Folio Archives 141: Original Leaves from Famous European Books 1470 – 1794 1963
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1wcarter
Original Leaves from Famous European Books 1470 – 1794 1963
In the early 1960s, the Folio Society bought ancient books, cut out pages, framed them in cardboard mounts, and sold them to members, either individually or as in this case, as a set (see the FSD wiki entry here).
Many of these books were incunabulum (ie. a book published before 1500), and some of the earliest books ever printed.
Renown book collector “diphcoraci” published an FSD review of his collection of these leaves here, coincident with a time when I was just about to publish one of my Folio Archives articles on the same collection. I have therefore delayed my publication by a few months, but as all these collections are very rare and contain different leaves from the books, I felt it was worthwhile proceeding.
Original Leaves from Famous European Books 1470 – 1794 was a limited edition of 100 copies containing 12 original book leaves displayed in in 10 grey thick card folders. The collection is housed in a blue cloth covered clamshell box that is a huge 55x38cm, with a leather gilt titled label on the spine. There is a separate single contents and descriptive sheet, and the book from which each leaf is taken is printed on the card folder below the leaf.
The leaves are attached along one edge to the back card of the folder, but can be curled back to see the other side, as shown in a picture below.
The leaves come from a 1470 edition of St Augustine's "De Civitate Dei", a leaf from "the Nuremberg Chronicle" (1493) with a contemporary marginal note, and a further three 16th century publications, two 17th century books and five 18th century productions. The collection allows viewing of nearly 550 years of printing history.
In these Folio Archive reviews, I normally only show a selection of the illustrations in a book, but because these are all different, and certainly centuries out of copyright, every page in my collection is shown below.
These rare FS collections are now very expensive on the secondary market when they infrequently appear.
Loosely inserted contents sheet – detailed close-up views follow.
St. Augustine : City of God, Rome 1470
The Nuremberg Chronicle 1493
Showing leaf folded back after opening cardboard folder
The Aldine, Dante, 1502; Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Lyon, 1584
Estienne’s Herodotus, Geneva, 1592
A Plantin Missal, Antwerp, 1610
Medailles de Louis XIV, Paris, 1723
An Ibarra Bible, Madrid, 1769
The Elzevir “Sallust” 1634; Aesop’s Fables, Paris, 1769
Thomas A Kempis, Didot 1788
Thomson “The Seasons”, Bodoni 1794
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
In the early 1960s, the Folio Society bought ancient books, cut out pages, framed them in cardboard mounts, and sold them to members, either individually or as in this case, as a set (see the FSD wiki entry here).
Many of these books were incunabulum (ie. a book published before 1500), and some of the earliest books ever printed.
Renown book collector “diphcoraci” published an FSD review of his collection of these leaves here, coincident with a time when I was just about to publish one of my Folio Archives articles on the same collection. I have therefore delayed my publication by a few months, but as all these collections are very rare and contain different leaves from the books, I felt it was worthwhile proceeding.
Original Leaves from Famous European Books 1470 – 1794 was a limited edition of 100 copies containing 12 original book leaves displayed in in 10 grey thick card folders. The collection is housed in a blue cloth covered clamshell box that is a huge 55x38cm, with a leather gilt titled label on the spine. There is a separate single contents and descriptive sheet, and the book from which each leaf is taken is printed on the card folder below the leaf.
The leaves are attached along one edge to the back card of the folder, but can be curled back to see the other side, as shown in a picture below.
The leaves come from a 1470 edition of St Augustine's "De Civitate Dei", a leaf from "the Nuremberg Chronicle" (1493) with a contemporary marginal note, and a further three 16th century publications, two 17th century books and five 18th century productions. The collection allows viewing of nearly 550 years of printing history.
In these Folio Archive reviews, I normally only show a selection of the illustrations in a book, but because these are all different, and certainly centuries out of copyright, every page in my collection is shown below.
These rare FS collections are now very expensive on the secondary market when they infrequently appear.
Loosely inserted contents sheet – detailed close-up views follow.
St. Augustine : City of God, Rome 1470
The Nuremberg Chronicle 1493
Showing leaf folded back after opening cardboard folder
The Aldine, Dante, 1502; Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Lyon, 1584
Estienne’s Herodotus, Geneva, 1592
A Plantin Missal, Antwerp, 1610
Medailles de Louis XIV, Paris, 1723
An Ibarra Bible, Madrid, 1769
The Elzevir “Sallust” 1634; Aesop’s Fables, Paris, 1769
Thomas A Kempis, Didot 1788
Thomson “The Seasons”, Bodoni 1794
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
2kdweber
I've thought of buying these books but besides the pricing their very existence exasperates me. I hate the fact that the FS bought up old books and tore them apart to sell as single pages. Other than the fact that I would feel like a criminal for owning a copy, I feel that they're kind of neat.
3boldface
Did they actually break up perfectly good copies of the books concerned or were these pages taken from copies that were already falling apart?
4Jayked
They bought books at auction for the purpose of selling single framed pages, or bound collections.
5wcarter
>4 Jayked:
The books were bought at auction, but were they good quality complete editions?
They may have been obtained at a relatively cheap price if they were incomplete or damaged books when bought.
Does anyone know anything more about this?
The books were bought at auction, but were they good quality complete editions?
They may have been obtained at a relatively cheap price if they were incomplete or damaged books when bought.
Does anyone know anything more about this?
6Jayked
>5 wcarter:
There's a reference, Australian as it happens, that's cropped up a couple of times in earlier threads. From the sound of it Folio was outbidding university libraries for books from noted collectors. https://manuscriptroadtrip.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/manuscript-road-trip-austral...
There's a reference, Australian as it happens, that's cropped up a couple of times in earlier threads. From the sound of it Folio was outbidding university libraries for books from noted collectors. https://manuscriptroadtrip.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/manuscript-road-trip-austral...
7SebRinelli
>6 Jayked: Horrendous, absolutely horrendous
8SimB
>7 SebRinelli: Of course it is horrifying, but not an uncommon practice at that time as I understand it. Anything to turn a buck. Same happened with large artworks which were cut up. Thankfully times have changed and the value placed on things is not just financial.
9Jayked
It's quite common for old MSS to come up for sale with missing or damaged leaves; that doesn't lessen their relevance for scholars. Some make a living by trying to trace missing leaves in order to complete an important document. As mentioned in the Australian Roadtrip above, the most notorious provider of leaf collections was a man named Ege, whose format Folio closely followed. Efforts have been made for some time to trace and if possible retrieve Ege's volumes. Here's another Roadtrip episode in which is given his rationale for his actions: https://manuscriptroadtrip.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/manuscript-road-trip-in-otto...
A similar line was used by FS for its framed single pages. Few will ever be able to acquire a complete medieval MS, but everyone can afford one of these pages. And one of these on your wall will identify you as a man of taste.
Given the profitability of the single-page market, I'm a little surprised that the collections were worth the extra effort.
A similar line was used by FS for its framed single pages. Few will ever be able to acquire a complete medieval MS, but everyone can afford one of these pages. And one of these on your wall will identify you as a man of taste.
Given the profitability of the single-page market, I'm a little surprised that the collections were worth the extra effort.
10wcarter
You need to remember that this collection was made 56 years ago and attitudes may have changed in that time. But as >9 Jayked: points out, even today there are many people who collect single leaves of incunabulum because the cost of a book is way beyond their means.
11Jayked
>10 wcarter:
Ege's productions were even older, in the 1930s and 40s, and there was already opposition to the practice by the time FS took it up. "Notorious" implies disapproval. The catalogue wasn't sent out with the regular one -- you had to write in to be put on a separate mailing list. I didn't subscribe to it.
When I rejoined FS after a hiatus around 1990, FS was still offering prints by its artists, on a separate website with a different name. I don't know what the relationship was. That website was also selling framed single sheets, mostly Egyptian, so the practice didn't fade away in the sixties. The practice was repellent then for the same reasons it is now; it satisfies the acquisitive instincts of the few at the expense of the public cultural and educational interest, and makes a bigger buck for the despoiler.
Ege's productions were even older, in the 1930s and 40s, and there was already opposition to the practice by the time FS took it up. "Notorious" implies disapproval. The catalogue wasn't sent out with the regular one -- you had to write in to be put on a separate mailing list. I didn't subscribe to it.
When I rejoined FS after a hiatus around 1990, FS was still offering prints by its artists, on a separate website with a different name. I don't know what the relationship was. That website was also selling framed single sheets, mostly Egyptian, so the practice didn't fade away in the sixties. The practice was repellent then for the same reasons it is now; it satisfies the acquisitive instincts of the few at the expense of the public cultural and educational interest, and makes a bigger buck for the despoiler.
12dlphcoracl
The issue of leaf books and rare books that are "Disbound and Disgorged" is far from black and white. Clearly, ripping apart a rare book that is minimally damaged or incomplete in a trivial manner is no longer acceptable. However, works of incunabula and other rare books that have significant damage and/or are incomplete to a point where they are no longer collectible - to private individuals, libraries and universities - are (and should be) fair game if a sufficient number of viable pages remain to serve a useful purpose. Well-researched and carefully designed and printed leaf books are informative and educational to avid private press book collectors, perhaps more so than to the rare scholar trying to trace a missing leaf or two.
An excellent example of an ultra-high end leaf book that was ethically assembled and beautifully crafted while shedding new light on William Morris and the Kelmscott Press' 'The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer' and the field of typography was recently published by Phillip Pirages. Pirages is probably the foremost rare book dealer in the field of incunabula and illuminated manuscripts in the United States and he is keenly aware of the controversy surrounding this topic. Links to his discussion of this leaf book - a longer version (22 minutes) and an abridged version (6 min 33 sec) on YouTube are given below.
Long version (22 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo988za4x4Y
Abridged version 6' 33": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ5T3TETwRk
An excellent example of an ultra-high end leaf book that was ethically assembled and beautifully crafted while shedding new light on William Morris and the Kelmscott Press' 'The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer' and the field of typography was recently published by Phillip Pirages. Pirages is probably the foremost rare book dealer in the field of incunabula and illuminated manuscripts in the United States and he is keenly aware of the controversy surrounding this topic. Links to his discussion of this leaf book - a longer version (22 minutes) and an abridged version (6 min 33 sec) on YouTube are given below.
Long version (22 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo988za4x4Y
Abridged version 6' 33": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ5T3TETwRk
13olepuppy
>1 wcarter:
Just fantastic, just as wonderful as the earlier set introduced by the other fella. I am thankful to both of you for sharing these historical pages. Just think, the Aldine page w as probably actually handled by Aldus Manutius himself... I think the thrill is similar to the enjoyment of the hand work of the printer or an author or illustrator signature in a modern limited edition.
No matter the potential crime originally, to me what matters here is that these excellent sets have not been hidden away to be gloated over in private but have been shared by the owners among a community of book lovers. Maybe the sets should not exist, but since they're here let's enjoy them. I wonder if any of the sets are held at university or museum, and whether researchers there could expand on the narratives to complement the leaves.
It would be interesting to know the condition and rarity of the individual volumes used for these sets. Auction houses might have the records. It seems unlikely but the FS may have some info tucked away. Christopher de Hamel notes in his chapter about the history of leaf books in Disbound and Dispersed or whatever that different measures of grading are used at times to suit the purpose of the book breaker. He also notes some books like The Nuremburg Chronicle were printed in large numbers, and that Bibles were rarely disposed of as other books, because of religious reasons, and so are more widely available. I wonder if Philip Duschnes was involved with the FS sets, as he was the FS distributor in the US, dealt in antiquarian works at his store, and had published leaf books and portfolios on his own and probably partnered with Otto Ege in the 30's + 40's(D+D, pp. 19, 20). In all it seems as if there is plenty of background info to be discovered about these FS publications.
I'm surprised the Folio Society was identified in the one article as an outfit famous for book breaking, pretty shoddy wording and reasoning, as if Charles Ede was a westerner in jeans and flannel an boots with a Winchester 73 about to work the broncos, when in reality the Folio Society was a respected publisher of good books who did as they have always done, which is attempting to do a little more than just the same old thing, in book design, paper, illustration, bindings, limited editions, book selection, that's the basis for any fame...what other publisher identifies typeface and spacing the last 70 years...these historic sheets represent the basis of modern type design, and I would think they had a blast making the sets because they cared about stuff like that, but I have read no record of that. If they destroyed rare books shame on em, if the books weren't rare or were more than less incomplete thank goodness.
One of the functions of Disbound and Dispersed is to celebrate the 100 th anniversary of the Caxton Club, a group of bibliophiles in Chicago, and their first publication, William Caxton, with some copies containing a leaf from Caxton's first edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Apparently one owner in England had 4 copies, but used 3 of them for 'spare parts' to complete 1 volume, with one of the three used for William Caxton., which sold for 10 bucks without leaf and 25 with. It is stated that a volume with leaf sold in 1998 for `£4,200. The story shows the source of some significantly disbound books as being those used to complete others.
Edited large error in the last price mentioned.
Just fantastic, just as wonderful as the earlier set introduced by the other fella. I am thankful to both of you for sharing these historical pages. Just think, the Aldine page w as probably actually handled by Aldus Manutius himself... I think the thrill is similar to the enjoyment of the hand work of the printer or an author or illustrator signature in a modern limited edition.
No matter the potential crime originally, to me what matters here is that these excellent sets have not been hidden away to be gloated over in private but have been shared by the owners among a community of book lovers. Maybe the sets should not exist, but since they're here let's enjoy them. I wonder if any of the sets are held at university or museum, and whether researchers there could expand on the narratives to complement the leaves.
It would be interesting to know the condition and rarity of the individual volumes used for these sets. Auction houses might have the records. It seems unlikely but the FS may have some info tucked away. Christopher de Hamel notes in his chapter about the history of leaf books in Disbound and Dispersed or whatever that different measures of grading are used at times to suit the purpose of the book breaker. He also notes some books like The Nuremburg Chronicle were printed in large numbers, and that Bibles were rarely disposed of as other books, because of religious reasons, and so are more widely available. I wonder if Philip Duschnes was involved with the FS sets, as he was the FS distributor in the US, dealt in antiquarian works at his store, and had published leaf books and portfolios on his own and probably partnered with Otto Ege in the 30's + 40's(D+D, pp. 19, 20). In all it seems as if there is plenty of background info to be discovered about these FS publications.
I'm surprised the Folio Society was identified in the one article as an outfit famous for book breaking, pretty shoddy wording and reasoning, as if Charles Ede was a westerner in jeans and flannel an boots with a Winchester 73 about to work the broncos, when in reality the Folio Society was a respected publisher of good books who did as they have always done, which is attempting to do a little more than just the same old thing, in book design, paper, illustration, bindings, limited editions, book selection, that's the basis for any fame...what other publisher identifies typeface and spacing the last 70 years...these historic sheets represent the basis of modern type design, and I would think they had a blast making the sets because they cared about stuff like that, but I have read no record of that. If they destroyed rare books shame on em, if the books weren't rare or were more than less incomplete thank goodness.
One of the functions of Disbound and Dispersed is to celebrate the 100 th anniversary of the Caxton Club, a group of bibliophiles in Chicago, and their first publication, William Caxton, with some copies containing a leaf from Caxton's first edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Apparently one owner in England had 4 copies, but used 3 of them for 'spare parts' to complete 1 volume, with one of the three used for William Caxton., which sold for 10 bucks without leaf and 25 with. It is stated that a volume with leaf sold in 1998 for `£4,200. The story shows the source of some significantly disbound books as being those used to complete others.
Edited large error in the last price mentioned.
14Jayked
You can trace many details of transactions through links in the Australian article referenced above. Here for example is the Folio Society purchase at auction mentioned: https://sdbm.library.upenn.edu/entries/27074 I don't know if the 812 is pounds sterling or dollars. The volume is a French Book of Hours, in Latin of course, extensively illustrated in colour. That it was dismembered by FS is made clear by the fact that individual pages were sold on by them to Australian universities to fill gaps in their holdings. Presumably the other pages were sold as framed decorations, too valuable to be part of a scrapbook.
Elsewhere you can find a page dedicated to the 40 plus Otto Ege volumes, most of which have been traced with some, at least, of their contents now held by university libraries around the world, with an ongoing commitment to tracing the rest.
The proliferation of universities since the sixties helps explain why the production of these collector's items is now out of favour. In 1960 there were 4 Scottish universities; now there are 16, a situation similar to that in most countries. Not all will have libraries with a rare book section, but many will.
In the Canadian university with which I am most familiar, all postgraduate students in English must take a course in bibliography, held in the library, with instruction in historical paper, binding, printing methods, etc. You can't do that effectively without original materials. The Rare Book section is also open to the public, under supervision, not confined to those rich enough to be able to hoard unique books.
I was tempted earlier to draw a parallel between rare books and works of art. Would you cut up a Rembrandt so that everyman could own a piece? The question was rhetorical, until I saw this morning's headline: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/02/danish-court-rules-artist-work-can...
I'd have gone with Van Gogh, myself: his brushwork could be identified in a watch-sized fragment. Rembrandt not so much.
Elsewhere you can find a page dedicated to the 40 plus Otto Ege volumes, most of which have been traced with some, at least, of their contents now held by university libraries around the world, with an ongoing commitment to tracing the rest.
The proliferation of universities since the sixties helps explain why the production of these collector's items is now out of favour. In 1960 there were 4 Scottish universities; now there are 16, a situation similar to that in most countries. Not all will have libraries with a rare book section, but many will.
In the Canadian university with which I am most familiar, all postgraduate students in English must take a course in bibliography, held in the library, with instruction in historical paper, binding, printing methods, etc. You can't do that effectively without original materials. The Rare Book section is also open to the public, under supervision, not confined to those rich enough to be able to hoard unique books.
I was tempted earlier to draw a parallel between rare books and works of art. Would you cut up a Rembrandt so that everyman could own a piece? The question was rhetorical, until I saw this morning's headline: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/02/danish-court-rules-artist-work-can...
I'd have gone with Van Gogh, myself: his brushwork could be identified in a watch-sized fragment. Rembrandt not so much.
15HuxleyTheCat
>14 Jayked: You beat me to it with the Guardian article.
16olepuppy
I guess one could compare breaking down any piece of art or artifact to the disbanding of rare books because because they all should be protected, it's just easier with books because they exist in pages. I don't know why those watchmakers didnt think to spend much less money to pay a talented miniaturist to paint striking one of a kind watchfaces.
>14 Jayked:. Thanks for the link, can't provide one in return as I struggle to do basic functions on this tablet, but I googled neyland and sotheby's and discovered that some of the sale books are listed at worldcat(a wonderful resource when seeking bibliographic data), a sale catalogue is available somehow, and that neyland acquired some of his collection from the same German collector of 15th century printing who provided a gutenberg bible to the Library of Congress. Maybe somewhere in this a picture or/and a written description a precise record can be found of this particular leaf source.
The next leaf book I'd like to see is Folio 75, how far should they go? A bibliography of the latest 15 years accompanied by a portfolio of 100 illustrations from LEs and regular editions, or a more sedate but lovely edition with 25 or so selected tip-ins, maybe go hogwild with tip-ins or portfolios from FS history from day 1, possibly an edition in different states of presentation...well I could go on. Some of this leaf stuff can be pretty exciting!
>14 Jayked:. Thanks for the link, can't provide one in return as I struggle to do basic functions on this tablet, but I googled neyland and sotheby's and discovered that some of the sale books are listed at worldcat(a wonderful resource when seeking bibliographic data), a sale catalogue is available somehow, and that neyland acquired some of his collection from the same German collector of 15th century printing who provided a gutenberg bible to the Library of Congress. Maybe somewhere in this a picture or/and a written description a precise record can be found of this particular leaf source.
The next leaf book I'd like to see is Folio 75, how far should they go? A bibliography of the latest 15 years accompanied by a portfolio of 100 illustrations from LEs and regular editions, or a more sedate but lovely edition with 25 or so selected tip-ins, maybe go hogwild with tip-ins or portfolios from FS history from day 1, possibly an edition in different states of presentation...well I could go on. Some of this leaf stuff can be pretty exciting!
17jranstead
I recently bought an example of this collection from an auction in Edinburgh - apologies if I outbid any other FSD-er. I thought it would be a remarkable thing to own documents from as much as 550 years ago. The purchase was a bit of a risk as I did not have a chance to see the item in person beforehand. On delivery, the first impression was negative as the box was a bit battered - but the leaves themselves were all preserved well in their mounts. In fact there was a bit of a bonus as the previous owner clearly used the case to store other old documents - including several from the late 1500s and a very attractive map of Egypt and surrounding areas (as mapped by French explorer Pierre Belon / Petrus Bellonius). I would be interested in understanding the historical (and potential monetary!) value of these documents and wonder if anyone could recommend friendly London antiquarian book/map sellers who might provide advice?
18SF-72
That's really something I would not buy because the very idea of tearing apart books like this makes me nauseous, quite literally. I can understand why someone would enjoy being able to access something this old, but to me the thought of the destroyed original would ruin that.
19dlphcoracl
>SF-82
You cannot generalize about leaf books and some of the better ones serve a valid purpose. Clearly, opinion has changed with regard to the practice of taking complete editions of famous or valuable books that are undamaged, tearing apart the edition, and selling individual leaves to maximize one's profit and this practice is rarely, if ever, done nowadays. However, many (most?) leaf books have arisen from the availability of incomplete or heavily damaged books which cannot be sold in the secondary market, either at auction or by fine & rare booksellers. These books are purchased at considerable discount to their price if they were intact (note: yet still extraordinarily expensive in the case of incunabula), the undamaged leaves are separated from the damaged ones, and they then form the basis for a scholarly essay or discussion with regard to this rare book's place in the history of fine printing. The valuable leaf, which would otherwise be unobtainable to nearly all rare and private press book collectors, is included in each edition. The Book Club of California is the best example of this practice and these valuable leaf books comprise nearly 10% of their entire bibliography of well over 200 books.
That said, I do not know whether the Folio Society removed these leaves from otherwise intact editions. If so, this is/was indeed unfortunate. FWIW, this book featured by >1 wcarter: is one of a twin set. A similar collection of rare leaves entitled 'Original Leaves from Famous English Books' was issued by the FS two years earlier in 1961. However, that set of leaves had a limitation of 200 copies whereas the European leaves are a scarcer set with a limitation of only 100 copies.
You cannot generalize about leaf books and some of the better ones serve a valid purpose. Clearly, opinion has changed with regard to the practice of taking complete editions of famous or valuable books that are undamaged, tearing apart the edition, and selling individual leaves to maximize one's profit and this practice is rarely, if ever, done nowadays. However, many (most?) leaf books have arisen from the availability of incomplete or heavily damaged books which cannot be sold in the secondary market, either at auction or by fine & rare booksellers. These books are purchased at considerable discount to their price if they were intact (note: yet still extraordinarily expensive in the case of incunabula), the undamaged leaves are separated from the damaged ones, and they then form the basis for a scholarly essay or discussion with regard to this rare book's place in the history of fine printing. The valuable leaf, which would otherwise be unobtainable to nearly all rare and private press book collectors, is included in each edition. The Book Club of California is the best example of this practice and these valuable leaf books comprise nearly 10% of their entire bibliography of well over 200 books.
That said, I do not know whether the Folio Society removed these leaves from otherwise intact editions. If so, this is/was indeed unfortunate. FWIW, this book featured by >1 wcarter: is one of a twin set. A similar collection of rare leaves entitled 'Original Leaves from Famous English Books' was issued by the FS two years earlier in 1961. However, that set of leaves had a limitation of 200 copies whereas the European leaves are a scarcer set with a limitation of only 100 copies.
20Jayked
If you examine some of the references earlier in this thread you will find that FS certainly had the reputation of buying books to dismantle them for greater profit. Even an incomplete text can be used to supplement deficiencies or lacunae in another copy. There is a scholarly niche devoted to tracing and acquiring such pages for libraries and universities.
The guiding light behind the Folio practice was Charles Ede, who went on to dealing in antiquities when FS palled.
There's some interesting detail in this obituary: https://www.webcitation.org/646kVyPwe?url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obitua...
The guiding light behind the Folio practice was Charles Ede, who went on to dealing in antiquities when FS palled.
There's some interesting detail in this obituary: https://www.webcitation.org/646kVyPwe?url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obitua...
21cronshaw
>20 Jayked: what a fascinating article! Thank you for posting the link :)
22English-bookseller
>17 jranstead: You could try 'Value my Stuff' (which uses experts in whatever field it may be) or write to one of the well-known London auction houses.
23JacobHolt
Here's a recent discussion of this practice that I found enlightening: https://thefateofbooks.wordpress.com/2021/03/12/to-break-a-book-bibliophiles-as-....
