Quire & Gild
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The collection

Every volume described as we found it.

Stock changes weekly. Nothing is listed until it has been collated, checked and photographed. If a book has a fault, the fault is in the listing.

Shelf

Leather sets

Easton Press, Franklin Library and Gryphon Editions. Complete runs or opened up into singles.

Shelf

Signed and limited

Numbered, lettered and artist states, with the limitation leaf photographed every time.

Shelf

Private press

Letterpress work, historic presses through to the current fine press houses.

Shelf

Folio Society

Slipcased singles, matched sets and the numbered limited editions.

Shelf

Illustrated

Plate books and editions where the artist is named on the edition.

Shelf

Antiquarian

Pre 1900 volumes, sound and complete, bindings described in detail.

Live stock feed to be connected The shop itself will run on platform to confirm, with these categories mapped to it.

Condition

The grading we use.

Standard trade grades. Book and jacket or slipcase graded separately, and we err downwards.

  • As newAs it left the publisher. Unread, no shelf wear.
  • FineNo defects. Any fault would need pointing out to be seen.
  • Near fineSlight wear, no tears, no marks of note. Fully sound.
  • Very goodShows use. Minor faults, all described and photographed.
  • GoodAn honest working copy. Complete, readable, wear obvious.
  • Fair and belowOnly listed where the book is scarce enough to matter.

How we describe a book

Every listing carries the same fields, in the same order.

So you learn the shape of one listing and can then read a hundred of them at a glance. Nothing is left out because it is unflattering.

  • EditionPublisher, year, printing, state, and the issue points that separate them.
  • LimitationNumber and total, the state where a press issued more than one, and a photograph of the leaf.
  • SignatureWhose, where, bound in or tipped in, and inscribed to whom.
  • BindingMaterial, spine treatment, bands, page edges, endpapers, named binder where there is one.
  • CollationVolumes, pagination, plate count, and whether the text block is tight and square.
  • ConditionBook and jacket or slipcase graded separately, with every fault named and photographed.
  • ProvenanceBookplates, inscriptions, prize labels and previous ownership, kept rather than removed.
  • PriceOn the listing. We do not use price on application.

Our guarantee

Three promises, and we do not qualify them.

  • Authenticity, without conditions. Every book is as described, for as long as you own it. If it is not what we said it was, we take it back and refund in full, whenever you find out.
  • Every price is published. No price on application, no login to see the figure, no asking. If it is for sale, the number is on it.
  • Sold listings stay up. We do not delete a book when it sells. The description, the photographs and the price stay online, marked sold, so you can see what our stock actually makes rather than only what we are asking today.

The third promise costs us the ability to quietly revise history. That is rather the point of making it.

Delivery and returns

A book can survive two centuries on a shelf and be ruined in two days in a jiffy bag.

01

Packed

Corner protection, waterproof inner wrap, a rigid box larger than the book on every side, void fill so nothing moves. Slipcases travel separately from their volumes.

02

Sent

Tracked and insured to full value in the UK as standard, not as an extra. International quoted per item with the customs paperwork done properly. Carriers and rates to confirm

03

Returned

If we failed to record a fault, send it back. We pay carriage both ways and refund in full, with no time limit. Changed your mind: 14 days, unread, carriage yours.

  • Collection in personBy appointment, if you would rather not have a book in the post at all.
  • Holding an itemSeven days against a stated intention to buy. Longer by arrangement.
  • Multiple itemsCombined carriage, and heavy sets on a pallet where that is safer than parcels.
  • Gift ordersSent without the invoice, with a handwritten card if you send the wording.

Looking for something in particular?

Tell us the title, the publisher and the state you want it in. We will watch for it and come to you first.

Set a want list