Find Rare, Out-of-Print, and Collectible Books at Alibris

Through the Labyrinth: Designs and Meanings Over 5, 000 Years
by Kern, Hermann

$250.00

sold by Abacus Bookshop

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Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts has been serving book lovers, collectors and institutions since 1991. Our inventory of quality out-of-print books spans 40 subjects, much of it first editions and signed copies. We are also autograph dealers with a vast inventory of letters, documents, signed photos and more. (Member ABAA, PADA)

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About book collecting

First things first
The bitter truth about acid
Resourceful rehinging
Cost-effective packaging for booksellers
Standards for describing out of print books
The art of packing books

You love books. You'll find your favorites right here—in the same editions that you cherished as a child, or in modern firsts that you'll prize many years from now. Go ahead, see what turns up. Choose a signed copy by a famed author, your favorite novel's first printing, and more. The possibilities are as endless as all the books you fondly remember.

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First edition Signed Collectible Dust jacket

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START WITH MODERN FIRSTS

New to book collecting? Choose modern first editions, which are affordable, easy to find, and great for aspiring collectors.

Las orquídeas de El Salvador = The orchids of El Salvador = Die Orchideen El Salvadors, Volume III, Supplement with corrections to Volume I and II.
by Hamer, Fritz
Good in good dust jacket. minor foxing on edges of pages and cover. Text in Spanish, English, German. Illustrations and color plates, Index Spanish, English, and German. Volume III includes... more modern first editions

Price: $95.00
Used Hardcover

GIVE TRULY SPECIAL BOOKS

Flatter and please them with a collectible book that will make them smile bigger than any necktie or toaster ever could.

Steelhead
Kreider
Very good in fair dust jacket. 182 pp. p. Includes index. NVG/G. See photo. Book is completely free of marks with sturdy spine. Orange boards (photo emailed upon request) have clear, crisp black... more collectible gift books

Price: $59.00
Used Hardcover

MARVEL AT SIGNED EDITIONS

Yes, that really is your favorite author’s signature staring back at you. Find autographed editions, from Asimov to Zola.

The Birth of the Oil Industry
Giddens, Paul H.
Giddens, Paul H. Very Good+ No Jacket. 5 3/4" x 8 3/4" Signed by Author Introducton by Ida M. Tarbell. Autographed on front end paper by both Gibbens and Tarbell. Sm. stains on three initial pages,... more signed copies

Price: $140.00
Used Hardcover

SEEK THE RAREST OF FINDS

Search for the world’s rarest books by literary lions and you’ll roar—about what you discover (and their well-deserved prices).

Lad: a dog
by Terhune, Albert Payson
Fine. No dust jacket. Clean copy; very minor wear on corners. 5 p.., 349 p. front. 20 cm. Audience: Dog lovers; Children/juvenile. A rare offering of this very limited 1st printing of Albert Payson... more extremely rare books

Price: $1,500.00
Used Hardcover

Bringing new life to tired tomes

by Robert Colver

This is about your Wounded Wannabe’s—the $50 books that, because of a flapping spine or detached cover board or simply looking ugly, are basically Dumpster food. You either don’t buy them because they won’t repay a rebind or a reback. Or they sit on a morgue shelf in the back room waiting for the book elves to sneak in some night and fix them. Or you grab the leather dressing or the Elmer’s and fix them yourself.

The first option is a judgment call. As to the second option, don’t hold your breath. The elves have a strong union. [keep reading]

Common antiquarian ailments

by Robert Colver

My standard line as a mender of hurt books is: “Half my work is pathology before I ever get to the surgery.”

A book falls apart for a reason. Sometimes, the reason is obvious—it was dropped, or it got wet, or the materials just rotted. But most of the time you have to let books tell you why they fell apart. And if you learn a little of their language, they’re marvelously communicative.

I’m going to run through a short list of problems that cause dealers to throw themselves and their books on the mercy of binders, discuss what may have caused the problem, and give you an idea of what you should expect from a binder if you find you need one. [keep reading]

Condition, condition, condition

by Roger Gozdecki

After 17 years in the business, I have become convinced that there are only two types of booksellers: those who grade their books accurately and those who do not. The fundamental difference in mindset between these two groups speaks volumes about their differing approaches to the trade. Ultimately, I believe that a dealer’s attitude toward the topic of condition comes to be reflected, for better or worse, in all of their key business practices.

If you fall among the latter sort of dealer, who has never fully come to appreciate the distinctions between a fine copy of a book and a poor one, you need read no farther. [keep reading]