Page 38 - JOA-July-22

Two Letters on This and That

wo more emails on interesting topics: when is a set not a set; richer clientele. I have seen that done. This is called a signed binding.
and how some books that are not new enough to be new nor I suspect that it could have been ordered that was in these deluxe
Told enough to be old might lose value if the demand for leather bindings from the publisher, but if so, one would think that this
them dropped. would have been noted in ads. I know this was the case with later
Some books are classics that will be around forever, others have a Houghton Mifflin’s Thoreau bindings, not sure about [original
short shelf life. publishers] Ticknor and Fields.
Ken is my friend and former partner Ken Callahan from Callahan The fact that two volumes are slightly mismatched suggests that they
and Co. Booksellers in Peterborough, NH. Ken specializes in hunting, were not all bound at the same time but were generally bound to a
fishing, and natural history books. I’ve known Ken since the third uniform style.
grade, and it is his fault that I’m in the old book business since 1975! They could have also been bound by the owner to create a deluxe
(Just kidding! Thanks, Ken!). leather set of Thoreau when one did not exist.
If by a customer, it would be a unique item.
Note: this starts my 20th year writing for the Journal of Antiques and But since you said you have one volume in this style also, suggests that
Collectibles and is my 236th article. (Congrats, Jim! Your fans thank you the volumes were either bound by the publisher or perhaps the book shop
for all your great work!) that was selling them.
Interesting set, but the two missing spine labels is a noticeable flaw that
Dear Jim, one would not expect on a set someone is trying to sell for $3,000!
I found this Thoreau “set” online and wonder what you make of it. The – Jim
binding is very similar to the one I have assembled earlier, with many later
printings of the same works. Were Houghton, Mifflin already offering novel Dear Jim;
sets in the 1860s, or were they perhaps reusing old stock? I just read your article on “worth” (in the Mar./April 2022 Journal) which
– H I enjoyed. I am glad that you brought up changing tastes. Good point. As you
say, some things are timeless, but lots of areas of collecting fluctuate and peak.
Dear H, Some will never go anywhere. Presidential biographies/autobiographies, for
That is a curious “set” as two of the volumes A Week and Excursions are instance. Tell-all memoirs of former presidential aides. Lots of books that
slightly different in the gold tooling than the others never should have been written in the first place.
although alike in size and general appearance. Speaking of ephemeral markets, a friend who
Also, two faults the seller apparently does not runs a new bookshop has a strict time limit on NY
realize are that the red leather labels reading Times Bestsellers. He only buys them or takes them
“Thoreau’s Works” for those two volumes have in for store credit within a very short period after
fallen off and are missing. The tan “labels” that they have been published, something like a 2-month
we are seeing are not pasted on labels like the limit, not sure of the exact time. He says he can
other volumes, but the underlying leather that sell them until then, then the demand for them
shows the imprint of the lettering which was absolutely dies.
stamped onto the red labels when they were – Ken
originally in place. And of course, not all books
have pasted on spine labels, sometimes the letter- Dear Ken,
ing is stamped directly on the books, but not in Good point about the Presidential biographies
this case. and tell-alls, and I would add most political
Interesting that all the volumes date books in general. I remember decades there
from 1865 to 1868: one 1865, five 1866, Thoreau, Henry David. was a tell-all book about Clinton written by
Walden: Or, Life in the Woods
and one 1868. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854. First edition. Original Anonymous. All the rage for a couple of
Also, I see that the spines of the volumes publisher’s cloth binding embossed in blind. Yellow endpapers. weeks – everyone had to have a copy, but it
are not numbered in the way one might A Very Good+ copy. One signature professionally secured. is now long forgotten and unsaleable. I was
expect to see on an “official” set, although Pencil ownership signature to front pastedown. Includes adverts reminded of it when I saw a copy in a box
that is not always done. at front and rear dated September 1854. One of just 2,000 of books someone brought in. Also older
I don’t see a binder’s name on the copies of the first edition, the importance of which cannot be books about how either the liberals or the
overstated. Selling for $12,500 at Whitmore Rare Books.
endpapers as sometimes the binder’s name conservatives (take your pick) are destroying
is printed in tiny type either embossed in America.
gilt lettering on the upper or bottom corner of the leather on the front I stay away from them too with few exceptions. And after a while,
pastedown, or perhaps on the next free front endpaper. The name could when I see so many of those former bestseller titles, it’s like – who cares?
also be that of an upscale bookshop that had it bound for sale to their – Jim

James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since 1975, when he decided that it would be more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to get
a “real” job. For a born collector like Jim, having a shop just might be another excuse to buy more books. He has about 30,000 second hand and rare books on the shelves, and just
about all subjects are represented. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 154; Trappe, MD 21673; 410-476-3838; unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; www.unicornbookshop.com

36 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles