Biding my time for affordable copies of some pricier ones of his

Writing in The Holy State and the Profane State:

"Artificiall memory is rather a trick then an art, and more for the gain of the teacher then profit of the learners."

He then compares fashionable systems of artificial memory to the pointless tossing of a pike by wandering soldiers — impressive-looking, but largely "for ostentation then use"
— before dismissing their teachers as
"Memory-mountebanks."

Fuller is full of passages like this: opinionated, funny and unexpectedly recognisable nearly four centuries later.

His chapter "Of Books" is equally dangerous territory for the collector:

"Of making many Books there is no end" — followed almost immediately by the observation that the desire for buying and reading them is equally endless.

Alongside Fuller's aphorisms, the volume contains engraved portraits and biographies of historical figures including Elizabeth I and Joan of Arc.

Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Profane State, London, 1652.

I stumbled across this find in my local friends of the Library Book store. All book club editions except for Heretics I believe. The Dune Encyclopedia has been a white whale of mine since I first read a beat up copy of it at my local library close to twenty years ago.

I’ve only intermittently collected some rare books, and while I’m a lifelong Dune fan I never expected get this lucky.

this one from an estate sale up the street from my house. can't be the proximity.

I have a lot of vintage/antique books that library thing app does not have photos of. Is there a way to take photos of my book that I’m missing here? I am using the LibraryThing iPhone app.

Is there a better app for cataloging my collection of books that are old?

So I have a few books and some of which, I don’t necessarily LOVE so instead of putting them up for sale, do most places in the world have libraries, bookstores, or programs that anyone can donate the books they no longer want?

I purchased this years ago from an estate sale with other rare books. Does anyone recognize the signature?

I just today received a copy of Spell Bound, an illustrative bibliography of sorts on the paperback witch/occult movement of the 60’s-70’s. I actually happened to own the book from which it takes its cover art, How to Become a Sensuous Witch, from 1971. Earlier this year I had found Total Recall which has the same cover art as is used as the first full page illustration in Paperbacks From Hell. There’s other books from this era that have this cover art but this is just the one I had found thrifting.

It’s kind of a fun mini set to have. If anyone has recommendations for other look-book bibliographies cataloging a specific era of book art please send them my way, I love just flipping through them and checking the books out!

This is William Turner’s A Compleat History of the Most Remarkable Providences, printed in London in 1697.

It’s one of those books where every few pages produces something stranger than the last.

Turner collected reports of divine judgments and mercies, witchcraft, apparitions, monstrous births and animals, extraordinary natural phenomena and other events that his contemporaries considered worthy of record.

Among the most striking sections are accounts relating to the New England witch trials, including material drawn from Cotton Mather and observations on the recent trials.
Elsewhere you get chapters on “Monstrous Animals”, reports of children crying in the womb, and a seemingly endless catalogue of prodigies and unusual occurrences.

What interests me is the uneasy position of a book like this between theology, news-gathering, natural history and folklore. Turner wasn’t simply compiling ghost stories: these events were presented as evidence of providence operating in the world.

This copy later belonged to the library at Mount Stuart, with the bookplate of John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute.

A very strange window into what counted as evidence—and explanation—at the end of the seventeenth century.

Which section would you read first: the witches, the monsters, or the children crying in the womb?

Found this at a thrift store today. Is this a legit 1st edition? The dust jacket says 1992 reprint on it but the book itself seems legit old.

Hello,

My brother favorite book is "Chronicles of amber" by Zelazny.

For Christmas I want to try to get him a rare version of one of the book in the series signed but I'm a little lost with how to pick it.

When I look for first edition signed on Abebooks I can find it for around 5000$ that I understand it's the first but for the others in the serie (I would be interested in) I see from 1800$ to 200$ and they all seems in similar condition, signed and first edition. I don't understand the difference.

Also before buying am I suppose to ask the seller for a signature authentification how does it work?

Thank you for your help.

Here is my small collection of (mostly) vintage paperbacks. Any favorites? I'm partial to the William Sleator books as they are from my childhood. Otherwise, my favorite book is Rendezvous with Rama and love the Ballantine 1978 cover. I'm still on the hunt for the ACE paperback of Dune from 1974. I'd love to see your paperback collections.

This weekend I attended the local quarterly Friends of the Public Library book sale. Towards the end of my time I meandered back to the foreign language book section. I typically glance over them because there are a few non-English authors I collect. They had set up a new area for "collectible" books in that section and I saw this little volume displayed on a little stand. The handmade appearance caught my eye. But seeing this in the collectible section, I figured it would be priced above my threshold to satisfy my curiosity. Upon opening the book, they had simply stuck a Post-It note on the inside cover with "$2". So, I thought, "Why not? It's fun."

Initially, I had assumed I had come across some student's class project for a history/social studies class: the handmade paper, the handbound codex, the glued-in paper cut-outs, the handwritten text all indicated, to me, a one-off sort of project that was well-done enough for me to buy it as an interesting artifact, despite the considerable water-damage. I have done some bookbinding of my own and the binding method was novel enough and clever enough that I wanted to look at it in greater detail.

When I got it home I started to look into the object and see if I could figure out what this thing really is. Upon researching, I came across a post on the Met's website describing something that was a dead-ringer for what I had in my hand. Upon closer inspection of the cover of my copy, knowing what I might be looking for now, I could make out the same attribution on mine as the one held by the Met.

What I found at the book sale is a handmade Otomí amate-paper manuscript attributed to Alfonso García Téllez, an Indigenous artist and traditional healer from San Pablito, Puebla, Mexico.

The book is titled Historia de la Curación de Antigua de San Pablito Pahuatlán, Puebla. It contains 28 numbered pages of handwritten Spanish text describing traditional healing ceremonies, religious practices, and spiritual beliefs, accompanied by intricate, hand-cut paper figures representing various spiritual beings. The manuscript is constructed in an accordion-fold format, with fabric-reinforced covers and snap closures. It measures approximately 5½ × 7½ inches when closed.

García Téllez and members of his family produced these manuscripts using amate, a traditional paper made from tree bark. While multiple copies of his works exist, they were individually handmade rather than mechanically printed. Examples of his work are represented in major institutional collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum, and a closely related example has been exhibited at the Princeton University Art Museum.

Despite the extensive water damage to my copy, much of the handwritten text and the paper-cut illustrations remain intact. The damage has made the cover inscription difficult to read, but I can make out what appears to be "AUTOR SR. ALFONSO GARCIA TELLEZ" and a date in August 1978.

I'm planning to photograph or scan the entire manuscript at high resolution and reach out to one of the institutions that has studied his work to learn more about this particular example and how best to preserve it.

I've collected books for years, and while I love finding first editions and signed copies, it's discoveries like this that really keep me hunting. I bought it because I thought it was a fascinating little handmade object. I had absolutely no idea what I was bringing home.

Not bad for two bucks!

I'd love to hear from anyone who's encountered other examples of García Téllez's work or similar handmade Indigenous manuscripts. I'm particularly interested in learning more about their production, construction, and history.

Hello,

I am searching for a physical copy of an incredibly rare, out-of-print Korean sci-fi web novel translation that was printed in a limited micro-press run (likely a localized, low-volume "소량인쇄" forum print) between 2009 and 2011.

• Title: The Savior / Guwonja (Original Korean: 구원자)
• Author: Kim Wooram (김우람)
• Format: English translation, small indie press / paperback bound. No official ISBN.

Distinct Plot Points to Identify It:

• It features heavy themes of dimensional travel/transit.
• A very specific, memorable scene where a character has to eat a whole cake inside a cockpit/transit area to stabilize.
• The main character's father is prominently featured and is frequently smoking.

(Note: I am specifically looking for the vintage 2009-2011 translation, not the modern adaptation/spiritual successor 'Project V' by Park Seolyeon

I was given a couple boxes of old pulp books. Several were stuck together and did not separate well. There is also an old book smell, even after airing for several days. Are they worth keeping?

Currently working on gathering a complete set of First American Editions for Jules Romains' "Men of Good Will" series. Halfway there with 7 out of 14 volumes.

When phone boxes were decommisioned, my Village ecided to buy our local phone box and convert it into a free library. The phone comapny inadvertantly removed it, but were forced to locate the specific phone box and reinstall it, back where it was. Does anyone else have any niche librarys near where they live?

D

Hi everyone, I’m currently going through my collection trying to make it a bit more curated & intentional. I’ve noticed a few of my books have numbers like “5”, “22”, “3” where the number line should be when looking at what editions I have. I can’t find any other number line in the book. Does anyone know what this would mean? 🤣 I’m an avid reader but only now getting into the collection side so any insight would be great!

Also know as the Future History Stories. 1967 edition.

From a book fair. A nearby reseller with one of those finger scanners was about to notice it but luckily I was there first. Was one of the first in line to get in, grabbed it not even fully realizing what I had. It’s in its forever home now with the rest of my alien/ufo book collection. It truly is one of my prized possessions.

I came across this old copy of Dune at an estate sale among boxes and boxes of old sci-fi. They were all unceremoniously in old cardboard boxes, and looked like they hadn't been moved out of this storage room in years. Contextually, that would suggest to me that this signature is legit, but I can't find any examples where the "f" looks like this. Any Frank Herbert enthusiasts out there to help? Any info would be appreciated. I am puzzled by the odd signature style and location.