/r/BookCollecting

Photograph via snooOG

The definitive source for established book collectors or those who would like to start collecting themselves. A place to show off your collection or share tips on finding the best deals online or at your local bookstore, thrift store or flea market.

Feel free to ask questions!

If you are curious about the value of a book you have, try to include a photo, publisher information, copyright date (if any), and a general idea about the condition.

Other subreddits you may enjoy:

/r/BookCollecting

37,170 Subscribers

1

Salvador Dali's hidden faces 1944

I recently found this book while cleaning. Does anyone know the value? Mine is in much better condition than the listing shown but is the seller dreaming?

Any help is appreciated. Hopefully this is an appropriate sub for this question.

Thanks.

4 Comments
2024/12/02
16:09 UTC

1

Signed book by buzz aldrin??? Is this his actual signature or is this fake? I checked images of the same page in which they never had the signature sooo?

5 Comments
2024/12/02
11:54 UTC

6

My grandma has a collection of “biblioteca básica de salvat” and it has every book

It’s from ‘71 and she lent me a book for school, but i wanted to know if the full collection is worth something, because i know that the book won’t be in good state by the end of the semester.

So, Is it worth something?

3 Comments
2024/12/02
02:32 UTC

259

My collection of signed first editions

21 Comments
2024/12/02
00:26 UTC

2

Smoke Smell from housefire

I have a collection of valuable books that were in a house fire. Not directly damaged but they have a faint smoke smell as they were rooms away from the fire behind some closed doors. Far less bad than times I have bought books from people that were smokers. We are getting our general items cleaned by company using ozone etc. I am nervous about leaving the books with people I don't know, I was wondering if anyone knew if it might be just as effective to leave them in a plastic bin with baking soda/ activated charcoal. I am not in a rush so I could do this for a year swapping out the baking soda/charcoal monthly or so. If this is not the right forum for this I am sorry and please delete. Thanks

5 Comments
2024/12/01
18:13 UTC

0

Tips to avoid mold in book

hello guys, I need some advice on book storage. in this more humid season I would like to avoid that the books in my bedroom get moldy. I read on the internet about silica sachets and salt to remove humidity from the environment. Do you think they are enough? (I live on an island, in a particularly windy and humid city)

4 Comments
2024/12/01
17:42 UTC

22

storing leather bound books long term

My dad recently passed and he left me his collection of Easton Press books. I am packing them up to store them (I’m moving around quite a bit and need to settle down in one spot before I display them) and I had some questions on best way to ensure the safety of the books.

They will go in a climate-controlled storage unit. I have small heavy duty cardboard boxes for them to go in. Any recommendations on how I pack them?

I’ve attached a photo of them laying flat in a box — should I keep them flat or stand them upright? And how should I manage empty space in the boxes?

Any other recommendations on keeping these safe?

18 Comments
2024/12/01
16:26 UTC

1

I need help finding a specific book

I'm not sure if this is allowed but I need the help of the reddit gods and I don't know where else to go.

When I was a kid, we had this vintage cookie recipe book that has since gone missing. It had the best recipes and was highly cherished. It disappeared during a move back in 2018 and I've been looking for it ever since.

It was ancient to me when I was a kid. Probably bought pre-90s but I can't be sure, it also could have been second hand. It definitely had the vibe and the font of like 60s cookbooks but I was a kid and didn't really pay attention to it very much. It was small, though. Probably just a bit bigger than a note card and bound at the top. It probably had around 100 cookie recipes. The front just said cookies and had a cartoon dog or something on it. It was that real weird cookbook paper. Kinda waxy, kinda not. Very easily prone to stains.

Please, any help or ideas. I spend an hour or so trying to Google it every few weeks/months and I can't find anything.

3 Comments
2024/12/01
05:15 UTC

3

Can starting to use a dehumidifier in a home library during cold weather have any adverse effects on books?

I know caption sounds silly but I live in Louisiana and this week we hit a cold front that’s lasted a week so far. On the the first day of dipped weather, I noticed some pages to an art book I had *opened from the post instantly grow wavy — which freaked me out as I have a pretty sizable (and valuable) book collection.

Doing some quick research, I was prompted to look into getting a dehumidifier, which, fortunately my landlord had a spare of and was kind enough to lend me. I immediately put it in my library room and went to go start using it when I did an additional quick Google search and I read something that suggested a sudden change in humidity level in a room, even if using a dehumidifier, can cause potential damage to pages all the same.

Am I overthinking this? Am I misunderstanding something? Humidity is presently at 72 where I live, tempt is 48.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as it is my first time using a device such as this to attempt to thwart dampness in pages. Thank you in advance!

8 Comments
2024/12/01
03:47 UTC

24

Do you know where those stickers are from?

11 Comments
2024/11/30
17:39 UTC

15

Tips / advice for preserving old books?

I’ve recently been gifted some mid-century books from a retired professor in a tropical country where humidity can be extreme in some parts of the year and high temperatures are a thing the rest of the year. As you can see, some are already worse for wear. Some sat on a public library shelf for decades, neglected, and others still have a camphor smell (from moth balls, I expect) months after being given to me.

I plan on keeping them out of sunlight in a room with a dehumidifier (my man cave). I’ve also thought about having a small container of silica on the shelf, if I choose to put them in a wood and glass cabinet.

My questions to you all is related to air circulation. Given my climate, should I opt for an open bookshelf, or a closed cabinet with silica?

Any other advice / tips for helping these old books beyond my layman ideas?

5 Comments
2024/11/30
17:16 UTC

4

Should I buy cheaper book sets like ICL?

Hello, I’m very new to reading (at least on my own time), I’m 17 and just starting to get into it this year. I am interested in history and philosophy books. I keep looking at eBay and seeing these old books that I would be interested in reading. I was wondering if buying International Collectors Library books or other cheaper, older, hardcovers would give me issues any issues? May sound like a dumb question but like I said, I don’t know much about it.

7 Comments
2024/11/30
16:43 UTC

35

Asked for old horror - How did I do?

Got these books from an old (70y/o) collector. I think they look awesome

4 Comments
2024/11/30
13:46 UTC

1

Info about first editions/printings?

After hearing about that first edition Harry Potter book that sold for a ton of money, I immediately went to my childhood book collection to see if I had any first editions.

I looked up how to tell if it was a first edition and it said that if there was a 1 in the printing line thing, then it was a first printing. But how do tell if it's a first edition? And is a first printing still good? Is it only good if it's both? I've found tons in my collection with the lowest number being one, so I'm not so sure I've got it right now?

What's the difference guys? And are first editions/printings worth much?

(I'm slow and fairly new to proper book collecting so please explain it me like I'm four)

If anyone wants to have a look at the copyright pages and check the info for me, I'll try and take a few pics/link them somewhere

11 Comments
2024/11/30
05:07 UTC

3

Help me find this book please

My mother was the illustrator for this book in 1996. She just passed last week and I’m trying to find a copy of it. Can anyone help?

5 Comments
2024/11/29
19:06 UTC

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