Search Results: Book History Selling and Publishing from John Atkins

[ii],130 pages.
Brown cloth covered boards, lettered and decorated in brown and black, somewhat faded. Cloth a little soiled. Lower corner to rear board creased. Slight off-setting to end-papers. Text clean and unmarked. Bookseller's marks in pencil to front free end-paper.
With black and white figures in text, including examples of early printer's marks. Excellent, if somewhat dated, guide to book history and book collecting. With a list of latinised place names providing the English equivalent – still very useful guide for collectors. Details of early printing presses, including Aldine and the Elzevir presses. Also includes a 10-page list of UK book-sellers publishing catalogues.
This is a small book, any over-payment on postage will be refunded.

[4], 98, [2], [4] pages, plus original card covers bound-in.
First edition. Red cloth covered boards with gilt lettering to the spine, with original card covers bound in. Hand-made brown end-papers with the watermark of "Abbey Mills Greenfield" (i.e. Abbey Mills papermill, Flintshire, Wales). Unobtrusive scratch to rear board otherwise binding, original covers and text in very good condition. With 8 black and white photographs.
The letters cover: How to Begin; What Shall I Collect ?; How to tell a First Edition; How to Tell if a Book is Perfect; How to Judge Values; How to Transform Mountains into Molehills; and A Short History of Book Production.
Described by Muir in his dedication to the book as a "typically English book, suggested by a Jew, written by a Scot, and published by an Irishman".
This is a small book, any over-payment on postage will be refunded.

[2], 45, [1] pages.
Red cloth covered boards with gilt titles to spine in very good condition, Dust-wrapper soiled and chipped in places. Off-setting to front and rear free end-papers. Text clean and unmarked.
Contains the text of 4 talks delivered on BBC Radio in the summer of 1950. By: R.W. Chapman,"The Sense of the Past", John Hayward, "Why First Editions?", John Carter, "The Technical Approach", and Michael Sadleir, "Bookshop and Auction Room".With a short preface by John Carter, "The four talks here printed were the first (but not I hope the only) fruits of a suggestion made to the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1949. They represented, I believe, the first sustained attention ever given to their subject on air in this country".This is a small book, any over-payment on postage will be refunded.

vii, 232 pages.
Bound in publisher's maroon cloth with titles in gilt on front board and spine. Minor scuffs and marks to cloth with slight fading to spine. A few small spots of foxing. End-papers and paste-downs a little toned. Deckled pages. Text clean.
Contents: Foreword Henry Scheurmier. 1). Stanley Unwin, Introduction. 2). Frank Swinnerton, Authorship. 3). D. Kilham Roberts, The Literary Agent. 4). W. G. Taylor, Publishing. 5). G. Wren Howard, Book Production. 6). Gerald Gould, Reviewing. 7). J. G. Wilson, Bookselling in London. 8). Basil Blackwell, Provincial Bookselling. 8). J. Ainslie Thin, Second-hand Bookselling. 9). Stanley Unwin, English Books Abroad. 10). Charles Nowell, The Public Library. 11). F. R. Richardson, The Circulating Library. 12). John Hampden, A List of Books. Index.

8vo, vii, [1], 352 pages.
Frontispiece showing a book sale at Sotheby's with tissue overlay identifying the figures in the scene. 1 further black and white plate of another sale at Sotheby's, taken from an original watercolour by Rowlandson.

Original buckram cloth, a little soiled and spine darkened. Top edge gilt. Deckled edges. Some off-setting to the end-papers. Internally clean and unmarked. Previous book-seller's price marks to front free end-paper.The Book-Collector; A General Survey of the Pursuit and of those who have engaged in it at Home and Abroad from the Earliest Period to the Present Time; With an account of public and private libraries and anecdotes of the founders or owners and remarks on bookbinding and on special copies of books.

This volume is heavier than the average quoted in my store listings and, as consequence, the shipping cost will be higher than that quoted in my listing. Please contact me if you wish more details.

[8], 156 pages.
First Edition. Bound in half red linen to the spine and cream linen to the boards, with dust-wrapper. Very slight rubbing to the spine cloth top and bottom edges otherwise binding in excellent condition. Dust-wrapper with faded spine, age-toning to the top edge, and a little chipping to the spine top and bottom. Also a little dusty…thus fulfilling its purpose. Text clean and unmarked.
Percy Muir began his career as a bookseller in 1920. His publications include several bibliographies and contributions to bibliographical journals such as The Library. He composed numerous letters, essays, and addresses on book collecting, including the very popular 'Book Collecting as a Hobby: Letters to Everyman' (1944) and this, its sequel.
The subjects of these letters are: The Joys and Woes of a Book-Collector; How to Proceed; How to Use a Bibliography; What to do About Auction Sales; Is Book-Collecting an Investment?; Is There Money in Old Bibles?; The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (which… Read More

[2], xxv, 232, [4] pages. With numerous black and white in-text illustrations.
Uncommon publisher's green cloth covered bevelled boards, with applied illustrations, lined in gilt, with gilt titles to top board and spine. Top edge gilt. Patterned endpapers. Text clean.
Corners bumped. Small tear to cloth at top lower board spine joint (25mm), with some loss to the top and bottom of the spine. Small indent to the top board fore-edge. Printed on thick paper with deckled fore and lower edges. Previous book-seller's pencil annotations to front end-papers.
Preface by Augustine Birrell.
This volume appeared in the same year as the original French edition and was printed in 1,600 copies, using 4 different coloured cloths. Uzanne gives an anecdotal history of the bookshops and bookstalls of Paris, particularly those still in business. His anecdotal style led to him being viewed as treating somewhat unfairly those individuals about which he writes. Nevertheless it remains an important historical reference… Read More

[iv], 76 pages, with a further 20 pages of which 19 are book-trade advertisements, plus 5 pages of black and white plates.

Salmon-coloured cloth covered boards with black lettering. Dust-wrapper in protective plastic sleeve.
Slight rubbing to the top and lower board edges. Dust-wrapper age-toned and with signs of foxing, otherwise in good condition. Spots of foxing to the title-page. Off-setting to the three rear end-papers. Text and plates clean and unmarked.

Contents include:
Sir Thomas Phillipps, A.N.L. Munby (The Second A.B.A. Lecture); Gibbon: the "Unprofitable Undergraduate" by John F. Fulton; Modern First Editions, by A. Miller; The "Lincolne Nosegay" Books, by William A. Jackson; Dr, Johnson and the Book Trade, by Alan G. Thomas; The Restoration of the Chichester Antiphonal, by Albert F. Seth; Watermarks as a Guide to the Dating of Bindings, by Charles Ramsden; Notes on Advertising in Early Newspapers and Periodicals, by Richmond P. Bond; Old Flower Books: a Bookseller's View, by Handasyde… Read More

[8], 151, [1] pages.
Green cloth covered boards with gilt lettering to front cover and spine. Top edge gilt. Light foxing to end-papers, half-title, and index. Ex-libris stamp to title-page, and bookseller's price-mark in pencil to front end-paper. Text clean and unmarked. A very bright, tight binding.
A series of 7 short chapters on book owning, buying, and keeping, four of which are expanded from articles originally published in The Guardian newspaper.

xii, 219, [1] pages.
10 plates plus frontispiece, 1st edition.
Brown cloth covered boards with gilt lettered title on the top cover and spine.
Cloth worn and rubbed. Light foxing to endpapers. Deckled Edges. Neat ex-libris stamp to title page and ex-libris of Mary Stetson Clarke to the front pastedown. Text, printed on high-quality watermarked paper, crisp and unmarked.
Published as part of A. W. Pollard's series 'Books about Books', it provides an account of the development of printing and its spread from Germany across Europe, country by country, highlighting some less well-known aspects of the subject. The book ends with chapters on book-binding and on the collection and description of early printed books. Edward Gordon Duff (1863-1924) was a bibliographer and librarian with a particular interest in early printed books.
This is a heavy volume and, as consequence, the shipping cost will be higher than the average quoted in my store listings.

ix, 203, [2] pages.
Black cloth with gilt letting to spine. Ex-libris (Dundee Public Library, cancelled) with the usual marks and gilt notice stamped to the lower cover. Text clean and unmarked.
Exact reprint of the 1930 first edition, with 8 plates and 24 text-figures. An important work in the field of researching English book ownership from the sixteenth to early twentieth centuries.

Cover design by William Grimmond.
72 pages, plus 16 pages of additional illustrations (including 7 pages in colour)
Boards a little bowed with slight bubbling to the paper of the lower board. Internally clean and unmarked. Very slight paper-fault to pages 53-56 (see photos).
The text, with in-text illustrations throughout, covers a description of book illustration processes with many examples of illustrators from the period under consideration.This is a small book, any over-payment on postage will be refunded.

xviii, 448 pages. Many black and white illustrations including some full-page.

Brown cloth covered boards with gilt lettering on spine. Text and illustrations clean and unmarked.

With details of 100 famous English book collectors from all periods.

This volume is heavier than the average quoted in my store listings and, as consequence, the shipping cost will be higher than that quoted in my listing. Please contact me if you wish more details.

254 pages.
Cloth to the top of the spine a little worn, two very small marks to the lower board. End-papers with very minor foxing. Text and plates clean and unmarked.
With a 39-page historical introduction by Stanley Morison.
The plates have examples of the typography of 15th century Italy; 16th century Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany and the Low Countries; 17th century France; 18th century France, Spain, Italy, England; 19th-20th century France, Switzerland, England, USA, Germany and Holland. There is also an index of printers and craftsmen.

This volume is heavier than the average quoted in my store listings and, as consequence, the shipping cost will be higher than that quoted in my listing. Please contact me if you wish more details.

[4], xvii, 451, [5] pages.
Dust-wrapper in very poor condition, age-toned, torn and chipped with significant loss. Corners to boards bumped with very minor loss otherwise very good condition. Colour frontispiece. Profusely illustrated throughout. Very light mark to lower top board. Internally very good, clean and unmarked, with a clear bold inscription.
"I have a feeling that my best work is in this book. A Edward Newton".
Undated inscription by the author, Alfred Edward Newton (1864–1940) American author publisher and book collector, to the front-free end-paper.

Contents:
The greatest book in the world; The ghosts of Gough Square; Shakespeare and the "Old Vic"; Dialogue between father and son; Change cars at Paoli; A royal book-collector; A "divine" and his works; London in the eighteen-eighties; Are comparisons odious?; Colored-plate books; Sporting-books; Skinner Street news; The greatest little book in the world; The last of his race.
This volume is heavier than the average quoted in my store… Read More

[6], xii, 205, [3] pages.First edition. With numerous black and white full-page and in-text illustrations.
Cloth covered boards, stamped in brown and gilt to spine and front. Cloth very lightly rubbed in places. Top edge gilt. Very light foxing to end-papers and some text pages. Small ex-libris stamp "LS" to title-page.
Contents: I. Hints to Beginners; II. Some Practical Details; III. Manuscripts; IV. Paper and Paper Marks; V. The Title-Page and the Colophon; VI. Incunabula and the Early Printers; VII Illustrated Books; VIII. Some Celebrated Presses; IX. On Bookbinding; X. Great Collectors; XI Auction Sales and Catalogues; XII. Early Editions and Strange Books.

This volume is heavier than the average quoted in my store listings and, as consequence, the shipping cost will be higher than that quoted in my listing. Please contact me if you wish more details.

[8], 248 pages.
Green cloth over boards with gilt lettering to top board and spine. Very slight rubbing to extremities of spine and boards. Decorated endpapers. Previous owner's ink inscription (1902) to title-page. Page bottom and fore-edges cut to slightly differing sizes.
With chapters on "men who have formed libraries", different types of libraries, how to buy, bibliographies, etc., ending with a list of 100 'important' books.

[2], 160 pages, plus plates. With 46 illustrations in total – black and white except for the frontispiece which is in colour.

Cream cloth covered boards with red illustrations, and red text to the spine. Spine a little soiled. Some age-toning to the top of the upper board. Light foxing to the half-title. Previous bookseller's pencil marks to the front free end-paper. Internally clean and unmarked.

"The illustrated book has been called the ordinary man's picture gallery, and it provides a subject that will appeal to anyone interested in the visual or applied arts. This book deals concisely with the history and techniques of book illustration, and is intended to supply the need for a short and inexpensive account of the subject."

xi, [1], 226, [2] pages.
Green paper-covered boards, with a tan cloth spine stamped in black. Boards rubbed and a little scuffed. Corners slightly turned with small loss of paper. Hinge to inner front paste-down split but binding is firm. Text clean and unmarked. Previous owner's pencil inscription to front free end-paper.
"Popular edition", reprint of the 1893 first edition. Has chapters on: Blunders in General; Blunders of Authors; Blunders of Translators; Bibliographical Blunders; Lists of Errata; Misprints; Schoolboys' Blunders; and Foreigners' English. A volume from The Book-Lover's Library series, edited by Henry B. Wheatley.

(A) The London Bookshop. Being Part One of a Pictorial Record of the Antiquarian Book trade: Portraits & Premises with prefatory reminiscence by Percy Muir.
Pinner, Private Libraries Association, 1971
Grey cloth covered boards with burgundy and gilt title band to cover and spine.
Very minor evidence of rubbing to spine extremities and corners.
Oblong (18.5 x 25cms), 95 pages, including many black and white photographs.
Limited to 1500 copies of which 700 were for sale.
Near fine.

(B) The London Bookshop. Being Part Two of a Pictorial Record of the Antiquarian Book Trade: Portraits & Premises.
Pinner, Private Libraries Association, 1977
Grey cloth covered boards with burgundy and gilt title band to cover and spine.
Cloth slightly faded with slight evidence of rubbing to spine edges. Top corner of front free end-paper creased with small tear.
Oblong (18.5 x 25cms), 75, [1, blank], [4, corrigenda to Part One + 3 blank] pages, including many black and white photographs.
Limited to 2000 copies of which… Read More