I was spending a little bit of time looking through a book on book conservation the other day. I had caught up my book mending at the library and was learning more about some of the book terminology when I ran across a section of the book with some photographs of some rare books. They were incredible and they became the inspiration for this post.
You would think these would be easy enough to find. Google “rare books” and Voila! Umm, wrong. It took hours to get these and most of them end up coming from a great website called AbeBooks. If you have the slightest interest in books, I highly recommend heading on over there to have a look at their stuff.
1.
Shakespeare, William. Sentiments and Similes of William Shakespeare.
2.
Brass Bookbinding Dies
3.
Copper King James Bible
4.
Siffur Avodat (metal-turquoise)
5.
March, Daniel. Our Father’s House, or the Unwritten Word
6.
The Haggadah Szyk Roth (metal)
7.
Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1881) The French revolution : a history.
8.
Gospels, New Testament Scriptures (Gilt over Sharkskin)
9.
Personal History David Copperfield - Dickens
10. And just for fun…
Fetish Masterpieces, Erotic Fantasy Photography (Yep, that's rubber!)
Most of these covers are found in a post over at AbeBooks. If you would like to see more, the post is here.
Also, be sure and head over to my guest post at Jan Geronimo’s Writing to Exhale.
How fantabulous, George – you always find the coolest of stuff!!!
I gave this awesomeness a stumble + tweet!
*smiles*
Michele
.-= Michele | aka Raw Juice Girl´s last blog ..LARABAR Review: Apple Pie =-.
Thanks Michele! And thanks for the stumbles and tweets!
You’re welcome!! Thanks for fantabulous posts!
.-= Michele | aka Raw Juice Girl´s last blog ..LARABAR Review: Apple Pie =-.
Great finds you’ve got there, George. No. 10 is a book? I think I like it. Okay, I like it a lot? Just to be safe I love that Copper King James Bible, too. “,)
.-= jan geronimo´s last blog ..Speed Limit: 500 Words =-.
Oh Jan, you are too much. Yes, young grasshopper life is about balance
George-san
Gorgeous! One of the best things I’ve ever seen is the Book of Kells at Trinity University Dublin. It’s amazing to think how much work went into books centuries ago.
.-= Tracy´s last blog ..Mondays are for Rambling =-.
Hi Tracy,
I’m going to have to do a follow up with pictures in the conservation book. These ones look tame in comparison!
George
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Very cool! Books used to look awesome.
I wish books were bound like these now.
.-= Steven-Sanders´s last blog ..What Twitter Can Do For Your Business =-.
Yeah Steve, me too. Days gone by, I guess…
George
Totally cool! I’ve always liked the feel of a good book (part of the reason I’m resisting the Kindle), and these look great.
Matt
Hey Matt,
I dig them too! I’d love to just hold and examine any one of them!
George
Those books looks like books of magic and sorcery, one held by the ancients. It’s inspiring to keep.
They do kind of remind me of books seen in those kinds of movies, Walter.
Thanks for coming by!
George
Wonderful!
Does the rubber book bounce?
.-= Kim Woodbridge´s last blog ..A Huge Head of Broccoli: Let’s Make Broccoli Cheddar Soup =-.
HaHaaaaHa, chuckle, no they don’t bounce, they hurt your toes.
Kim,
No higher than some of the checks I’ve written recently!
George
Rare book covers for rare books themselves. A question from the less connaisseur, do the “original” ones still exist? I did Google rare books but ended up only some real crappy sites that don’t provide too much useful info – then again I did not perform as much of a thorough job than you did:)
.-= DiTesco´s last blog ..Blog Action Day 2009 #BAD09 =-.
DiTesco,
Hey, I wish I knew if the originals did exist. It took me hours on Google, trying all kinds of key word combinations to try and find useful info on rare books. I wish I had the money and knowledge to become a rare book collector!
George
Hello George,
This is a very good post. I enjoy
looking @ pieces of Art..My Favorite
is Our Fathers House..
I found your Blog through Deneil
Merrits Blog..You seem to have
some interesting Stuff on your
Blog also..
To your Success,
Gary,
Hi Gary,
Thanks for coming by. DeNeil is such a great guy – I love his web site too.
I am partial to Father’s house as well.
George
Hey George, how’s life?
Great post. Especially meaningful for me, because I’m fortunate to own a first edition of the exquisite number four (Keter Press, Jerusalem 1971), which was given as a most awe-inspiring present in 1977 by a family friend who was emigrating to Israel. I also benefitted from a complete 4-volume first-edition set of the History of England, published in 1863.
Exquisite in etymology as well as decription, given your lengthy journey to search for these covers. Mine is in fair condition but sadly, no claim to mint, having suffered during poetically enforced exile between various moves – the last ten or so pages are creased and bear signs of water damage – but nothing on the scale of a Red Sea parting.
This is rather synchronistic as I’ve been exchanging with another marvellous Twitter/blogger bunch down under re: my bookcases as well as the contents thereof: http://mybrc.myobnet.com/2009/08/18/best-business-books/ (see comment 36)
Magic, George, sheer magic. What a find
Hi Michael.
Thanks, and while it took a while, it was kind of fun doing the research. I’m so envious of your finds. I just love books so much, I would be proud to have any of the versions you describe.
I appreciate your correction on the title as well, and I’ll fix that today. Headed over to your link right now.
Cheers!
George
Incidentally George, #4 is a Siddur Avodat, not Siffur. Some of the copies available for sale via AbeBooks have different covers or are those printed by other publishers. Mine is from the Shalom Publishing House, printed by Keter Press. It’s bi-lingual, has the ribbon and retains all the inlaids.
These books are gorgeous! This post reminds me of one of my favorite places: The British Library. They have some amazingly beautiful books in their museum, from original Shakespeare manuscripts to The Canterbury Tales. But my favorite bit is the King’s Library, a four-storey glass tower in the middle of the building containing 65,000+ printed volumes collected by King George III between 1763 and 1820. It’s amazing – a work of art unto itself.
.-= Monica Shaw´s last blog ..Five Minutes With The Editor: Erica Friedman =-.
Monica,
I’ve never had the chance to visit a national library like that. I can only imagine how exciting!
George
Glad to hear you enjoyed the books – the ones from AbeBooks came from a feature we did on Unusual Bindings. The whole feature can be seen here:
http://www.abebooks.com/books/unusual-bindings.shtml
Hi Beth,
Thanks for coming around! It was fun to research these and I had a great time looking around over at AbeBooks. I’m hoping folks have been clicking on the link in the post to head over and see the post!
Cheers
George
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