ABC’s of Book Collecting : Almanac June 14, 2009

ALMANAC A calendar, usually in pocket-book (more rarely sheet) form, augmentedwith Saints’ days, fair-dates and astronomical and meteorologicaldata; a bestseller from the start and protected by jealously guardedpatents, the different titles, hot rivals in the 17th century, were allfinally swallowed up by Dr Francis Moore’s Vox Stellarum, familiarlyknown as ‘Old Moore’s Almanack’. Previous ABC’s of Book Collecting posts Carter, John & Nicolas BarkerABC’s of Book Collecting. 8th EditionNew Castle, Delaware : Oak Knoll Press, 2004…

ABC’s of Book Collecting : All Published June 5, 2009

ALL PUBLISHED This means that, despite appearances or an original intention to thecontrary, the volume or series described was not continued, and isthus as complete as it ever can be in this form, given its (usually)unexpected truncation. Previous ABC’s of Book Collecting posts Carter, John & Nicolas BarkerABC’s of Book Collecting. 8th EditionNew Castle, Delaware : Oak Knoll Press, 2004 Buy a copy

ABC’s of Book Collecting : Aldus, Aldine May 31, 2009

ALDUS, ALDINE The great Venetian printer Aldus Manutius (Aldo Manuzio,1452–1515) initiated the printing of the Greek classics and the series ofpocket-classics, for which he is chiefly famous. His device of adolphin and anchor was widely imitated, not least by WilliamPickering in the 19th century, together with the title Aldine Classics forhis similar series of the major authors of English literature. Previous ABC’s of Book Collecting posts Carter, John & Nicolas BarkerABC’s of Book Collecting. 8th…

ABC’s of Book Collecting : À La Grecque, Alla Greca May 29, 2009

À LA GRECQUE, ALLA GRECA A style of binding with thick boards, grooved on the edges and flush with the trimmed leaves of the book, the tail- and headbands therefore protruding above and below the boards. These bands, sewn deep into the quires of the book, are an important part of its structure, in which sewing bands, if present, do not carry the weight of the covers. The clasps are usually of plaited strands of…

ABC’s of Book Collecting : Advertisements May 26, 2009

ADVERTISEMENTS These have engendered as much heat and argument as any factor inbook-collecting. It is first necessary to distinguish between: (a) Leaves of advertisement, usually, though not necessarily,the publisher’s, which are integral to the gathering (or quire or section), i.e. printed in the same operation with, and on the samepaper as, and gathered for binding with, the sheets of the bookitself; (b) Leaves of advertisement – publisher’s, wholesaler’s, distributor’s,or other – printed separately from the…