Collecting Antique Books Requires Knowledge Of Printing

Other than age, topic and the inclusion of illustrations, antique books can also be identified by the lack of an INSA number, which identifies the book in the national library system. The American National Standards Association, the name adopted in 1969, was not formed until 1918, and books published before then will lack the identifying number that is on every book published since then. Although, many self-published works have not registered with ANSI, usually due to the cost and the low number of books published at one time.

While writing has been around since the Egyptians put their images on papyrus, movable type made of clay was used by the Chinese in the sixth century, but the size of the Chinese character set made book printing difficult and time-consuming and was rarely used. Even with the introduction of metal movable type did little to encourage printing, but the printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1450 sped up the process and many true antique books printed on a Gutenberg press are still in collections today.

There are many factors that affect the value of antique books including the content of the book, but one of the most prized factors is the illustrations that were used in the book. If the art work was produced by a well-known artist, the value of the book skyrockets along with the condition of the product.

Antique Book Reproductions Abound In Market

Due to the type of paper and ink used in many of the antique books, reading them is generally out of the question. Bindings used processes such as glue or stitching, but the age of the paper often disintegrates the paper on which antique books were printed. Handling them and trying to preserve the books is a specialized process, performed only by trained and experienced experts.

Salvaging the content of antique books is part of the Gutenberg Project that involves not only the preservation of the books but also converting them to digital format. Using optical character recognition software and antique books are scanned into a digital file where they can be read on a computer or replicated in printed format.

When collecting antique books, the collector needs to understand that while a book may be old, it may not have the appeal to make it valuable to someone else. The storyline, the quality of the writing and the quality of the illustrations should have a wide appeal to add value to the antique books. Otherwise, the value is based on the personal appeal of the books' owner.