OLD BOOKS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 6 August 1941, Page 2

OLD BOOKS

BRING BRITAIN MORE THAN 1,000.000 DOLLARS i A few weeks ago a parcel was cai-c- ---! fully packed and sent by ordinal’}' post I from Berkley Square, London, to Titusville, U.S.A. In it was a single book. I "The Greater American Voyages” by Theo de Bry (1590-1634). In exchange [a postal package containing 4.500 doi !1. rs will come back to Berkley Square. ( The man who sold the book is doing [to-day 350,000 dollars worth of business a year in rare books with the United States alone; and the total annual [turnover to Britain from this source !is estimated at 1.000,000 dollars. American buyers arc of two kinds: public libraries, and rich private collectors. Both categories of collectors will give very high prices for rare | publications. For example, the Titusville collector mentioned pdid no less | than 7,500 dollars for two leaves of paper. It was an early "broadside” dated 1470. Libraries commonly list their requirements and state the maximum price. They also acquire, from time to time, items of historical importance. For example Philadelphia Library recently bought for 1,025 dollars the first Bible published in the States, the famous "Aitken” Bible (1782).