Often, you will find that book shopperrs concentrate their efforts only on first editions of their topic of interest. A first editions is more desireable to the collector than later printings of the same book.
... first edition means the first printing of a book. Edition and printing can be used fairly interchangeably in talking about collectible books, especially in regard to modern fiction.
{https://www.biblio.com/book-collecting/basics/how-to-identify-first-editions/)
When shopping for used/ rare books, one sometimes comes across a usually old book with small yellow brown spots or blotches on the book's paper.
The Victorial and Albert Museum of art and design offers considerations on the ownership of a foxed book:
The cost of neglect and poor quality repairs is high. Because books are not usually decorative objects in their own right, and thus not displayed, there is often a resistance to the cost of professional conservation.
Damp conditions in your home library would encourage mold growth, and will cause iron contaminants to rust.
(http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/caring-for-your-books-and-papers/)
Book Club Editions (often specified on the book's jacket) or "Reader's Digest books" are one of the least costly purchases for books, and can be a good read for many collectors. They also may be used for decorative puposes or to lift a low mattress.
Book collectors will need to know how to identify these books aimed at the general population. MyWingsBooks, a bookseller, has a webpage with information and pictures to help you see whether the new or used book is one.
(http://mywingsbooks.com/coll-terms/bce_.shtml)
Ex-lib books are often discarded from libraries and picked up/ purchased by booksellers for sale. However, some collectors buy them at low prices, and read them; others use them for research or specialty book collecting.
Over on an eBay community forum "gtb-books", a book scout, comments:
02-09-2013
Former library books are seldom worth anything money-wise, unless they are very old, and in very good or better condition. Otherwise they are just reading copies. Collectors usually want pristine firsts [first editions], especially of more recently published works.
(https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Booksellers/Ex-Library-Books/td-p/2738919)
New Media Rights, which provides legal services, educational resources, and public policy advocacy for creators, entrepreneurs, and internet users, explains the difference between a book publishing date and book copyright date. For collectors, a book's copyright page is usually found on the verso of the title page.
... the copyright date that you see on the inside of the book jacket likely coincides with the date of formal registration or the date that the work was finished and submitted to the publisher.
The author of a work has a copyright to the work as soon as it is created. All s/he has to do is “fix the original work in a tangible medium of expression,” meaning either putting pen to paper or just saving a word document.
An author can either retain their copyright, or assign it to a publishing company.
(https://www.newmediarights.org/book/copyright_date_same_publication_date)
The number of virtual book fairs have grown on the internet over the last year. 2 Seas Agency, with offices in California and Europe that sells foreign rights worldwide or into specific territories according to their clients’ needs, has a 2021 calendar of international book fairs. They will keep it updated as more events might go online.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, many of these events have been happening either virtually or were cancelled altogether.
At the time of writing (late December 2020), there is still a lot of uncertainty about when, how, or even if these events will take place in 2021.
(https://2seasagency.com/international-book-fair-calendar/)
The American Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) is sponsoring the ABAA California Virtual Book Fair; it is to be held online on March 4-6, 2021. For their fairs webpage go to:
And over at BookRiot, a site epecially for readers, there is a three-month calendar of book festivals.
(https://bookriot.com/virtual-book-festivals/)
Learn how to identify Book of the Month Club and other book club editions of titles you may be shopping for.
The basic definition: A book club edition (BCE) or book of the month club edition (BOMC) refers to a book printed by a “book club” with cheaper materials than the original publishing house, and is generally not worth much to the serious collector.
(https://www.biblio.com/blog/2010/11/can-you-identify-a-book-club-edition/)
Incunabula are the earliest printed books; they roughly cover the period 1450-1500.
Abebooks, a large search engine, has a dedicated webpage about what they are to the book collector:
The term Incunabula (also incunable or incunabulum) refers to a book, pamphlet or other document that was printed, and not handwritten, before the start of the 16th century in Europe. The first recorded usage of the term incunabula came in 1639 when the noted bibliophile Bernhard von Mallinckrodt issued a pamphlet to mark the bicentenary of the advent of printing by movable type titled De ortu et progressu artis typographicae (“Of the rise and progress of the typographic art”).
It was within this pamphlet he used the phrase prima typographicae incunabula, “the first infancy of printing” to describe books printed before the date 1500.
(https://www.abebooks.com/books/rarebooks/gutenberg-printing-press-incunable/incunabula.shtml)
Increasingly, book publishers are using acid-fee paper in their paperbacks.
A savvy book shopper might look for the infinity symbol (the horizontal “lazy 8″) often found on the copyright page of contemporary books with a statement that acid-free paper has been used.
(https://www.biblio.com/book-collecting/care-preservation/preserving-paperbacks/)
Firsts Online is the quarterly digital staging of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association. Their onlone book fair is very easy to use, and there is no charge for admission.
The Antiquarian Bookseller’s Association is proud to present our next event,
Firsts Online: Winter Edition.
Our 151 exhibitors from 18 countries will be offering over 3,000 items until 23 February.
A quote from Stephen Fry, actor, writer and book collector:
“We are very lucky to have this kind of fair… it’s not elitist, it’s not specialist, you don’t have to be a scholar, you just have to be someone with an immense thirst for the glory of books.”
(https://www.firsts-online.com/)
In many copies of a book, only a portion of them may be true first editions. Biblio has a straight-forward, basic look at determining whether that book is one.
(https://www.biblio.com/book-collecting/basics/how-to-identify-first-editions/)
Many shoppers use a few large meta book search engines when shopping or browsing for books. There are more large book sellers that also sell books online. Here are just a few of them:
* Strand
* ABAA
* ILAB
* Target
* Walmart
* ebay
The last Saturday of April is Independent Bookseller Day! There are hundreds of brick-and-mortat, independently-owned bookstores across the US participaing.
You can search online for any nearby indie bookstores that may be near you at American Bookseller Association's Indiebound.
One of my favorite and influential browsing experiences is checking a bookstore employees' "recommended reading" shelf.
The current B&N Book of the Year is "World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments," by Aimee Nezhukumatathil; it is a B&N Exclusive Gift Edition hardback and sells for $25.00.
(https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/world-of-wonders-aimee-nezhukumatathil/1135526994)
