Rare Books Understanding What Makes them Rare
Posted by Richard Gabriel on Sat, Apr 24, 2010 @ 02:25 PM
Rare Books are not just ordinary books, they are rare, making them unique sometimes like a one of a kind painting or more like a painting theme that was painted by the artist more than once (if there is more than one copy). The parts of a book or components, have not changed and today we just don't think about the 'parts' of a book. A book is a book is a book. All old books were, prior to the industrialization in England and Europe, were made by hand but it should be said that the original assembly line for not only making the printing or the writing (prior to the printing press) was first developed in the book industry. Ford did not have anything on Anton Koberger who not only held the first 'book fair' in Europe but became wealthy printing, binding and distributing his books, his competitors books and he was also selling 'old books' across Europe. Koberger is undoubtably one of my personal favorite printers. Not only were his papers well made (those made in Germany), some of them today are still stiff, crisp and show an aged brilliance. Not to mention his type and the general overall construction and composition of his books. The capstone was his Liber Chronocarium a tome of some immense proportions even by todays standards. Copies of the Liber both in Latin and German can be found readily available and will set you back about $80,000 plus. So what makes a book both rare and desirable to collectors or for that matter, someone who wants to put a part of their future investment that they can actually hold in their own hands (its hard to hold electronic bits and bytes)? Good question.
First, look at these two examples, both from Michelle P. Brown's excellent book entitled "Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms" it is available in paperback and not only gives you terms but wonderful and colorful descriptions and examples of these very early and astounding books.
Several things you will note on this very old and rare book is that it has metal 'bosses' on the cover and that is because in libraries of old, most books were laid down and they did not stand them up as we do today. The corner metal pieces were to help protect the book as well. The sewing of a rare book is nestled into the 'Head band and End Band' (starting with the Head and ending at the End) and the ridges along the spine are the extra sewing bands that hold the book together.
Because of rats, mice and book worms (which love to eat paper and wood) the books were constructed around a 'hardy' construction of wooden boards, strong sewing thread and tough leather, all put together by hand and the binder often used 'old vellum' manuscript strips to sew the book together and hold the entire piece. It is odd that sometimes the 'manuscript' scraps themselves are quite rare even in their partial condition. You will note the 'pegging', this holds the sewn thread to the wooden boards and the entire unit is 'glued' usually with 'wheat glue' and 'rabbit glue'. The marks on the binding are often unique and always tell us a story about the book. When you have the opportunity to hold an Anton Koberger book in your hands that is in good condition and has not been restored, it is amazing to think that the book was made over 500 years ago. So what makes a book rare? Well they certainly are not making books this way today and they aren't making anymore of them.