Becoming an Antique Book Collector

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed a few pictures of some older books, and I think I mentioned in a post a month or so ago something about buying old books. I have been meaning to write a post about this, and today is the day because I’ve become an antique book collector.

Now, I can’t say exactly how I stumbled across old vintage and even antique books (1800s) books but I did stumble across them on Etsy and soon I was down a rabbit hole. Because I’m an avid reader. Because Etsy is a rabbit hole for me. And I found some shops that sell vintage books, specifically classics. Now, if one wanted a first edition Harry Potter, one would pay a stupid amount of money. So I had to start looking for old editions of novels like Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice because I’m that person.

I have found some really old ones, but older books like this are hard to source and they didn’t always include dates in them so while I’m no expert, I think it’s a different thing than sourcing and dating a Harry Potter. However, when making decisions about purchasing I had to think seriously about what I wanted in an old, vintage book. And believe me, I didn’t research what I should look for. I just did my own thing based on my preferences, so this is not a tutorial on how to buy collectible books.

Making my First Purchase

I made my first purchase shortly before Christmas, and the reason I decided to buy the books that I did was both the titles, age and illustrations. Initially, I had been looking for title and age and exterior appearance and while that is important because who wants a dirty, ripped up book, I soon started noticing that some of these older books had illustrations or photographs, something modern editions are lacking. I thought it was a neat perk, and then I started realizing that some of these illustrations made the book collectible. Which piqued my curiosity and so I decided to start searching for a book of a certain age (war era at latest) and with illustrations that I thought were pretty. I wanted to be discriminating, so it actually took me a while to find a book that I thought was perfect and that I could afford.

I stumbled across two sister books, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, and as you can see, these illustrations are breathtaking. From my understanding, these editions are getting harder to source and are collectible. They date from the 1940s, and are in good condition. When they arrived, I couldn’t believe the colour emanating from these pictures. They look brand new to my eye, yet are many decades old now.

I totally love these editions, they are lovely and I cannot wait to read them. I feel like the experience will be different with the old book smell and these amazing illustrations. But of course, one purchase leads to another.

The Heather Editions

Next, I decided I wanted The Professor, Charolette Bronte’s first, and unpublished novel. Promise was seen in this novel, so Charolette was encouraged to write a second novel, which was Jane Eyre. The Professor was published posthumously and I noticed that it was a harder to find an edition with illustrations, and one that was in the condition I wanted and had the look I wanted. I mean, if you are doing to buy vintage books, in my mind, I wanted them to ones I thought pretty. If this means I’m not a serious collector, well, that’s fine as I really can’t afford such a costly hobby. But, I did find a Heather edition of the novel, and I believe from some quick research that these editions are hard to find. What I liked about this edition was that it included poetry written by each of the Bronte sisters as well as some introductory portions by Charlotte Bronte herself.

The Faeire Queen

I wasn’t in the market for this vintage book, but when I realized that the illustrations made the book collectible for the artist, I decided I had to have it–especially since the illustrations are lovely and I did think it would cool to have Spenser in a vintage edition. Especially since the edition included The Faerie Queen, a poem likely about Queen Elizabeth I. I truly believe that this book alone makes me an antique book collector.

Jane Austen

Now, you might have noticed I’m a fan of Austen, so naturally I wanted a vintage Austen novel. It took me a while to decide what kind of edition I wanted, and which novel I ought to purchase. I own all of them already in Penguin Classics from my uni days, but I decided it would be cool to own a vintage copy of Northanger Abbey, since that was the novel I remembered most vaguely as I’d only read it once. It’ll be cool to read this lovely little edition, which I thought was neat as it published only for members of the Readers Union, and contained these beautiful illustrations. It took me a while to make my mind in this purchase, but it’s one I’m happy with, and I was lucky enough to find Pride and Prejudice from in this edition as well—with the dust jacket too!

Suggested for You: Classic Novels You Need to Read

Later, I found an edition of Mansfield Park which I thought would be cool to add to the collection. It’s a little older and has pretty illustrations as well. I love its pocket size as this is definitely a small book and could fit into a purse.

Thomas Hardy Novels

During my persual of vintage books, I noticed that several novels by Thomas Hardy were appearing in searches a lot, some of the titles being ones I was unfamiliar with. Having taken a course in Hardy, I was intrigued and decided to purchase a lovely little Art Deco copy of Under the Greenwood Tree. I understand that unlike a lot of Hardy novels that were included on my reading list in uni, that this novel had a happy ending, so I thought it would be interesting to read and I have to say how delighted I was when this book arrived—the gold is so bright, the pages are clean and it’s just so cute and vintage and is nearly 100 years old, which to a nerd to like me, is so freaking cool. Then, I decided that I had to have a nice copy of Tess of the D’Ubervilles, if one caught my eye, and I guess when you go looking for things you find them because I found a lovely little edition with a gold embossment of Tess on the front, which makes this just stunning. I love the feel of it in my hands and am very pleased to have this old book.

Final Thoughts

I’m definitely not a serious antique book collector, but I love that I have these editions and that a few of them are likely collectible and may even increase in value. I didn’t know that there would be joy in owning an old book, but there sure is (for me) and why should these classic books be tossed aside just for being old? They are like new in condition, or very gently used and the idea throwing them away breaks my heart, so I’m glad I’m a book nerd and collector of odd things like vintage books and teacups to give these lovely items a new home.

What do you collect? Old things, new things? Let me know in the comments!