You may remember from our last issue of the Avid Collector that we redesigned our Rare Book Room. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback, and are pleased you like the new format. Since our last issue we've updated the UK Rare Book Room to match, and are frequently updating both with new features, articles, beautiful books, contests collector profiles and more.

This issue of the Avid Collector showcases a feature on Collecting Modern Photobooks from our friends at Fine Books & Collections magazine. We also have a article on books with Cosway bindings, our ever-popular Ask the Experts Q&A, and more. Enjoy!

FEATURED COLLECTIBLES

Collecting Modern Photobooks

Thanks to Scott Brown, editor of Fine Books & Collections magazine, for this fascinating piece on modern photobooks.

Photography began to take form as an artistic expression in the 1920s and 1930s with avant-garde artists, such as Man Ray, publishing collections of their photographic work in book form. Most dealers and collectors, however, point to Robert Frank's The Americans as the first modern photobook. Frank, a native of Switzerland, came to the U.S. on a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955 and spent nine months driving and photographing the country from New York to California. In just over 80 photographs, Frank captured the soul of the country, but he couldn't find an American publisher for his work. A French publisher released Frank's photobook in France under the title Les Americains. In 1959, a year after the French published his work, Grove Press published an American version, without the French text and with an introduction by Jack Kerouac.

Frank and his contemporaries - William Klein, Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind - dominated American photography in the 1960s with innovate techniques and edgy style, reshaping conventional ideas about what photography should look like. Other photographers like Helen Levitt, Garry Winogrand and Bruce Davidson took the traditional photo essay in new directions pointing the lens in new neighborhoods at new faces with new perspectives.

"The 1970s were a very interesting period," says Andrew Cahan…

Read the Entire Article

ASK THE EXPERTS

Our Expert Booksellers answer your questions on rare and collectible books.
View the Q&A

This Issue's Questions

1. I can't seem to find the issue points for the first edition of What Makes Sammy Run?, a Hollywood novel by Budd Schulberg (Random House 1941). Can you provide some pointers on the first edition? -Bob
2. I have a hardback book collecting issues of In Ruhleben Camp. It starts with issue 1 (6th June 1915) through to Christmas 1915. What is it worth? I read somewhere it was a rare book. -Patricia
3. I recently moved and came across Rugger My Pleasure, by A. A. Thomson, a book about rugby. When I opened it up, there was an inscription that read, "To PG Wodehouse, With a gratitude the author will never express in a lifetime." It is then signed "A. A. Thomson 21st Nov 55." I am sure it may be worth something, but what? - Millie

See the Answers

PICK OF THE MONTH

The Story of Emma, Lady Hamilton
by Julia Frankau

This month, one of our features is about Cosway bindings. Our pick of the month is this fantastic and gorgeous example with 13 inlaid portraits. Horatio Nelson is in the center.

Publisher: Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, 1911
Publication Date: 1911
Binding: Hardcover
Signed: Signed by Author(s)

More information about this copy of The Story of Emma, Lady Hamilton

ON THE SITE

Interesting Inscriptions

While many inscriptions are bland and generic, some authors add humor and personality when signing a book. We have compiled a collection of funny and inspiring inscriptions, from Ernest Hemingway to Stephen King.

Read about the inscriptions

Legend of Literature: F. Scott Fitzgerald

First up in AbeBooks' new series of features on literary legends is F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose presence in the book world is still strong 68 years after his death.

Learn more about Fitzgerald

Cosway Bindings

Cosway bindings are traditional leather bindings with miniature paintings inset into the covers. These beautiful bindings are named after Richard Cosway, the acclaimed English miniaturist portrait painter from the Regency era.

See more Cosway bindings

50th Anniversary of The Americans

Celebrate 50 years of Robert Frank's ground-breaking photography book, The Americans. A remarkable insight into a nation in flux, this book offers countless iconic images revealing America's cultural divisions across class and race.

Read about The Americans

Creative juices

The booze, the drugs, the writing. Some of literature's greatest writers have had a soft spot for the drink or the drugs, or both. From Lewis Carroll and Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Hunter S Thompson and Charles Bukowski, the list of authors under the influence goes on and on. Uncork our feature on how the creative juices flow in the literary world.

Read about influenced authors

Most expensive books sold in November

See last month's most expensive sales