An antique is generally
defined as any object which was created in or existed in
a period of time at least a hundred years ago. There are
no limitations as far as the material of antiques go.
Hence antiques can vary from items like stamps and coins
to desks and table lamps and may even include old books.
Simply looking for
antique books may land you, for instance, with
information about informative but regular books on
antique clocks or books antique radios-related.
Therefore there are some things that you need to know
before you start looking for antique books for your
collection.
Firstly, any collector can tell you that first edition
prints of books are usually the most valuable. In
addition if you can get your hands on first edition
prints of books that are in good condition, you would
have found a collector’s dream antique book. But not all
first-edition-prints demand a high value. There are
other points that determine the value of the antique
book like who authored the book, how many books were
published, how controversial or popular the book was and
is etc. Naturally, the more famous the author, the
higher the demand for his or her original works.
Similarly, the rarer the books are to come by or the
smaller the number of books that were published or
printed, the higher its demand in antique-lover circles.
Generally a person who buys antique books has a great
love and understanding of the subject that the book is
about. Naturally such collectors are usually avid fans
of the author. Hence, it only goes to follow that such
antique buyers would be willing to shell out large sums
of money for a signed copy of the book. Unfortunately,
the demand for authors’ signatures in original antique
books is so great, that forgeries are not uncommon.
However, one can arm oneself against such forgeries by
learning more about antique books history and by
employing the services of an expert or authority to
authenticate the authors’ signatures. Such experts are
not hard to come by and one can approach various
societies, appraisers or even museum experts to
undertake this task.
Care of antique books is absolutely crucial to their
condition and hence their value. Antique books that are
cracked or broken or books that have dried-out covers,
broken spines or are missing pages tend to be
undesirable by collectors.
Yellowing or discoloring of the pages is another factor
that affects the value of such collectors’ items
negatively. Because of the use of leather and different
varieties of paper and ink in old books, maintenance of
such beautiful works can be very complicated. Certain
books, for instance, must be kept at certain
temperatures for the print to keep from fading..
IMPORTANT NOTE: Items over hundred years are not permitted to be taken out of India without the permission of the Director General, The Archaeological survey of India, Janpath, New Delhi - 110 011.