Among the Gently Mad: Strategies and Perspectives for the Book Hunter in the 21st CenturyA field guide for the modern book collector From the author of A Gentle Madness-a book with more than seventy thousand copies in print that delighted bibliophiles everywhere-comes a twenty-first-century guide to book collecting that deals with both the traditional methods of acquisition and the electronic tools now available on the Internet. Sharing the superb insight he has gathered from booksellers over the years, Nicholas Basbanes offers a refresher course on the fundamentals that endure, while questioning certain practices of doubtful validity. Topics include how to determine if a book is a first edition, how to spot book club editions, the importance of dust jackets, scouting the flea markets, how to work the book fairs, and the importance of handling the goods, as well as discussing less tangible issues like spotting trends and having a focus. Then he takes a long look at the pros and cons of Internet buying, illuminating how you can use these electronic tools to your advantage and making this the book no modern collector will want to be without. |
Contents
First Principles I | 1 |
A Little Help from Your Friends | 15 |
Going with the Flow | 49 |
Three Little Words | 71 |
Spinning a Yarn | 93 |
The Beat Goes On III | 111 |
Earning Your Mettle | 137 |
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Common terms and phrases
acquired Ahearn American Antiquarian Book artifacts asked auction authors Berland bibliography Bibliomania bibliophile book collecting book fairs book hunter bookseller Boston bought C-SPAN catalog Childe Hassam collector dealers dust jacket eBay everything example fact fiction flea markets Folio Francis Henry Taylor gathered Gentle Madness going Gutenberg Bible Henry Henry Huntington hundred important inscription instance interest Internet issue John Joseph Heller known Leab learned lection Library listed literary literature London look manuscripts Massachusetts material means million miniature books never nineteenth century notable novel offered on-line owner person poet printed published Rare Book School rare books rarity Raymond Scott Fitzgerald search engines sell Shakespeare shelves sold someone Sotheby's story things thousand dollars tion told trade University volume Walker Percy Weinstein William William Faulkner words worth writing wrote York