While I'm not interested in collecting older or classic books, I'm always interested in ways to find books on a budget! Thank you for your information! 💛

My first time in an antique bookshop was in Venice a few months ago. I went into a lovely shop in Dorsoduro beacause I was looking for something in latin, as I was starting to understand the language better. "He sure has some cheap Vulgata or Prayer book or whatever from the 70's that wont cost me a fortune" I thought to myself. So I went inside this cute little shop, greeted the man inside in broken Italian and I asked him if he had anything in latin. He said sure, got up from his chair and started handing me books: "Biography of Diogenes, 1648; History of Judea, 1624; this one is a very good book my friend, Phaeders Fabulas, 1775" and continued to hand me 3-400 year old books when the oldest book I've held in my hands was probably from the 60's. I was shocked, and I was sure that these all cost at least 1 000 euros, and wanted to get out from the store as quickly as possible before I get charged 50 euros for sneezing or whatever. But for some reason I still asked him about the price of the books. "Oh well, this is 80 euros, this one is 60, this one is 100" and so on. I was absolutely flabbergasted, I would've never except such priceless and invaluable objects of the past to be this cheap. I ended up buying a school version of Phaeders Fabulas that would've cost 80 euros, but the shopkeeper said that he liked me so he only asked 50 (Which was a lot more fair). Since than I always go inside every antique bookshop and browse for old english, latin or hungarian books and I always end up finding some splendid work of art under 40 euros.

I cherry pick from free libraries, which are mostly full of self-help books and 20-year-old Lonely Planets. And thrift stores are loaded with treasures.

OMG thank you for the inspiration. i often stumble upon old books in practically mint condition, lying on racks at garage sales at even older houses. As a math and science nerd, i had never been interested in books that offered no practical lessons or scientific experiments in them .. However, chancing upon your video through KZfaq's weird algorithm has given me a fancy idea - displaying rare, nonscientific books on coffee tables, on armoirs, in selfies. It can be a blast for nerds. Collectors can have many different reasons to collect. Thanks again 🔥

I've collected books for decades - on a very limited budget. Some of my most treasured volumes have limited market value, but are very precious to me. I'm actually kind of glad I never had the finances to buy more expensive stuff. Books that, in retrospect (I'm almost 80), might have diverted my affection from so many beloved volumes. I've begged my family (in the event I'm gone) to dispose of my collection, not to book dealers or even charity shops, but gratis to anyone they judge has a genuine interest.

Oh, I SO agree with that sentiment that education is a lifelong career! Having that as one of my philosophies has made my life so much richer and resilient, especially during its inevitable downturns. Thanks for another gem, Tom.

While my own collection is mostly precious to only me, I worked for years in a large academic library with many real treasures. I did, however, get a cheap early common copy of the Scarket Pimpernel and its cloth cover has an impression of the classic image of the cabbage cart rescue. About 15 years ago I was in an antique shop in Vancouver Canada and noticed 2 framed drawings sitting on chairs I was considering. The shop owner and I had a nice chat when I realized one of the pictures I had moved aside was familiar. My first thought was literally "You shouldn't be here." The two drawings had come in a day earlier, no prices yet. A friend of the shop owner brought them in as Mum was clearing (quite a few ex pats in this area). I bought them the next morning by phone and picked them up on my way home on the bus. These pen and ink drawings, including drafting pin holes, are the original ones by H.M. Brock for the 1st edition published Jan 12 1905. The one I first noticed was the iconic cabbage cart street scene identical to the cover of my old popular edition while the other was Sir Percy surprising Chauvelin. I may not have a 1st edition copy of the book but this is better. Don't know what their current market value is but I just enjoy them every day.

I collect. I have painfully yet lucratively sold. I get you brother. Love the work you are doing. Its more important than people can imagine.

I saw your short form videos and was very mesmerized by the beauty of the old books. So it happened that my university was giving away free old books so i grabbed a few that where still in nice condition and looked beautiful, I'm not sure if they are worth something but it just makes me happy looking at them and admiring there beauty and lovely print.

Honestly, as a game and electrical/tech collector, I think there is something to be respected between collectors in terms of interest, understanding, and the fundamental love for learning. This is absolutely fantastic I first saw you in your shorts which captured my interests from the enthusiasm. Decided to watch this video and just from hearing your synopsis of the first few books alone showed the amount of interest, knowledge, and wisdom

As for collecting on a budget, I personally believe that small bookshops and charity shops are the way to go. Dont go overboard and collect massively saught after rare books, but you can certainly find some gems hidden within these places

I guess I missed this earlier but this is an excellent video. I started collecting at 9 years old and I come from a working class background and now I have built a decent collection and I am proud of it. Find your niche make sure its something you love and buy the best quality you can afford and you will have fun and do well. Most of my early rare items were pamphlets and those are still some of my favorite pieces in my collection. You have given sound advice and I hope this will inspire those with limited funds to collect because it can be done. Thanks for the video.

Love the longer video there’s not enough good channels that talk about books, that are not review videos.

I have a question for the next one! Do you read/collect contemporary books? If so, who/what are your favorites?

I'm retired. Despite having run a public library for some years, I mostly owned any book I read. Just loved collecting - but on a strict budget. Now - at almost 80 - mostly housebound. But I still dabble, even though on a far stricter budget. But, far more than edition rarity or investment value, I limit myself to books I really like. Latest acquisition - for pennies from a charity shop - is a very old Agatha Christie Penguin paperback with a title that most certainly isn't 'woke' these days. You know which one...

I have a question - when do you think the last "rare book" was printed? To expand on that, the old and rare books have these great properties like hand made bindings, unique print properties, etc. But modern books are mostly mass produced and uninteresting. So a follow up question in case you do answer - if you wanted to hand down a quality, likely to be valuable, book that was printed this or last year to your great, great, great grand children.. what book would you choose?

Dear Tom, I am writing from United States, thank you for turning me on to Auden's poem, I recently lost my Mom. As I was looking to see if I had it in a certain book, I ran across 'Stop all the clocks'; and I wept, in a good way. I also wanted to mention, the fabulous piece on Vienna; it reminded me of Brahms Piano quartet no.3, especially the andante movement, Rubinstein playing the piano. I've never been to Vienna, but when I hear this piece for some reason, I picture myself there on a balcony on a windy beautiful Summer day.

You are my find of the year! Thank you! Verey researched information.

Greetings from New Jersey. Fantastic content. Thank you so much. I’m so glad that people like you exist. It’s so nice to see that in a society of smart phone, brain drain, that the love of books is still alive. You are a helping to preserve an absolutely beautiful thing. Thank you-- Mike Cheers🇬🇧

Is your arm okay? 💙 Lovely video :)

I'm so glad to have your channel recommended to me! Subscribed!

i love collecting books a budget... ie old penguins and puffins (5 pounds or less at times), And local books on Cornwall/Devon/Somerset (I have a fair few 19th Century books like the Visitations of Cornwall and never payed more than £80 for one i don't think) another tip is for first editions, i have bought a couple with out dust jackets and it takes a zero off the price! great video!

I think that it's an interesting topic of antiquated books. Especially of what they've been through history throughout the ages.😊

I get my books from flea markets & thrift shops. They are in my opinion the best source.

I love books, and although I have a few rare books, I am not a collector like you. But I find this video very inspiring. Amazing to find the tiny Miscellany that Hitchens lost and was looking for - and it is a beautiful copy. You show how collecting books can become exciting. Thank you!

I love this channel! I’m an avid book collector and have around 200; but really of some quality books I have only around 40 that I really love. I read all of them! And they’re beautiful!

I have a question. What are some tips on how to find the value of a book? What are things to look for that will take away from it's value? Thanks for the video. You're videos are Amazing!

8:42 I was looking for a particular out-of-print book at a price that I could afford and found the loose pages for sale from someone who acquires and sells the pages of old books that have been digitalized by a company (in the U.S.) that guillotines the spines off because digitalizing the loose pages is easier. I have a fitted, archival box for the pages because the remaining margin was too narrow to rebind.

very insightful video!

Hi Tom, I am the latest of a long line of Authors who have taken on the update of one of the oldest construction books in the UK, used by so many students who study construction, using Mitchells Construction by Charles F Mitchell. I am collecting as many editions of the book I can to form a history of the book set. My earliest is the 1898 edition of the elementary book, the 4th edition, although the preface is dated 1897. There is a copy of the preface to the first edition, dated 1888, but as yet, I have not been able to find a copy. Or any of the second or third editions. Charles F Mitchel was the senior lecturer at Regent Street Polytechnic together with his brother George. Both brothers trained as architects, but only George seemed to have registered; Charles seemed to have preferred academic life and writing. By 1887, Charles was working as a part-time Lecturer, becoming full-time in 1888. This seems to tie in with the creation of the book series. This is not a simple book, it would have taken at least a year to write the copy and organise the drawings needed to illustrate the book, again tying in with the dates and his part-time status. The book was published by B T Batsford, 94 High Holborn, London, but unfortunately, they seem to have sold the book to another book publisher. its ended up at Routledge, and I can not find any correspondence that might show the very beginnings of the book. I have tried the librarian at University Westminster, who has some documentation in the small pamphlets and internal newsletters, resulting in a single photo but little else. So, I am wondering if you might have any clues. Do you know of Mitchell or even the publisher, Batsford? Have you ever seen a copy of the early editions? My early edition is in need of some love, the spine is damaged but the inside is ok, so if you do a video on repair, it would be appreciated. I look forward to your reply

A Month in the Country is such a beautiful book. It packs so much into so few words. There's an interesting film with a young Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth. And Cultural Amnesia is one of my favourite books. I've read and it and re-read it.

What? A minor football injury. I heard a rumor (or maybe starting it) that you were crawling on your hands and knees, going through ancient castle walls, climbing ramparts, clearing cobwebs, fighting dragons (that’s maybe a lie), endeavoring to find the one book of your dreams titled “------“, and that is how you were injured.

Thank you so much for sharing. Does the movie Hook showcase a first deluxe edition of Peter and Wendy?

Can you do a video on what to look for for first editions as well as other things to look for in collecting books

Unrelated, but you look just like Jason Salkey, who played the well-read rifleman Harris in that TV show Sharpe!

I've been collecting a'lot of Masemune Shirows art books and comics. There's not many runs of his stuff. Most of it hasn't been reprinted at all since the nineties. The guys responsible for the way the vast majority of modern concept art and cyberpunk looks. Sure much of his arts on the dicier side (a big reason most of his work isn't reprinted). But if you work in the games and film industry. You see his influence everywhere.

Bike accident? (Your right forearm.) Hope it gets better soon. I don't consider myself a book collector, but now that I think about it, I do have a few sets that I specifically collected. When I was little, I loved a set of books with titles like "Under the Green Umbrella," "Under the Magic Umbrella," "Under the Stars and Stripes," etc. There are a few volumes in the series, and I went looking online for them when Amazon was just a wee thing in 1995. "Under the Magic Umbrella" was the first one I found and bought and I never expected to get it in my hands again, so that was very nice. I've since gotten the others. I also have a little collection of Eugene Field's work and a number of old Archy and Mehitabel collections as well. So maybe I am a collector, although just of old books I love. I also especially like it when they are library books with the paper cards and little envelopes still inside the back cover. They also remind me of when I would check books out of the local library when I was little.

"A book sitting on a shelf in a library is probably going to last longer than a digital version of it." True, and it's less likely to be edited over time.

The book at war that looks interesting. I’ll have to check that out.

This really fascinates me.

Books in the constructed language Esperanto is my niche area. They are extremely rare, have 130 years of authors from all around the world and often very interesting but most of them are also very cheap most of the times.

Hello Tom. Thank you for this video. I have a question, I have inherited quite a few 18, 19 and early 20th century books. Unfortunately, a lot of them are damaged, pages falling apart, water damage and some even are starting to mold. I wouldn't how to take care of them, let along repair them. Should I try to sell them or just accept the fact that they are worthless at this point.

14 videos for the price of one.

One thing about old books to remember is that what makes a book valuable is pretty arbitrary, things like conditions or even editions don't inherently have value if you are collecting to experience old books, to read them and enjoy them. Its like pokemon cards where its an expensive hobby if you want the psa 10s to resell and make a profit or whatever, but if you just want to hold a old book, to see its history to read something in the way people in the past would have read it, then you don't necessarily need a pristine copy, you don't necessarily need the very first copy, you can get a lot of joy out of an old reprint that in all but resale value can offer you much of the same experience

Greetings from Alabama 2 books I recommend: 1. . When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning. Abt the program which sent books to American soldiers overseas. 2. Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World by Lawrence Goldstone and Nancy Bazelon Goldstone. A married couple in New England become entranced by collecting books.

What are your thoughts on penny dreadfuls, dime novels, pulps and other more "low brow" pieces of literature?

I am interested in collecting the first English edition of Tintin's, what sort of budget would I need for a for collection?

what are your thoughts on covering books in mylar covers or placing old books inside of plastic bags to protect them?

I have several copies of Lord of the rings, most of them gifts. But what is like to get only exists in books that cost thousands. And it's the original fold out map from the first or second edition. I have almost no budget. I'm told it's been reproduced full sized but no idea how much that is or how to get it. That's because about 1978 or so, I was able to borrow Lord of the rings from the school library at Rochester Christian School. It was in a black covered 3 volume set and it had the full size fold out maps. It was the first hardback copy id ever seen. Later my brother acquired the Balentine paperbacks with Tolkiens watercolors on the covers. Hobbiton Bag end on fellowship, Forrest scene on two towers, barad dur on return of the kings. Same vintage, late 70s.

Have you ever come across an original copy of Major Robert Rogers Journals?

I've gotten so many old books for free when people dump their collections. I don't really have anything that's worth a lot of money. My oldest book is in very poor condition and is missing a cover. I'd like to get it repaired with a new cover. I got it from a physics department move on campus, when one of the older professors was getting rid of older books. I also found another old physics book that's ~a hundred years newer than the first, with the original owner's name written in it. That original owner was a professor and dean at that university when it was still a college.

Could you please create a video about Nemo in Slumberland, if possible?

I have bought a couple books for my wife’s library from Easton Press and have always if they were a good value. They are really high quality but since I dont know much about book collecting are they worth the cost?

The oldest book I have is a version of Tom Thumb from the 1650s. Don't know if would ever sell it, or even how to sell it.

Do you have an online presence or website for your books? Even if you don't do sales online, I'd love to see your collection and what's for sale.

Look into David Irving

I don't think you have to collect old and rare books and spend a lot to be a book collector. I like sci-fi and fantasy genres so I collect these kind of books from Czech authors (my brethren) and it makes me happy. Nobody will most likely value my collection after I am gone but it has a lot of value to me.

Also know where old people and also pass away. There is big chance that family will throw books away after that so free thing

шикарно выходит

I know this is just a conspiracy theory but is this guy related to the Report of the Week Review Brah? :)

Answer: money. Or low standards

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I would do unspeakable things for a first edition of the eye of the world. I will never be able to afford one

🥰🥰😍😍🥰🥰💞💞🥰🥰💞🎉🎉💞💞

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Books? Budget? Does not compute

It sounds like you're saying "clection" instead of "collection".

Mention of Hitch tanked it for me. I'm out. ...guy was all "I'm right and your wrong!" ....yeah...he did not last long. Smoked, drank, and drugged himself into a very early grave. You see, Hitch was wrong. We have eyes because there is something to see. We have ears because there is something to hear. We have a nose because there is something to smell. We have a Spiritual Awareness because there is something to..... You get the point.

How to collect books on a budget - steal them from the Library! P.S. I'm joking.

Just get ebooks. No one has space for dvds, books, any physical media. Just makes your house look cluttered and crap