During an earlier period of my life, when I could budget a little money for my book-collecting hobby, I built up a small antiquarian library. I started out with some books from the 1800s that I had purchased for $.25 to about $5.oo apiece. As I got more into the hobby, I began to focus primarily on books published before 1800. I love the look and feel of older books still in their original leather bindings. I enjoy looking at the gilt spine decorations, the raised bands, the morocco leather labels, the old printed text, and even some of the old ink signatures as I handle and flip through these old volumes. As I was looking for images to capture in my apartment I couldn't help but turn to the old books sitting in an old refinished bookcase in my living room. I especially like the two extraordinarily gilt volumes that I placed in the middle of the top shelf. These two volumes date to 1754; I purchased them for the bargain price of $14.50. When I snapped this picture, I wanted to place these two volumes roughly in the center of the image. I love the variety of gilt decor on the various volumes as well as the faded reflections of those volumes in the slightly dusty shelf top. This image communicates to me both the age and the beauty of antiquarian books.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Antiquarian Books
During an earlier period of my life, when I could budget a little money for my book-collecting hobby, I built up a small antiquarian library. I started out with some books from the 1800s that I had purchased for $.25 to about $5.oo apiece. As I got more into the hobby, I began to focus primarily on books published before 1800. I love the look and feel of older books still in their original leather bindings. I enjoy looking at the gilt spine decorations, the raised bands, the morocco leather labels, the old printed text, and even some of the old ink signatures as I handle and flip through these old volumes. As I was looking for images to capture in my apartment I couldn't help but turn to the old books sitting in an old refinished bookcase in my living room. I especially like the two extraordinarily gilt volumes that I placed in the middle of the top shelf. These two volumes date to 1754; I purchased them for the bargain price of $14.50. When I snapped this picture, I wanted to place these two volumes roughly in the center of the image. I love the variety of gilt decor on the various volumes as well as the faded reflections of those volumes in the slightly dusty shelf top. This image communicates to me both the age and the beauty of antiquarian books.
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