Does anyone keep antique books?

[platinumsage]

I am sometimes tempted by old books on eBay. I lost an auction yesterday on one printed in 1713, and while I wish I had bid more, I was also a bit relieved because it seems such books might need some looking after.

Does anyone keep such old tomes and if so how much do you worry about temperature and humidity, and washing your hands, and trying not to read the book too often, and all that stuff?

 

[A380]

I am sometimes tempted by old books on eBay. I lost an auction yesterday on one printed in 1713, and while I wish I had bid more, I was also a bit relieved because it seems such books might need some looking after.

Does anyone keep such old tomes and if so how much do you worry about temperature and humidity, and washing your hands, and trying not to read the book too often, and all that stuff?

I’ve got a few books printed before 1850 but I don’t think they are valuable and just stick them o the shelves with the others.

 

[Elpenor]

are you an antiquarian but not a member of an antiquarian organisation?

 

[DotCommunist]

I saw two ancient looking looking volumes in the charity shop the other day. Lloyd George's war memoirs. 5 pound each and the temptation was strong but resisted. Only 1933 tbf and possibly still n print

 

[BassJunkie]

I kind of fetishise old books and I've been making more of an effort to read fiction. As a result the last couple of books I've bought, instead of buying new from Amazon, I've sought out the old versions, they may cost 50% more, but they're much more charming. You've given me pause though because in both cases I've chucked them into my laptop bag to read on the train to work. Perhaps I should treat them more carefully, although neither is older than 101 years:





The latter comes with this ancient inscription:



London Belongs To Me is a First Edition.

Far From The Madding Crowd isn't. As I didn't want to spend £3K on an old book (well, I did, but didn't consider it 'good value').

 

[platinumsage]

My oldest is a red leather-bound Regency-era pocket prayer book, printed the year after Jane Austen died. It's only worth about 25 quid for some reason, but I'm reluctant to even open it most of the time even though it smells amazing.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Keep is a strange kind of verb as opposed to read.

 

[StoneRoad]

I've got quite a few oldies, a couple of which are protectively wrapped, the rest are on the usual shelves. But as far as I know, nothing exceptional.

I love going into Barter Books, in Alnwick, and wandering around - they've got some really tasty stuff in the cabinets. Most of it is way out of my budget, but a friend haunts an certain internet auction site, and some of the stuff on there ...

Perhaps it's the librarian in me ?
Whilst I was doing the course at CLW {at Llanbadarn, Aberystwyth} we had a field week. Mainly we were visiting a range of libraries for experience - My group had an afternoon in the chained library at Canterbury as part of that, whilst we were there I got handed a first edition Bradshaw - the "bible" that Portillo uses on his "Great Railway Journey" series. We all got something to look at / hold that had meaning in some personal way.

 

[StoneRoad]

Keep is a strange kind of verb as opposed to read.

That's because collecting "old books" is quite a hobby for some people - and there are several forms. eg early printed volumes, first editions ...

And most people that collect such things tend to look at, maybe read, their books only rarely - to avoid damage / preserve the value ....

 

[Magnus McGinty]

A bit like the stock market with lesser risk.

 

[platinumsage]

Keep is a strange kind of verb as opposed to read.

Not especially, given my question was about how to keep them rather than how to read them.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Not especially, given my question was about how to keep them rather than how to read them.

You keep dogs. You read books.

 

[platinumsage]

You keep dogs. You read books.

What do you do with your books when you're not reading them? Do librarians read all their books all the time or do they spend some time keeping them?

 

[Magnus McGinty]

What do you do with your books when you're not reading them? Do librarians read all their books all the time or do they spend some time keeping them?

They polish them daily and feed them vegan food?

 

[Fozzie Bear]

A friend is an antiquarian book dealer and has lots of great stories about eccentric collectors and discovering rare editions. It’s wildly romantic but I think he generally earns very little.

I can see the attraction, but nah. I’d spill tea on them or something.

 

[mojo pixy]

I've got a (tatty) Collection of English Verse that was printed in 1927. It begins with Donne and Chaucer and has all the standards, seems quite staid and old fashioned, so it's odd to think that when it was published the TS Eliot bits were brand new and right on the cutting edge of poetry.