Collecting Antiquarian Books
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When you want to know about collecting valuable books, it helps to understand what qualifies as an antiquarian or collectible book. Whether you are considering rare books, first edition books, or out of print books, it is important that you know when you run across a book that might be valuable, no matter what part of the world you might be in.
When you are looking for collectible books, hard cover books are always more valuable than paperback books. , This is true whether you are looking at rare, out of print or first edition books.
When you are thinking about antiquarian books or those that are the most collectible, you will find that serious collectors are often only interested in the first edition and first printing of a book, also known as first/first. This defines a book that is in the first form that the book takes when it becomes available for the very first time.
It is usually available in smaller quantities than subsequent printings, condensations or reprints of the titles. There are some titles that have been reprinted many times, with different editions, but these subsequent versions fetch little in the book collector’s market.
You can tell whether antiquarian books are a first edition by looking at the copyright or author’s page of the book. If it is a first edition, there will be a string of numbers that starts with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on. The second edition will start with a string of numbers starting with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and so on. There are some publishers, such as Random House, that start their first editions with a 2, so you need to double check these to see if they might be collectibles.
When it comes to collecting rare books, these will typically be popular titles with very few copies in circulation because very few were ever printed. There are some original classic titles that might be considered rare antiquarian books because there are very few in circulation, even though there were quite a few originally printed.
This isn’t always the case because there might be some collectible books that are considered rare books because only a few hundred were printed many years ago or there might be a few autographed copies of the book and the author was famous for a number of years, yet subsequently deceased.
If you are collecting books, especially antiquarian books, for resale, it helps to have a general knowledge of which books are considered out-of-print or rare books and those that are first/first books because those can bring a much larger return than typical books that are into several editions and hundreds of printings.
However, many people collect books for the sheer love of it, so monetary value isn’t the only motivator. Whatever your reasons for getting involved in the antiquarian book industry, spend time at auctions, events and sales to boost your knowledge. The more you know the more likely you are to spot that rare and out of print book before someone else does.
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