, where he frequently attended the auctions at Sotheby's, he was known as "The Terror of the Auction Room." In Paris, he was called "Le Napoléon des Livres". Many others referred to him as "Dr. R.", a "Robber Baron" and "the Greatest Bookdealer in the World".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bookselling</span> Business of selling and dealing with books

Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process.

John Waynflete Carter was an English writer, diplomat, bibliographer, book-collector, antiquarian bookseller and president of the Bibliographical Society in 1968. He was recognised as one of the most important figures in the Anglo-American book world. He was the great-grandson of Canon T. T. Carter

The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA) is an organization in the United States for dealers in rare and antiquarian books. The association is a member of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB).

Charles Vincent Emerson Starrett, known as Vincent Starrett, was a Canadian-born American writer, newspaperman, and bibliophile.

The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers is a non-profit umbrella organization of bookseller associations, with its legal location in Geneva, Switzerland. It federates 22 National Associations of Antiquarian Booksellers, representing nearly 2000 dealers in 32 countries. Antiquarian booksellers affiliated to the League adhere to the ILAB Code of Ethics, and the League aims to server as a global network for the rare book trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Belanger</span> American librarian (born 1941)

Terry Belanger is the founding director of Rare Book School (RBS), an institute concerned with education for the history of books and printing, and with rare books and special collections librarianship. He is University Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia (UVa), where RBS has its home base. Between 1972 and 1992, he devised and ran a master's program for the training of rare book librarians and antiquarian booksellers at the Columbia University School of Library Service. He is a 2005 MacArthur Fellow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Ann O'Brian Malkin</span>

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The Hroswitha Club was a membership-based club of women bibliophiles and collectors based in New York City, active from 1944 to 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Sabin</span> Anglo-American bibliographer (1821–1881)

Joseph Sabin was a Braunston, England-born bibliographer and bookseller in Oxford, Philadelphia, and New York City. He compiled the "stupendous" multivolume Bibliotheca Americana: A Dictionary of Books Relating to America, considered a "bibliophilic monument;" and published the American Bibliopolist, a trade magazine. His sons Robert T. Sabin and William W. Sabin also worked in the bookselling business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriel Wells</span>

Gabriel Wells was a noted bookseller, historian and author. He was one of the most important antiquarian booksellers in America and Britain in the first half of the twentieth century. He was president of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association in 1930.

The Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS) is an association of American book clubs whose members seek interaction with book collectors across the country and around the world. At The Rowfant (Book) Club's 100th anniversary celebration in 1992, local members and their guests from book clubs in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco discovered common interests in bibliophilic book clubs. The new association's first meeting was November 5, 1993, in New York, at The Grolier Club. In 1994, the group drew up articles of association outlining their goals to promote and develop common interests of the member societies.

Bernard Hartmut Breslauer was a German antiquarian book dealer and collector, who lived in turn in Germany, England and the United States. As a book dealer he published many catalogues and was a scholar of book history.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Blanck</span> American bibliographer (1906–1974)

Jacob Nathaniel Blanck was an American bibliographer, editor, and children's writer. Born in Boston, he attended local schools and briefly ran a bookshop before being hired to assist on a bibliography of American first editions. He wrote for periodicals on the book trade and worked as a bibliographer in libraries including the Library of Congress in the 1940s and 1950s. Blanck also published two children's books. In the early 1940s, he founded a bibliography project that became Bibliography of American Literature, a selective bibliography of American literature. It was completed by 1992, after Blanck's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin G. Schiller</span>

Justin Galland Schiller is an American bookseller specializing in rare and collectible children's books; proprietor during his student days under his own name (1960–69), then Justin G. Schiller, Ltd. (1969–2020). Headquartered in New York City, it was the oldest specialist firm in the United States, focusing on historical and collectible children's books, related original art, and manuscripts. In 1988, he formed a second corporation—Battledore Ltd, with his partner and spouse Dennis M V David, to further specialize in original children's book illustration art and the legacy of Maurice Sendak.

John Harrison Stonehouse was an English bookseller and Charles Dickens scholar at long-established London booksellers Sotheran's where he rose from apprentice to managing director through hard work and a strong entrepreneurial instinct. He introduced and popularised the "Cosway" binding and commissioned the opulent edition of Edward FitzGerald's The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam that was lost when RMS Titanic sank in 1912. He published a book on the subject in 1933.

Ernst Philip Goldschmidt (1887–1954) was a Viennese-born antiquarian bookseller, scholar and bibliophile. During his career he issued more than 100 "meticulously researched" and scholarly sales catalogues, which "set high standards" and many of which are now standard reference works in libraries. He also wrote books and articles about early books and manuscripts, including his Gothic and Renaissance Bookbindings (1928), which remains "one of the most important works on bookbinding history", and works on the relation of humanism to the spread of printing, which "broke new ground".

References

  1. "Collecting, Identifying, and Valuing First Edition Dr. Seuss Books". 1stedition.net. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
  2. 1 2 3 Holzenberg 2019, p. 816.
  3. Seneca, Aubrey Stewart, tr., Of Peace of Mind Archived 2017-11-14 at the Wayback Machine , London: George Bell and Sons, 1900 (Bohn's Classical Library Edition), Book X; republished on en.wikisource.org. Retrieved 14 November 2017. Of Peace of Mind is a translation of Seneca's De Tranquillitate Animi .
  4. Martin, S. S. (1986). Richard D'Aungerville de Bury, 1287-1345 (England, Bishop of Durham). Emory University. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, p. 24.
  5. Leah Dobrinska, Philip the Good: Early Book Collector, Patron of the Arts Archived 2017-11-15 at the Wayback Machine , bookstellyouwhy.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  6. Gabriel Austin, The Library of Jean Grolier: A Preliminary Catalogue Archived 2016-05-14 at the Wayback Machine , New York: The Grolier Club, 1971, pp. 1-4.
  7. Owen Chadwick, "The Acton Library", in: Peter Fox, ed., Cambridge University Library: The Great Collections, Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 142.
  8. William Younger Fletcher, English Book Collectors, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Company, 1902 (The English Bookman's Library), pp. 309-312.
  9. Anon. "Phillipps, Thomas"  . Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 45. pp. 192–195.
  10. Seymour de Ricci, English Collectors of Books & Manuscripts (1530-1930) and Their Marks of Ownership. The Sandars Lectures 1929-1930, Cambridge University Press, 1930; reprinted Indiana University Press, 1960, p. 119. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  11. Stephen Ferguson, Collecting in 19th Century America Archived 2020-07-27 at the Wayback Machine , princeton.edu. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  12. Gonzalez, Eileen (2019-12-09). "Grab Your Wallet, Here Are the Most Expensive Books Ever Sold". BOOK RIOT. Archived from the original on 2021-07-24. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
  13. 1 2 Schuessler, Jennifer (2023-03-09). "For Rare Book Librarians, It's Gloves Off. Seriously". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  14. "Collecting Guide: Incunabula". Christie's. 2021. Archived from the original on 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  15. "William Shakespeare's 'First Folio' Sells for $9,978,000 and Sets World Auction Record for Any Work of Literature at Christie's". Christie's. 2020. Archived from the original on 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  16. "Association Copies". AbeBooks Inc. Archived from the original on 1 September 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  17. "The American School Library". Harper & Brothers. 1839. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  18. Hamel], Michael Olmert; [introduction by Christopher de (1992). The Smithsonian book of books (1. ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books. ISBN   0-89599-030-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. "Lancashire Evening Post Darren Ashcroft". October 7, 2011. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  20. "The Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature". University of Virginia Library. Archived from the original on July 26, 2010. Retrieved April 11, 2010.
  21. Twentieth Century Book Collectors and Bibliographers. ISBN   0-7876-3072-1. DLB Vol 201 p.81-88
  22. Basbanes, Nicholas A. (1999). A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books. New York: Henry Holt. p. 461. ISBN   9780805061765 . Retrieved April 11, 2010.
  23. "Houghton Library: History". Harvard College Library. c. 2010. Archived from the original on June 26, 2010. Retrieved April 11, 2010.
  24. Reif, Rita (December 21, 1988). "Library of 10,000 Rarities To Be Sold at Sotheby's". The New York Times . Archived from the original on May 16, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2010.
  25. "The First Emperor of China Destroys Most Records of the Past Along with 460, or More, Scholars". History of Information. Archived from the original on May 24, 2021. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  26. Hoh, Anchi (February 15, 2022). "Exploring Rare Manchu Books at the Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on February 19, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2022.

Works cited

Further reading

For more modern accounts, see the series of books on book-collectors, book-collecting and "bibliomania" by Nicholas A. Basbanes:

Follow husband and wife team Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone as they search for rare and collectible volumes, and explore real mysteries in the rare-book world, in:

For book collecting in China, see: