Why Collect Rare Books?
‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a book lover, in possession of an enquiring mind, must be in want of a collection’ (to paraphrase Jane Austen).
Written by Oliver Bayliss
For the non-collector among us (are there really people who don’t collect books?), the idea that collectors spend their hours fawning over dust jackets, variant bindings, issue points and even deckled edges is such an alien one that people often ask why - usually with a look etched across their faces that suggests we might be mad. The same look takes on an all-together more bewildered guise for our non-collector friends when they find out the value of a first edition by an author such as Jane Austen...
As these are questions that we hear, as booksellers and collectors, on a regular basis, in our working lives, at countless dinner parties, after-work drinks and school reunions (the latter a particularly fertile breeding ground), we thought it might be a good idea to jot down a few thoughts on why exactly people collect rare books.
For some it’s their hobby and others their art form. Some say it’s their obsession, with the writer and collector Nicholas A. Basbanes once calling it ‘a gentle form of madness’! Some put their faith in books, whilst others invest in them, speculators you might call those collectors. Yet more people squirrel away their fortunes ready for the day when they find the great treasure they’ve been hunting for, sometimes for decades.
However, if you were to boil it down, many a collector might say simply, what an unbridled joy it is to own the first edition of their favourite book, be that by Fleming, Piranesi or Livingstone. For them, there is nothing else quite like it. While contemporary readers will often queue outside a bookshop overnight with a flask of cold coffee and a ham sandwich so that they can be the first to own the new literary sensation, collectors of rare antiquarian books and first editions will also stop at nothing (well perhaps murder) to get our hands on the earliest copy of the books we love, be that manuscripts, uncorrected proofs, or signed limited editions. Bibliophiles are bibliophiles at the end of the day, and we are all collecting something.
Now that we’ve shone a light on why we collect rare books, why not let our specialists advise you on starting your own collection, based on your individual tastes and of course finances.
About Us
Shapero Rare Books is an internationally renowned dealer in London, specialising in antiquarian & rare books and works on paper, with particular expertise in fine illustrated books from the 15th to the 20th century, travel & voyages, natural history, modern firsts, rare children’s books, guidebooks, Hebraica & Judaica, Eastern European, and Islamica.
Shop online and enjoy free international shipping now.
FEATURED ITEMS
Browse All-
A Country Muse.
GALE, Norman R.Original price £125.00 - Original price £125.00Original price £0.00£125.00£125.00 - £125.00Current price £125.00The second series, of two; the author's first published works.First edition, number 27 of 75 copies on handmade paper, from an overall limitation ...
View full detailsOriginal price £125.00 - Original price £125.00Original price £0.00£125.00£125.00 - £125.00Current price £125.00 -
A Fearful Adversary.
JILLARD, Peard.Original price £750.00 - Original price £750.00Original price £0.00£750.00£750.00 - £750.00Current price £750.00A very good first edition set of this scarce Victorian three-decker, in the original publisher's binding. The work seems to defy easy categorisati...
View full detailsOriginal price £750.00 - Original price £750.00Original price £0.00£750.00£750.00 - £750.00Current price £750.00 -
A House of Pomegranates.
WILDE, Oscar.Original price £2,500.00 - Original price £2,500.00Original price £0.00£2,500.00£2,500.00 - £2,500.00Current price £2,500.00One of 1000 copies. A sequel to Wilde's previous collection of fairy tales, The Happy Prince and Other Tales, which he wrote for his two sons. Thi...
View full detailsOriginal price £2,500.00 - Original price £2,500.00Original price £0.00£2,500.00£2,500.00 - £2,500.00Current price £2,500.00 -
A Passionate Pilgrim
JAMES, Henry.Original price £950.00 - Original price £950.00Original price £0.00£950.00£950.00 - £950.00Current price £950.00A very good first edition example of the first book by Henry James. One of approximately 1500 copies with the correct imprint 'J.R.Osgood & Co...
View full detailsOriginal price £950.00 - Original price £950.00Original price £0.00£950.00£950.00 - £950.00Current price £950.00 -
A Tale of Two Cities.
DICKENS, Charles.Original price £3,750.00 - Original price £3,750.00Original price £0.00£3,750.00£3,750.00 - £3,750.00Current price £3,750.00A first issue with p. 213 mispaginated as 113 and signature 'b' on 'List of Plates' leaf and 'affetcionately on p. 134, line 12With one of the mos...
View full detailsOriginal price £3,750.00 - Original price £3,750.00Original price £0.00£3,750.00£3,750.00 - £3,750.00Current price £3,750.00 -
Adam Bede; Mill on the Floss; Silas Marner; Scenes of Clerical Life; Felix Holt; Romola; Middlemarch; Daniel Deronda.
ELIOT, George (pseud. EVANS, Marian).Original price £1,350.00 - Original price £1,350.00Original price £0.00£1,350.00£1,350.00 - £1,350.00Current price £1,350.00The novels of George Eliot. A finely bound set of George Eliot's novels.Eight volumes, 8vo; contemporary tree calf gilt, morocco lettering pieces, ...
View full detailsOriginal price £1,350.00 - Original price £1,350.00Original price £0.00£1,350.00£1,350.00 - £1,350.00Current price £1,350.00 -
Amoris Victima.
SYMONS, Arthur.Original price £150.00 - Original price £150.00Original price £0.00£150.00£150.00 - £150.00Current price £150.00A thematically linked series of poems dedicated to a 'typical phase of modern love', apparently.First edition, one of 400 copies; 8vo; foxing to f...
View full detailsOriginal price £150.00 - Original price £150.00Original price £0.00£150.00£150.00 - £150.00Current price £150.00 -
An African Millionaire.
ALLEN, Grant.Original price £650.00 - Original price £650.00Original price £0.00£650.00£650.00 - £650.00Current price £650.00The most sought-after of the various novels by prolific writer Grant Allen: 'More successful were the detective stories, written later in his life...
View full detailsOriginal price £650.00 - Original price £650.00Original price £0.00£650.00£650.00 - £650.00Current price £650.00
Leave a comment