ASSOCIATION COPYThis term, often scoffed at by laymen, is applied to a copy which once belonged to, or was annotated by, the author; which once belonged to someone connected with the author or someone of interest in his own right; or again, and perhaps most interestingly, belonged to someone peculiarly associated with its contents. Its extension to mean any book owned by a famous person can only be excused by establishing some point of real contact, other than the simple fact of possession. The catalogue note will generally explain the nature of the ‘association’,which may vary from the obvious to...
ABC’s of Book Collecting: As Issued & As Usual
AS ISSUEDA term used to emphasise the original condition, as issued, of the book described, especially when some individual feature contradicts normal expectation; e.g. ‘edges trimmed, as issued’,‘stitched, without wrappers, as issued’, ‘half roan, as issued’. See advance copy.AS USUALA favourite qualification, among booksellers’ cataloguers, to the admission of some defect or imperfection which is, or can be maintained to be, so prevalent as to be almost normal among copies of the book described; e.g. ‘foxed as usual’, ‘lacks half-title as usual’, ‘Q4is a cancel as usual’, ‘spine faded as usual’.Previous ABC's of Book Collecting postsCarter, John & Nicolas BarkerABC's...
ABC’s of Book Collecting: Armorial
ARMORIALAs an adjective, used of (1) a binding blocked with the coat of arms, usually in gilt, of its original or a subsequent owner, and (2) of bookplates based on, or incorporating, the owner’s arms. As a noun, used colloquially for an armorially decorated book.Previous ABC's of Book Collecting postsCarter, John & Nicolas BarkerABC's of Book Collecting. 8th EditionNew Castle, Delaware : Oak Knoll Press, 2004Buy a copyThanks to Oak Knoll Press for permission to reprint
ABC’s of Book Collecting : Antique
ANTIQUE(1) This has one specialized and superficially misleading use: for bindings (mostly calf or half calf) which are in fact modern but have been executed in the style of some earlier period. Alternativedescriptions for this tactful approximation to the book’s original dress would be ‘old-style calf ’, or ‘half calf, period style ’. Calf antique is also sometimes used to denote divinity (oroxford) calf. Genuinely antique binding, if not precisely datable, will be described as original, contemporary, early, or simply old.(2) A kind of paper, with a rough, uncalendered finish, either wove or laid.Previous ABC's of Book Collecting postsCarter, John...
ABC’s of Book Collecting : Antiquarian Bookseller
ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLERThe lines of demarcation between ‘rare books’, ‘old books’ and ‘second-hand books’ have never been, and can never be, clearly defined. The same applies to most of those who deal in them; and the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association makes no distinction between a man who specialises in incunabula, another who deals only in modern firsts, a third who restricts himself to botany, and finally a general second-hand dealer, provided that his business is primarily in old books. The most comprehensive directories are those published by the Sheppard Press, London: Dealers in Secondhand and Antiquarian Books in the British Isles, now...