Customer Reviews

ABC for Book Collectors

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One of the earlier reviewers -- a history grad student -- noted that this book is "outdated and unorganized." Both of those claims are inaccurate. I'm a manuscripts curator by profession, and this text is certainly not outdated. Book knowledge, and the subtleties of collecting and discriminating among important texts, are the highest priorities of John Carter's book, and he imparts those things with great skill. Several reviewers also criticize the lack of an index or table of contents. Folks, it's an encyclopedia; each term has its own heading, in alphabetical order! The book IS the table of contents and the index. This book was required reading for the "Introduction to Descriptive Bibliography" calss when I first attended Rare Book School in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1998; I'm sure it still is.

It's important for historians (grad student or no) to familiarize themselves with this terminology. "All the terms and abbreviation in the book can be found on the Internet," notes the aforementioned grad student. Whoa! The great hulking trash barge that is the Internet does indeed pull up search terms for all of Carter's entries, but I don't trust them to be accurate. Many book-collecting terms are highly subjective ("first edition," for instance) and I'd never rely on an unvetted digital source for an accurate description if I knew nothing of the subject. You can trust John Carter's book. It should be handy on the bookshelf of every bibliophile. You'll find yourself reaching for it a lot. -Dan Lewis, Ph.D., Curator of the History of Science, the Huntington Library.

...is explained in this handy reference for anybody who can't tell a quire from an aquatint or who wouldn't recognize foxing if their life depended on it. I'm not a book collector - somehow I acquired this book - but I do enjoy reading memoirs written by folk who have spent their lives in pursuit of rare books and spotless first editions (Helen Hanff's books for instance and Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone's book "Used and Rare") and this ABC was a useful reference to some of the terminology used in those. Over four hundred alphabetical entries explain the jargon and conventions of book manufacture and define terms used by dealers world-wide As a lover of books I found it quite interesting to know some of these technical terms (blank verso, library bindings, plate-numbers, fly-sheet) and would imagine that for a would-be collector, this would be a most useful book. In the meanwhile, I would love to come across a book with fore-edge painting ... a technique whereby the fore-edge of a book is slightly fanned out and then held fast and decorated with a scene. The edges are then squared back up and gilded in the ordinary way. Unless you know the painting is there and fan the pages, you will never see the painting... Books! You've got to love them!

Carter's book is not dated for me, but timeless. He has a droll and elliptical way of deflating the fatuous inclinations of book dealers. Yes, there is no index, and it is tough to find exact terminology sometimes. But this book is not a mere reference book, it is meant to be read and enjoyed and instruct you in the "what", but also the "why" and "how". Carter, in his manner and wit, shows a *way* of approaching rare books which I think is very healthy. His skewering of the term "mint condition" and his hilarious description of "issue mongers" have me revisiting this book for momentary pleasure again and again. I started in used books in a store about 8 years ago and when I was hired, my boss put this book in my hands. I have always appreciated that gesture. Any collector should find both pleasure and knowledge in this tome.

Written by bibliographer John Carter (1905-1975), and originally published in 1952, this 232-page compendium of information and insights has long been considered the "how-to bible" for dedicated antiquarians, bibliophiles, and specialty lib-rarians with respect to locating, evaluating, and acquiring rare and out-of-print titles. Now in a completely revised, expanded, and re-set eighth edition, the ABC For Book Collectors is additionally enhanced with an informative introduction by Nicolas Barker (a personal friend of the late John Carter and the man who is responsible for the updates and revisions of this eighth edition). Among the subject authoritatively covered (and arranged in more than 490 alphabetically presented entries) are technical terms used in book collecting and bibliography; auctions, book conditions, facsimiles and fakes, "points", rarity, and more. This new addition provides up-to-date information on web-based book collecting (including eBay sales). The ABC For Book Collectors is a seminal and essential reference shelf component for dealers and collectors, and will prove of immense interest to authors, publishers, librarians, bibliophiles, bibliographers, and reviewers as well!

In the short span that I have owned this book it has already proved its self to be indispensable. No ordinary dictionary of terms, it goes into detail when needed with some facinating and sometimes funny anecdotes.

Book collecting seems to be in growing exponentially with increasing on-line sources, but the John Carter/Nicholas Barker book, first published in the 1950's and updated many times since then (now, I believe, the 8th edition) remains the best source for terminology and understanding the process of (physically) making books -- at least pre-P.O.D.

I don't really have anything to add except that on the ILAB (International League of Antiquarian Booksellers) website, the PDF version is available for free download. It's now on my Kindle.

Great book which came highly recommended by serious collectors. This is a great book for bibliophiles, but for general book lover this work is somewhat highly priced. This book teaches one the lingo of book talk and contains names on pages, cover, jacket, etc.

I would probably go as far as saying that this book is definitely over rated. Author is well known in book circles, therefore anyone who's who in book collecting business will give a high regard to this work.

Generally speaking, other than interesting remarks like 'this page is called verso' its just a dictionary of book terms. Most, if not all of the price guides contain same information such as 'Official Price Guide to Collecting Books' and 'Book Collectors Price Guide'.

For antique book collector this work is a must have, but for general collector price guide will suffice.

This book can be hard to come by (you can order it from Amazon but just try to actually GET it from them--I gave up after 4 months and used an Amazon 3rd party seller). But it's worth hunting for. A wealth of information and handy reference volume for the serious collector and serious bookseller.

I like the book. It's very clear and concise.