Tradition
Sewn signatures, leather over boards, gilt edges, raised bands. Methods centuries old, and they still hold a shelf together.
Fine and collectable editions
Books made to be kept.
We buy fine bindings by the shelf and place them one at a time. Easton Press, Franklin Library, The Folio Society and the private presses.
Houses we deal in
- Easton Press
- Franklin Library
- The Folio Society
- Limited Editions Club
- Nonesuch Press
What we do
Bought by the shelf.
Sold by the volume.
Stock arrives in bulk. Whole libraries, dealer lots, estates and clearances. It comes in as a wall of books and leaves as single volumes.
Each one is collated, checked against the publisher record and described honestly. Faults are photographed, not hidden.
Culture
A fine edition records how a text was valued when it was made. The illustrator chosen, the run size set. That decision is part of the book.
History
Bookplates, inscriptions, a name in fountain pen. We keep provenance where we find it and record it in the listing.
The books we buy
If it was made with care, we want to see it.
Six things fill most of our shelves. The full list, and everything we turn away, is on the selling page.
Leather bound sets
Easton Press, Franklin Library, Gryphon Editions. Full leather especially. Singles or complete runs.
Folio Society
Slipcased sets and singles, including the numbered limited editions.
Signed limited editions
Numbered, lettered and artist states, limitation leaf present.
Private press
Letterpress work, historic presses through to the current fine press houses.
Antiquarian and fine bindings
Pre 1900 volumes, prize and armorial bindings, named binder work.
Whole libraries
Estates, downsizing and clearances. We will travel to look.
Why these books
The art of the written word, given a body.
A text can live anywhere now. A fine edition is the argument that some texts deserve to be held. Paper with a rattle to it, a spine that opens flat because someone sewed it.
None of it is necessary, and that is rather the point.
Giving
5%
Five per cent of profits goes to charity.
Not of a campaign. Not when it suits. Five per cent of annual profit, every year, published so you can check it.
The causes sit close to the trade: literacy, public libraries, archives and conservation. Charity partners to confirm
Have a shelf, a set, or a house full of books to place?
Send a list or a few photographs. We will tell you what is collectable, what is not, and what we would pay.