Catalog received: Books in dust jackets from Babylon Revisited

I always enjoy browsing a new catalog from Babylon Revisited, a bookseller we’ve profiled before (“You CAN judge a book by its jacket – or, rather, its dust jacket,” in the July 8, 2010 AmeriCollector.

As any serious collector of modern editions can tell you, much of a book’s value is wrapped up, so to speak, in its jacket. I keep thinking of the first edition of Nelson Algren’s first novel, “Somebody in Boots,” published in 1935 – a rare volume that Algren supposedly didn’t even have his own copy of. I saw one in a jacket in New York about 30 years ago; it sported a really cool illustration of a hard-staring Elvis lookalike in leather. The book is so rare in the original jacket, I couldn’t even find an image of it online to steal for this post. My recollection is that it was priced at over $1,000 back in circa 1982. How I wish I had gone into hock for it then; today, it would cost almost as much a lot of 2012-model cars.

The takeaway: If you’re going to buy a book for your own collection, or give one as a gift to a collector, it’s best to invest in a copy with the best jacket you can get. (CAVEAT EMPTOR: With the new printing technologies, some people actually COUNTERFEIT dust jackets nowadays; on a recent episode of “Antiques Roadshow,” an appraiser even identified a bogus jacket on a book on an otherwise authentic first edition, and I’ve noticed a few eBay sellers listing books in “facsimile” jackets. So be careful who you buy from if the jacket is very rare!)

Back to Babylon Revisited: This is a dealer that specializes in books in their original jackets, and they’ve just issued their newest catalog, number 81: “mostly Jazz Age and Depression Era fiction … primarily vintage novels published before 1940, including Mysteries, Fantasy Fiction, Romances, Photoplay Editions, Westerns, Hollywood Novels, Adventure titles, Nautical Fiction, etc.,” according to owner Mike Manz. Most of these feature exceptional period artwork. I have purchased a number of books from Mike, and I’ve always been delighted with their condition. Be sure to get on their e-mail mailing list: It’s a feast for the eyes, especially if you love art deco and 1940s noir imagery.

Visit: www.yesterdaysgallery.com

All images courtesy of Babylon Revisited

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‘Collector’s items’: Catalogs received

Babylon Revisited Rare Books

(Catalog 72, received by snail mail)

Babylon Revisited, of East Woodstock, Conn., specializes in books with dust jackets published in the 1920s to 1940s – from modern classics and mysteries to “business fiction” and “sexposés” (see “You CAN judge a book by its cover – or, rather, its dust jacket” in AmeriCollector, July 8, 2010). Many of the books and authors are long forgotten, but oh, those jackets: pure period packaging, especially the ones featuring art deco designs. Cinema buffs will find some great early photoplays as well. Personal faves: the first American edition of Graham Greene’s “Brighton Rock” (1938), priced at $2,000; “Banzai” (1926, $225) by John Paris, about “a young Japanese boy seething with unrest and discontent, who comes to free himself from the shackles that the rigid conventions of Japan forced upon him”; and “Chinatown Inside Out” (1936, $165) by reformer Leong Gor Yun, a Chinese Jacob Riis writing about the seamy side of the city that few non-Asians knew of. Visit www.YesterdaysGallery.com.

Download catalog > We’ve provided a pdf version of the Babylon Revisited Rare Books catalog for your convenience.

Image and catalog courtesy of Babylon Revisited Rare Books.

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Ten Pound Island Book Company

(Maritime List 197, received by e-mail)

There are precious few booksellers who really specialize in maritime material; fewer still who have a varied and ever-changing stock, publish a dynamic and informative blog, issue frequent e-mail catalogs AND – of no small interest – offer great material at prices to match (I know: I’ve compared them). Greg Gibson of Ten Pound Island Book Company in Gloucester, Mass., is such a one; I briefly profiled Greg in “Collector’s items” on July 27, 2010, and want to remind nautical collectors, voyager-wannabes and the holiday gift-givers who shop for them to visit www.TenPound.com for books, documents, broadsides, photographs, trade cards and other paper seafaring memorabilia.

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Mike Brackin Americana & Militaria

(2010 Holiday Mail Catalog 143, received by snail mail)

I had never heard of Mike Brackin American & Militaria until his holiday catalog arrived in the mail earlier this week, probably because he got my name from another dealer’s mailing list. No problem: I love discovering new sources – especially when THEY come to ME. Mike offers a large and diverse selection of Americana – books, documents, photography and relics – from the antebellum period, the Civil War, the Indian Wars and subsequent eras. The price range is broad, with many interesting and affordable items – especially for those with Civil War collectors on their gift lists. (Keep in mind that next year, 2011, marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War!) Personal favorites: a regimentally marked 1868 Springfield trapdoor rifle with “19 CO D” on the stock ($750); a matching knife and fork set from a Civil War mess kit with two-piece bone grips and stamped “Passaic Cutlery Co” ($45); and an unmarried Connecticut woman’s 1771 request for court-ordered financial support for a “child begotten of her body in Fornication by one NW of Groton” ($125). (Note to self: There is nothing new under the sun.) Visit www.MikeBrackin.com.
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Another one for the books

Virtually every serious collector needs professional services of various kinds at various times: anything from insurance, appraisals, legal help (if ownership is in dispute) and tax advice to matters of consignment (when selling or auctioning items), authentication, conservation, repair and display.

You may even need a shrink to help you rein in your compulsive spending on your hobby – or a bankruptcy attorney if you’ve already gone to far.

I plan to address all of these aspects of collecting in future blogs on AmeriCollector.com – as well as the psychological mechanisms behind collecting, i.e., why the hell DO we love to collect, anyway – and why do we collect what we do? Why do some people – including some GUYS – collect dolls, while others are turned on by antique restraining devices, like handcuffs and balls and chains? Why are some women gaga for Gallé glass, others are willing to kill for the right Colonial sampler and still others are ready to rumble for a vintage Indian “Four” or a Harley “Flathead”?

But I digress. Right now I won’t address the whys but a “what” and a “who.”

The “what” is book restoration and repair, custom binding and related products and services, like archival clamshell boxes for storing rare and/or delicate volumes, and blank journals, logs and albums bound by hand in leather, snakeskin, vellum and other materials.

The “who” is Joel Radcliffe, the master bookbinder, book artist and publisher behind ARS OBSCURA Bookbinding & Restoration, in Seattle.

Now, I have blogged on a fine bookbinder once before (see “Bound to please: Relief for book lovers,” Sept. 22, 2009). But bookbinders are a lot like plumbers: When you need one, you want one who’s REALLY GOOD and isn’t going to rip you off. And unless you know one already, you want somebody who comes recommended by a trusted friend.

(Incidentally, don’t think you have to be a Book Collector in capital letters to need a bookbinder. Is that your old family Bible, published in 1790 – with all your ancestors’ birth- and death dates going back that far written in – that you’ve been using as a doorstop, so that the covers are coming apart? Have you left Great-Great-Grandpappy’s Civil War diary lying on a chest in the attic where the mice and silverfish can nosh on it? Have you been passing around your signed first edition of “The Cat in the Hat” so much that Dr. Seuss wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pen if you asked him to autograph it today? Or how about having a well-loved tome or album repaired or rebound – or having a box made for it – as a holiday, birthday or anniversary gift for a loved one? Or are you a treasure-hunting bibliophile like me, who occasionally snaps up a prize really cheap just because it has a few condition issues? If any of these scenarios applies to you, a professional bookbinder can help.)

I asked Joel to repair an uncommon and usually pricey illustrated work I’d won cheaply on eBay because it had been knocked around some and the covers were detached; I just wanted some basic repairs so I could read it without it completely falling apart. Joel did an excellent job without charging me an arm and a leg – something like fifty bucks plus shipping, which I thought was very reasonable.

Keep in mind that every book, like every family, has its own issues, that repair costs will vary and that Joel – or any bookbinder – can only estimate those costs based on photos. The best thing to do is e-mail him with some good images and as much information as possible about you want done (there’s a useful questionnaire on his Web site that will help you do this) and see what he says. If you want to proceed, he’ll ask you to ship the book to him for a closer look.

ARS OBSCURA Bookbinding & Restoration is open by appointment only – small surprise, because Joel is in really high demand and therefore BUSY. For the same reason, he may not respond to your e-mail right away: Be patient. The fact that he’s so backlogged is an indication of his talent, but that may mean waiting a couple of months for your repairs to be completed or paying more to expedite them.

Learn more at www.arsobscurabookbinding.com or call (206) 340-8810.

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