Books Tell You Why. All About Collecting Rare Books

The Bond Dossier: Live and Let Die

By Nick Ostdick. May 18, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Rare Books, Book History, James Bond, Dust Jackets

The saying goes that an artist has his or her entire life to create their first major work, but only a few years to finish their second. It’s an adage often used to rationalize a drop-off in quality or ambition between an artist’s first two major pieces, which is an all too common occurrence. But Ian Fleming is perhaps the shining exception to this rule.

Fleming’s second James Bond novel, Live and Let Die, was published April 5, 1954 and was completed just a few months before the release of the debut Bond novel, Casino Royale—in fact, some Bond scholars contend portions of Live and Let Die were actually composed before Casino Royale was written. Live and Let Die defied the expectations of diminishing returns in following up such a massive success with great critical acclaim in both the U.K. and U.S., coupled with brisk sales in Great Britain and throughout Europe.

Announcing Our 2016 Rare Book School Scholarship Winner!

By Leah Dobrinska. Apr 4, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Rare Books, Libraries & Special Collections

We love rare books. We love librarians. We love Rare Book School. As a result, we’re excited to be able to send one deserving librarian to an RBS course for free. After reading through dozens of noteworthy applications, Books Tell You Why is delighted to announce the winner of our first annual Rare Book School Scholarship: Rosemary K. J. Davis. Read on for more information about Davis’s work, and please join us in congratulating her on her accomplishment.

Book Traces Interview with Professor Andrew Stauffer

By Audrey Golden. Apr 3, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Rare Books, Libraries & Special Collections, Interviews

There’s an exciting new project at the University of Virginia that highlights the significance of the book as a physical object and the individual histories of library books. At a moment in which the physicality of university libraries (and others across the country) are under threat of depletion due to the looming presence of the electronic text, we couldn’t imagine a more compelling project than Book Traces. It’s a crowd-sourced web project sponsored by NINES at the University of Virginia, and it’s led by Andrew Stauffer, a professor of 19th-century literature at UVA. We had a chance to catch up with Professor Stauffer to ask some questions about the origins, current uses, and futures of Book Traces.

Buying Antiquarian Books in Spain

By Audrey Golden. Mar 30, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Rare Books, Book Collecting, Literary travel

If you’re planning a trip to Spain and you like to think of yourself as a book collector, then you’re in luck. The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) lists more than 40 shops selling rare and antiquarian books in various parts of the country, from storefronts in Sevilla in the southern part of Spain to those in Bilbao in the north. Depending on where you travel in the country, the makeup of the cities—from language to culture—varies widely. Anyone who has been to Catalonia will tell you that Catalan, as opposed to Spanish, is the primary language spoken. And in towns with close proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, the architecture reveals influences from North Africa. But these regions do have one thing in common: a commitment to the preservation and sale of the book as physical object.

Collecting Winnie-the-Pooh

By Leah Dobrinska. Mar 19, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Rare Books, Book Collecting, Children's Books

To know Winnie-the-Pooh is to love Winnie-the-Pooh. And thanks in large part to Disney and the commercialization of the beloved classic children’s literature character, almost everyone knows Winnie-the-Pooh. Walk into any store and you’ll see Pooh pajamas, Pooh placemats, Pooh picture frames, and countless other Pooh-inspired paraphernalia. It’s safe to say the image of Pooh is a familiar one.

But what about the original A.A. Milne books that contain the stories and poetry that inspire the still-going-strong Pooh parade? They are what dedicated Winnie-the-Pooh collectors are seeking, and they are our focus today. Looking to add to or begin your own Winnie-the-Pooh library? Read on for collecting tips and ideas for the Pooh collector.

How To Beat the Bookworm in 2019

By Abigail Wheetley. Feb 25, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Rare Books, Book Care

What is a bookworm, anyway? Is it the baby of a beetle? A living creature that loves books? A larvae placed there by a moth? Why do we care, again?

If you're interested in learning more about how to identify and beat the bookworm in order to keep your books and collection safe, you're in the right place. Read on for our best bookworm-busting strategies.

The Fascinating World of Children's Book Collecting

By Abigail Wheetley. Feb 24, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Rare Books, Children's Books

Book collecting can be a complex and varied activity, hobby, or profession. First editions, rare editions, signed editions, provenance...these are all areas in which one needs to be educated. But what if you want to collect, but don’t necessarily want to take a master’s course to do it? Even better, what if you just want to collect what you love, and love what you collect? One possible solution is to become a collector of children’s books.

Scheuchzer and the History of the Biblical Encyclopedia

By Kristin Masters. Feb 13, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Rare Books, Book Collecting

"How is it possible to understand the whole universe? All the books that are made treat only some of the imaginable topics. What could we read that would treat absolutely everything?"

So wrote François de Grenaille, author of Theatre de l'universe, published in 1643. Scholars had expressed similar consternation for a full century. With the advent of the printing press, the sheer volume of books reached what many scholars considered crisis levels—they were simply unable to keep up with so much new information.

Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Unwitting Namesake of a Giant Salamander

By Kristin Masters. Feb 8, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Rare Books, Book History

By the time Johann Jakob Scheuchzer published the first volume of his momentous Physica Sacra in 1731, he was already a renowned scientist. Like many scholars of his age, Scheuchzer did not limit himself to only one field. Well versed in astronomy, he depicted one of the earliest known accounts of the Perseid meteor shower in 1709. That same year, Scheuchzer also published Herbarium Diluvianum ("Herbarium of the Deluge"), an exhaustive botanical reference consulted long into the following century. A colleague of Sir Isaac Newton and other luminaries of the early modern era, Scheuchzer is unfortunately often remembered not for his expansive body of work, but for his most famous mistake.

Five Rare Rudyard Kipling Editions

By Nick Ostdick. Dec 30, 2015. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Rare Books, Nobel Prize Winners

With dozens of major works to his name, Rudyard Kipling was one of the most prolific writers of his time and a stalwart in the British literary landscape. Kipling was a master storyteller whose books transcended genre and audience, and his impact on the modern short story, children’s books, poetry, and long-form narratives like the novel still resonates with writers today.