Modern Book Collecting($14.95Value)

Description

Modern Book Collecting offers advice that answers all the basic questions a book lover and collector might have—what to collect and where to find it, how to tell a first edition from a reprint, how to build an author collection, how to get the best price from dealers, how to understand the prices and rarity of books, and more. With a handy dictionary of terms used in auction and dealer catalogs and a new section on Internet resources, this is a must-have guide for book lovers. Robert A. Wilson was proprietor of the famous Phoenix Bookshop in New York City. He is a passionate writer and authored of bibliographies of Gertrude Stein, Gregory Corso, and Denise Levertov. Wilson specializes in rare books and manuscripts. Nicholas A. Basbanes is a writer and journalist. His bestselling book A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in nonfiction. Modern Book Collecting A Basic Guide to All Aspects of Book Collecting-What to Collect, Who to Buy From, Auctions, Bibliographies, Care, Fakes and Forgeries, Investments, Donations, Definitions, and More By Robert A. Wilson, Nicholas A. Basbanes Skyhorse Publishing Copyright © 2010 Robert A. Wilson All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-60239-985-3 Contents ALSO BY ROBERT A. WILSON, Title Page, Copyright Page, Dedication, INTRODUCTION, FOREWORD, PREFACE, CHAPTER ONE - WHAT TO COLLECT, CHAPTER TWO - HOW TO BUILD AN AUTHOR COLLECTION, CHAPTER THREE - STARTING WITH AN UNKNOWN AUTHOR, CHAPTER FOUR - IT'S NEVER TOO LATE, CHAPTER FIVE - DEALERS AND COLLECTORS, CHAPTER SIX - BUYING AT AUCTION, CHAPTER SEVEN - OTHER SOURCES, CHAPTER EIGHT - COLLECTOR'S CONDITION, CHAPTER NINE - HOW TO IDENTIFY FIRST EDITIONS, CHAPTER TEN - BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHAPTER ELEVEN - A BOOK PRODUCTION, CHAPTER TWELVE - THE CARE AND PROTECTION OF YOUR COLLECTION, CHAPTER THIRTEEN - FAKES, FORGERIES, AND FACSIMILES, CHAPTER FOURTEEN - INVESTMENT, CHAPTER FIFTEEN - DONATING OR SELLING YOUR COLLECTION TO AN INSTITUTION, CHAPTER SIXTEEN - DEFINITION OF TERMS, APPENDIX ONE - LIST OF BOOK AUCTION FIRMS HANDLING BOOKS OF INTEREST TO COLLECTORS, APPENDIX TWO - SOURCES FOR MODERN FIRST EDITIONS, APPENDIX THREE - CLUBS FOR BOOK COLLECTORS, APPENDIX FOUR - THE FIFTY MOST IMPORTANT BOOKS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE PUBLISHED, SINCE THE END OF WORLD WAR II, APPENDIX FIVE - RESOURCES FOR ANTIQUE BOOKS, INDEX, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR, A NOTE ON THE TYPE, CHAPTER 1 WHAT TO COLLECT A true book collector knows whether he is one or not, just as the old saying has it about being in love. A genuine bibliophile is born rather than made. Thus "what to collect" is a question that answers itself. A collector collects what fascinates him. The fascination, in fact, comes before the collection, because most collectors do not begin to collect deliberately. The first step, inevitably, is buying books that reflect one's interest in a subject or in an author in order to read them. Whether or not they are rare or hard to get is secondary. My own experience is a case in point. I have a complete collection of Gertrude Stein books; I began to buy them in the first place simply because I wanted to read them. Virtually none were in print. In fact, as recently as 1960, before the intense revival of interest in her work began, only one of her more than sixty titles was available. Anyone who wanted to read Gertrude Stein was forced to seek out copies wherever they could be found — generally in the form of first editions, because only four or five of them had ever existed in any other form. I became deeply involved in the search, and the result is my Stein collection. Nowadays all but two or three of those books are in print again and can be purchased with relative ease. But no matter. In the course of things I had discovered my love of book collecting and the joy that the search can bring. Once the line between reader and collector has been crossed, there is usually no turning back. There is no cure for the virus. But a distinction should still be made between the collector and the investor. If the acquisition of a rare, long-sought-after book gives you pleasure, a glow, a lift, just because you finally own it, with little or no thought that you may be able to sell it at a profit, then you are undoubtedly a collector and are liable to remain one for the rest of your life. On the other hand, if you buy a book and immediately think, "Aha, I can double the price at X's," then you are primarily a dealer or an investor. It's really as simple and basic as that. (However, as both a collector and a dealer myself, I can testify that the conditions are not mutually exclusive.) In recent years a great many people have begun to collect books as an investment, spurred on, no doubt, by numerous articles in newspapers and magazines written in a breezy, offhand manner and emphasizing the profit mo