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Good range there Smurfin, good to get some Pratchett books signed, quite a collector's thing around his stuff. I don't really collect signed books as such but I have picked up a couple of signed David Attenborough books from charity shops to go with the autobiography 'Life on Air' he signed for me (just the paperback, though he also signed my Life of Mammals DVD set). I managed to get hold of The First Eden for £7 and The Living Planet cost me about £1.25 I think! Have also got some first editions of his other books but they're not exactly collectable (other than being nice to own!).
I've a number of first editions but none that you'd class as collectable like Gemmell. I don't really collect them as such, they're mostly just books I've happened to pick up, though I've got a number of them in my collection of (oh no, he's not talking about them again is he?!) New Naturalist books.  The ones I've bought new are all first editions and they can sometimes really shoot up in price when they go out of print but I'm not buying them for that reason. I'm not sure if they actually reprint them now outside of the 'print-on-demand' editions so first edition is a bit of a misnomer really. My copy of London's Natural History from 1945 is a first edition (though showing its age!) as is the 1946 copy of Britain's Structure and Scenery and a couple of later books from the 1970's (Woodland Birds and British Thrushes), though Woodland Birds doesn't have a dust jacket as it would have cost me £35 for a copy with one or they had this copy for £10 which is in fairly good condition and fine for reading.
I wouldn't mind a copy of the volume they did on Ladybirds but it's a wee bit outside my price range, especially for signed edition:
Loe Books | Fine Books and Pictures | New Naturalist No. 81 LADYBIRDS (SIGNED)
same with the book on Larks, Pipits and Wagtails:
Loe Books | Fine Books and Pictures | New Naturalist No. 78 BRITISH LARKS, PIPITS & WAGTAILS
They tend to get hoovered up by collectors, which is a shame when there are ones you'd like to read but the price is sky-high because they're rare. It seems to be a popular set to collect but it's not hard to see why as they're gorgeous books, beautifully bound and printed and have superb dust jackets. Many of them are said to be reference works on their subject too. Get a good shelf-full of decent condition editions and they look really great with all the bold designs on the spines. Mine are a right hotch-potch as I've some new editions, a couple of paperbacks, one without a dust jacket, some slightly faded ones and a few of the Bloomsbury reprints from the end of the 1980's. Have seen a used bookshop with a big row of good condition hardbacks though and it was a real sight!
They sell limited edition signed leatherbound editions too, which are about £250 new - the book I have on Dragonflies was made into a leatherbound edition and I've seen it selling for £350 (I paid £29 for a new copy of the regular hardback edition).
Pic attached is of the current state of my collection... nearly a whole shelf now! Probably unlikely to add to it with the situation at work currently, plus I've bought most of the ones I want to read that I can afford to buy anyway - I'm determined not to buy ones I won't read as I don't want to collect them just for the sake of having them. Am reading Dragonflies at the moment, but being quite careful with it as I want to keep them in good condition. All the books starting from the pink Seashore paperback are first editions that I bought new. Most expensive one I've bought was Southern England, which was just over £37 and seems to be becoming harder to find new (amazon, NHBS and waterstones have stopped selling it directly, though it's available from 3rd party sellers). |
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Author: Smurfin
25-11-2019 04:20:55
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