Another mode of “inclusion” is the bookplate. Often one doesn’t have a clue about who the proud plate-owner was but my copy of the first edition of Robert Conquest’s influential poetry anthology New Lines (1956) picked up some years ago in Any Amount of Books has a very grand bookplate of Lord Anthony Quinton which if I knew how to I would happily attach a pic of here. Do they add anything to the value of a book in addition to the interest value?
I guess they can (when a dealer reckons a notable artist designed the bookplate, for example, or that it links the book to a notable owner, as with the philosophical Quinton). I wouldn't mind having a bookplate or two myself, but suspect I'd just cautiously tip them into a few paperbacks..
This book puts some of the more extreme cases on display (and most of this short review is legible at the moment, despite the paywall):
Always love finding ‘inclusions’ though the one time I was extremely creeped out was a book on Eric Gill at that great bookshop beside York Minster, bunch of seedy clippings on him fell out and i felt sinister for opening the book in the first place. What are the aesthetic rules of removing inclusions? if nice picture clippings I tend to take them out( have one of duncan grant found in old bio of him)
I like the idea of finding a D. Grant picture in an old bio. I'd take that out, too, if it felt like it belonged on a wall or something. My old copy of Cavafy came with a snap of two lads larking around, one in drag, so I've left that where it is, bookmarking some delirious verses. It makes some kind of sense there, at least to me..
Another mode of “inclusion” is the bookplate. Often one doesn’t have a clue about who the proud plate-owner was but my copy of the first edition of Robert Conquest’s influential poetry anthology New Lines (1956) picked up some years ago in Any Amount of Books has a very grand bookplate of Lord Anthony Quinton which if I knew how to I would happily attach a pic of here. Do they add anything to the value of a book in addition to the interest value?
I guess they can (when a dealer reckons a notable artist designed the bookplate, for example, or that it links the book to a notable owner, as with the philosophical Quinton). I wouldn't mind having a bookplate or two myself, but suspect I'd just cautiously tip them into a few paperbacks..
This book puts some of the more extreme cases on display (and most of this short review is legible at the moment, despite the paywall):
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/regular-features/in-brief/grolier-club-bookplates-alexander-lawrence-ames-mark-samuels-lasner-book-review-michael-caines
Always love finding ‘inclusions’ though the one time I was extremely creeped out was a book on Eric Gill at that great bookshop beside York Minster, bunch of seedy clippings on him fell out and i felt sinister for opening the book in the first place. What are the aesthetic rules of removing inclusions? if nice picture clippings I tend to take them out( have one of duncan grant found in old bio of him)
I like the idea of finding a D. Grant picture in an old bio. I'd take that out, too, if it felt like it belonged on a wall or something. My old copy of Cavafy came with a snap of two lads larking around, one in drag, so I've left that where it is, bookmarking some delirious verses. It makes some kind of sense there, at least to me..