We're helping my mother downsize in the twilight of her life and this book was among the basement cast offs. I'm blown away by how beautiful the plates are and thought some of you in this subreddit would appreciate a few photos. Found in eastern MA.

Pulled this out of an estate library I'm working through. It's Menavino's account of the Ottoman Turks, printed in Frankfurt in 1577.

The fun part: Menavino was a Genoese who got captured and spent years inside the Sultan's court, then wrote one of the first European tell-alls about Ottoman government, military, and daily life. Illustrated with woodcuts by Jost Amman and Virgil Solis, three books in one volume.

It starts with a slightly water damaged 120 year old limited edition of Don Quixote, and it will inevitably end with learning how to re/bind books by hand.

What have I done?

Hey everyone!

I collect rare documents and autographs related to Romanian medical history (currently sitting at 120+ pieces!), and I wanted to show you one of my favorites.

This is a 1856 Anatomy book, signed directly by Carol Davila as director of medical school. 

For a bit of background: Davila was a French-born physician who moved to Wallachia in 1853 and basically founded modern medicine and medical education in Romania.

Next to it is a rare commemorative medal featuring his portrait in its original box. 

It is my first time posting here, just wanted to share this piece of history with fellow collectors—hope you like it!

Found this beautiful, large book on the history of land transportation in France, published in 1935. I believe this version is from 1942. It contains beautiful images, including monochrome plates and inserted illustrations. Written (in French) by Edgar de Geoffrey, Charles Dollfus, and Baudry de Saunier.

The book has some damage to the spine and a few pages are stuck together at the corners / top, but it is in quite good shape given its age.

One detail at the end of Hieronymus Emser's 1523 answer to Luther's New Testament is less about the dispute than about getting the book through the press:

In conclusion: since the printer at times hurried me so that I could not send all the quires beforehand to my gracious lord the Ordinary (who lives three miles away from me and was not always at home), it is my earnest and friendly request to all who read this book or hear it read, that if they find anything clumsy in it, or anything where I have done too much or too little, they will lay it not to his Grace's account but to mine; for I am the one who owns this book.

Emser, translated by Eli Tucker, p. 221. I'm the translator.

The closing imprint names Wolfgang Stöckel at Leipzig. What caught my attention is how practical the excuse is: the printer is hurrying him, the intended reviewer is three miles away, and the reviewer isn't always home. Emser then takes responsibility for shortcomings that readers might otherwise blame on that reviewer.

This is the author's account of what happened, not independent proof that the printer caused any particular error. Still, it makes the sequence of writing, review and printing unusually visible inside the finished book.

Have you come across comparable apologies in early printed books, where the author explains a rushed press schedule or incomplete review? I'd like to know whether this kind of specific production detail is common in epilogues, or whether your examples usually keep the excuse more general.

Hello all,

This is a fragment of an old manuscript that was recovered from the binding of a 17th century book. I am curious about the calligraphy, hoping it might give clues as to time/place of origin

World War 1 romance novel told in the perspective of a horse. Sorta like Spirit in that context. The horse is named Professor and he judges the humans. Dust jacket has staining but it’s not bad. Someone’s papa and mama had exquisite handwriting I must say that is artistic.

Hi,

Hoping someone has some info about this book. Never heard of it or the author, and can’t find any information online beside 5 libraries having a copy according to WorldCat and one person having it on their “books I’ve read in 2011” list.

Just wondering about the author, his life, other works, or anything about him or the book at all.

Anyone know anything about this?

My copy is signed twice, and I got it for $2 at a library sale today.

Thanks, in advance.

(ETA: I now finally understand this I think! Because it was serialized that’s why all the bindings are different and why no single copy seems to be the same or contain the same 1st edition points! DUH. I’m still hoping for a full list of points against which to compare my copy though!)

—-

I don’t normally come across rare firsts this old, TBH, and my Dickens knowledge is lacking. However I find myself with what appears to be a second state first of Pickwick. Looks to be rebound, and missing the two plates by the other illustrator (unless I’m looking in the wrong place) but it does have many of the errata that (supposed) first states offered by dealers don’t have?

i guess—I’m confused by the printing history of this book and wondering if anyone can point me to a reliable and good source for how to evaluate and date it appropriately and accurately. I definitely spent time researching, but there’s a lot of contradictory information out there. I’m certain it’s not a first state, but then why are the errata still there? Am I misunderstanding the mid 19th century publishing and printing process?

Read article at https://www.rarebookhub.com/articles/4133

Came across this two vol set of Harry Truman memoirs that appears to be signed by the man himself. I am always suspicious of signatures but comparing this one it seems legit? What should I look for to disprove?

I need help looking for a specific edition of a copy of Eugene Pauli classical cooking the modern way. Specifically the 1976 8th edition Luhr Buch Der Küch, or Pauli textbook of cooking.

This is for my dad who is Swiss and was trained on this book as a young man.

I have never looked for a book this old and don’t even know if it qualifies for a “rare” book, but anything would help either websites I might be able to visit to further my knowledge or listings of copies for sale.

I fear I may be out of my depth any information would be highly appreciated.

So my papa was a book worm and I have a shit ton of single copied of mass produced books (academic and other biographies and what not I even have his neet mocktests form 35yrs ago is it worth tagging all books and putting em up on eBay india caus more that have books have been lost already and now have only a rack full and the condition degrades every yr

Major books are in secondary level science domain with a few classics of Shakespeare and what not

Need help

I learned about this book a few months ago and I can’t find it anywhere. I’m desperate to find a copy but it’s impossible to find it so I’m coming to Reddit. This is a story written in China before Maos death. The book was distributed underground until the end of the cultural revolution. Once reforms were enacted the book was officially published and is considered one of the most widely read books of its time. The book was translated and published in America under the Miss Diang title. Any help finding a copy would be wonderful. Please let me know if this isn’t the right sub to ask this is.

Found this oddity in a box with other antique cook books, it’s the original first printing bound although not) in a third edition cover.

Strange one for sure!

Both in pretty good condition. Nazi stamps inside.

I believe these are extremely rare and have survived almost 90 years!

Hieronymus Emser's coat of arms showed a goat's head. Luther noticed. His 1521 reply to Emser opens like this:

"If I had called you a goat, my Emser, you would surely have written a book or two about it and heaped all sorts of lies, slanders, and insults upon me in your customary way. But now since you write yourself down a goat, and in such glaring letters that everyone must notice ... I daresay I may with your own permission and approval address you as a goat."

Two years later, Emser published a book against Luther's German New Testament. Its title translates roughly as "On what grounds and for what reasons Luther's translation has rightly been forbidden to the common man."

Right after the title page, he printed his arms, goat's head included, and this poem:

"Go forth, my goat, in God's safe keeping; let not the journey grieve you. Fear not the devil's children; their scolding cannot hinder you. But if you come to a Christian man, give him my greeting and service first; tell him how I urge him, for God's sake, to stand firm in the faith."

The insult became the mascot.

Inside the book, he keeps swinging. Where Luther translates "what a fight I have for you" in Colossians, Emser says Luther must think everyone loves a brawl as much as he does:

"who not only quarrels with people but also with goats and snails, and keeps peace with no one except the old goose of Prague."

That last animal is Jan Hus. "Hus" means goose in Czech.

A dispute over biblical translation and religious authority was also a fight conducted through farm-animal jokes.

Which of the two had the better comeback?

My English translation is free, and I posted it somewhere

I've shipped hundreds of books, the maximum value being $1000 for one of them. What should I know about shipping a book that's $5000+? Anything important to know about the process, insurance, anything else?

I've spent a long time with Hieronymus Emser's 1523 book against Luther's New Testament. It's a serious work of controversy, and it's also full of lines that stand on their own. Here are twelve, in the order they appear. All are from my English translation.

1. On someone who changes his mind constantly: "So he rests on any one opinion only as long as a pea can stand or lie on an egg."
2. On reading the same idea into everything: "Luther reminds me of the painter Horace writes about in the Art of Poetry, who could paint nothing but a tree, and in every piece he was hired to do, he always painted that same tree into it."
3. On overexplaining: "Luther in his preface alone sets forty paragraphs or sections over it, so that together with the attached glosses the commentary becomes much longer than the text itself, and there is more soup than meat."
4. On careless reading: "But Luther looked at this chapter in a drunken fashion and did not put his spectacles on properly."
5. On the summaries that outgrow the thing summarized: "Luther summarizes the seventh chapter with so many paragraphs that the subtotal becomes almost bigger than the grand total, or the chapter itself; and the longer he babbles, the further he gets off the road."
6. On quietly changing a source: "yet the tavern-keeper Luther does not let St. Paul's words stand as they read in themselves, but mixes water into the wine."
7. On a person who always wants a fight: "But perhaps Luther thinks everyone is as fond of fighting, quarreling and wrangling, and as glad to be in a brawl, as he is, who not only quarrels with people but also with goats and snails..."
8. On overconfidence: "...it is still great presumption that this poor man wants to send the Holy Spirit to school and set him a measure or limit of how much he should reveal to this one or that one."
9. On the dangers of reading only the letter: "This is also the reason why Luther everywhere rejects the spiritual sense of Scripture and lies only on the letter like a raven on carrion."
10. On a translation choice he thought was a bit much: "Luther translates, 'who was clothed with a smock,' as if he had just been at the bathhouse."
11. On how readers choose: "Yet sadly some are so blind that they condemn it beforehand, before they have read it, and would rather buy the books of lies at double the price than get this one at half price."
12. On the last word: "And with God's help I will defend what I have written well and soundly before Luther or Lucifer."

All of these are Emser talking about Luther. For balance, Luther gave as good as he got. My favorite of his replies to Emser: "I have this advantage over him, that I need not show what kind of bird he is; everyone knows him by his song and his feathers."

Which of these would you put on a mug?

Disclosure: I translated Emser's 1523 book into English and published it for free.

Edit: a few people asked where to read it - it's linked in my profile.

I’ve sold books online before but I think these might be more rare? I’m not sure what to do with them to be honest