Sell rare book, Addison's Rare Books, LLC 1800

YOU ARE READING: Sell rare book, Addison’s Rare Books, LLC 1800 – 1899 AT PhebinhvanhocEN

First, it is important to note that the following information is not exhaustive. there will always be exceptions. over many years and after many thousands of rare and valuable books have been sold, we tend to see recurring themes. Usually (again, not always), when a 19th-century book is valuable, it will tend to fit into one of the following categories:

1: Important and recognizable fiction, such as first editions by Mark Twain, Edgar Poe, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Flaubert, and other household names. You’ll probably recognize the titles of these kinds of books: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, etc. remember that just because an author and title are recognizable is not enough. It must be a first edition. if you see a copy of shakespeare’s romeo and juliet printed in 1850, then you know it can’t be a first edition because shakespeare died some 200 years earlier. Key point here: During the 1800s (particularly the mid to late 1800s), reprints of classic works were extremely common. You will see many Shakespeare, Milton and similar books reprinted. in fact, you’ll also see many reprints of 19th-century works. authors such as those mentioned above. editing is very important. To complicate matters, it was common in the late 19th century for a reprint publisher not to date the book, but only provide the copyright date. always look for a date at the bottom of the cover.

You are reading: Books from the 1800s value

2: Books that deal with exploration. some of the most valuable books printed during this period include those dealing with exploration. for example, works dealing with the exploration of the American West, the exploration of Africa, the exploration of the seas/islands, etc. Often these books tend to contain maps or illustrations that are important. A common issue that kills value tends to be books that lack maps or illustrations, so completeness is important. having a first edition is important, as always. Many of these types of books are important because they contain new discoveries.

3: Illustrated books, atlases with hand-colored maps, and other works with hand-colored “plates” (engraved illustrations). always pay attention to any 19th century book that contains color illustrations. often the coloring was done by hand. It takes a bit of a trained eye, but if you look very closely, you can often see a color slightly outside the lines of the image. but other books from this period also contained chromolithographs, which was essentially a way of printing color illustrations. these can also be valuable. so to keep it simple, if you see color illustrations, pay close attention. black and white illustrations are quite common; however, if you see a slight print around the edge of the image, then you know the image is a plate. A plate is a carved or engraved image, inked and then pressed onto paper (leaving an impression around the edge). they’re less common than other black-and-white illustrations, so they’re worth checking out, too.

4: civil war era books printed in the southern us. uu. these are called Confederate impressions. Essentially, these are books that were printed in the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. due to the war, fewer books were printed in the South; furthermore, after the war, many of those books were destroyed. So if you have a book that was printed in the Confederate States during the Civil War, it’s usually pretty rare. collecting confederate impressions is a whole field in itself. however, most of the books about the civil war itself, mostly printed in the north during and after the civil war, are quite common. For civil war books, you want to look for confederate prints, military manuals like field artillery manuals, soldiers’ pocket bibles, first edition accounts of specific military engagements, companies, or regiments. Stay away from general histories of the war, or general “War of the Rebellion”, “Life of General Grant” and other general biographies and accounts; such books are common.

5: Books printed by fine presses such as the kelmscott press. Usually these books are limited editions (indicated as such on the front of the back of the book). these books are finely printed and when you open them you usually recognize it when you open the book and see the paper and print quality.

The above is not complete, but the most valuable books from the 1800-1900 period tend to fall into those categories somewhat. There are always exceptions.

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Sell rare book, Addison’s Rare Books, LLC 1800 – 1899

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