Book Collecting : an Introduction to Modern Methods of Literary and Bibliographical Detection.

Collison, R.L.

Published by Ernest Benn Limited, London, first edition, 1957, 1957

About this Item

Cloth, small 8vo, xvi, 17-244 pp, 30 plates, ills. From the blurb : "The reader of this book is invited to take part in a real adventure of detection. Instead of looking for the misprint on page 33 and the other minutiae of the first-edition collector, he is sent on a quest for the true reason for a book's existence. Solid though the print may appear to be, the investigator quickly finds that nothing is certain in the history of any individual book. Being the product of many different hands - writers, publishers, paper-makers, printers, binders, etc. - books have been the victim of the most remarkable accidents, closely connected with the political, religious, or social history of their times. Words are twisted, passages withdrawn or altered, illustrations wrongly attributed, authors' and publishers names concealed, bindings transferred, and paper and print subjected to a hundred curious turns. Mr. Collison closely examines the possible reasons for these accidents and suggests a method for each stage of the investigation. He shows how book-collecting can be a fascinating pursuit - and by no means an expensive one - that grows more rewarding as skill is acquired in a hobby calling on all the knowledge that can be accumulated in a lifetime. Fully illustrated." Bookplate of Roy A. Gillespie on front pastedown endpaper, an ex-library copy with a large library blindstamp on the rear board, number on the spine, tape-marks on the endpapers, stamps and accession marks on the prelims and stamps on the plates, covers slightly rubbed and spine slightly faded.

Seller Inventory # ABE-68995

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Book Collecting : an Introduction to Modern Methods of Literary and Bibliographical Detection.
• Publisher: Ernest Benn Limited, London, first edition, 1957
• Publication Date: 1957
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Seller catalogs:
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