Old books: The Bible

     Everyone who lives in America most likely has some form of a bible in their house. I have news for you guys, it may be valuable. I'm crazy you say? The bible is not a fantasy book? Tisk, tisk. I could argue a case on both accounts. I keep mine in several garbage bags because I have no other way to keep it air tight so it will not disintegrate any more than it has.

    It's an American family Bible from the middle 1800's. I bought it at a garage sale around five years ago. It was in the same condition when I found it, so I try to keep it dry and as air tight as I can for storage. Its made of leather, weighs in at a whopping 30 pounds. The binding has brass strips in it, attaching to the front of the book so it can lock/trap. As you can see from the pictures below, its about a 1 out of 10 as far as condition. It has no value, but I thought it was interesting, and the pictures would like nice framed if I could save them.

     Sorry for the quality of the image, but taking pictures on my kitchen table while trying to get Easter locked down and a computer repaired at the same time can be frustrating. You can see the brass hinges and locks on the front of the book. Both the front and back cover are covered in gold leaf, and if you zoom in on the second picture you can see that the gold leaf has artwork of the apostles and the books of the Bible.

     Because this is a parallels Bible, the first 200 or so pages are reference and guide for the history and geography of the Bible. The pictures are amazing, and include detailed maps. Each picture is covered in a single piece of waxy parchment which has protected the pages somewhat. Some of the pictures are color, some are not. A few of the pictures are gilded with yet again more gold leaf. Click any of the pictures to zoom.

     The orange square in the middle is where the tissue paper on the adjacent page allowed ink to bleed through. You can almost see the picture in the staining. The bleeding did not seem to bother any of the artwork, which is good.

     Obviously my pictures do not do these beautiful pieces of art justice, but you can get the general idea. The care taken to make this bible borders on the obscene. I can't imagine what something like this would cost to print back then! The binding was falling apart as I was turning the pages, so maybe it was not all that expensive after all.

     Anyways, I could post pictures forever as there are hundreds in there but I just picked a few and put them up. I'm not sure what the book is worth. I'll explain. I've seen mint condition copies go for over $100, easily. The real money is in the pictures protected by the tissue paper. People carefully cut them out and have them framed to sell. Genuine woodcuts with gold lead from the 1800's are pretty hard to find in good condition, so the value taken apart is much more. I really don't know what to do with it. My wife is a very devout christian and does not want me to sell it. I see it as something I

could just cut apart and make a few bucks on. Comments?





Update 8/11:

An Issue with Reddit r/rarebooks

     Since I posted this on blog post on a Reddit comment, I had some haters, and it's obvious they did not read the entire post, or understand what my Blog is about. It's my blog about finding, selling, and buying rare books for profit. It's my opinions, thoughts and ramblings of things I think are interesting. I rarely tell people what they should or should not be doing. I'm the last person to give conservation or preservation advice unless it could make me money.  Let's back up a little.

     This book is not rare, they are easy to find in good condition, this one was- and the one on the Reddit post, was not in good condition. It's a common book on a rare book forum. Worth $20 maybe? Shame on me for offering a way to make a few bucks back on something with little value. I'm sure the bible has sentimental value for some people, or they look at it as a curiosity and hold on to it. As mentioned above, mine has no value, I dumped it in the trash. Even in the best condition, it's a hard sell. I've tried to get rid of a few after this, buying large amounts of books I was stuck with more of them. If you have any interest in restoring or preserving an old family bible, go right ahead, but you will never get that money back. I'm not a super-collector or person who preserves rare books.

     I buy and sell them to make money, and keep a few I like. I tend to comment on the value of things on several threads, typically about making money on something and nothing else. On storing your books: Obviously don't store your fucking books in trash bags unless you want them to end up in the trash like this one did? Use common sense?

     I ended up deleting the comments in question because of some assholes. I almost forgot I was on Reddit, and I guess I expected people to be more open minded. My blog post fit the theme of the Reddit post, so I shared it. Written over 6 years ago at my dinner table in 5 minutes, I never gave any advice on how to store books, or what to do with them. I did in fact say my copy was trash, in a trash bag, worth nothing, and If I could, would sell the art for more money than I had in it. (Which I did do, just not with this copy.) I never said I was an expert, or acted like I knew anything about the book except how to make a few extra bucks back on a piece of shit you might be stuck with. Almost instantly, the flock of self proclaimed experts at all things.. well everything, swoop down and say I'm a total piece of shit for my blog post, I know nothing, and I'm full of crap, and everything that is wrong with the world is on display in my blog post. A few paragraphs of me saying whats on my mind with a book I thought was cool at the moment.

Sigh.

     90% of the books and posts on r/rarebooks are not rare at all. Moderators don't do anything, and the top 10 posts every day are "Is this piece of shit moldy ass cover missing book worth anything?" First two comments are links to websites someone googled in 3 seconds, or a link to an abebooks.com listing, which are worthless. The few times I have seen someone comment with a legit value or comparison, it's downvoted. If you own the same book, get ready for someone to call you a liar or you don't know what you are talking about. Sold 5 of the same book in the past? I would not say anything or offer any advice, you are wrong, no matter what... remember that.

     Many years ago, Reddit was good to me. I posted all my new blog ramblings there, and got amazing feedback. Over 50 Posts on different forums including r/rarebooks, I never got a negative comment, including this very post that is getting heat years later. Over 100k unique views, mostly generated by being active and writing about what I was picking up or thinking about at the time, 100% supported by the Reddit community.

Well, I suppose those days are over.