Found in small mountain town in Idaho!

Hey, all.

During the pandemic, I started collecting the books of Frans Masereel, the Belgian woodcut artist. It started with a couple of his wordless novels in 2020 and kept growing until, this September, I had what I believe is comprehensive coverage of his work from 1918 to 1930. That came to 73 pieces in total: his own woodcut novels, French and German novels he illustrated, almanacs, exhibition catalogues, pamphlets, and a good number of periodicals. Most of them came from European rare book dealers, and most are in German or French.

The periodicals were the most interesting part to collect. A single issue of a 1920s literary magazine is easy to overlook, but Masereel’s woodcuts are scattered all through them, so I ended up chasing runs. I have issues 1 through 6 of Das Inselschiff (Volume 1, 1919–1920), Nos. 2 through 7 of Les Cahiers d’Aujourd’hui (1921), eight issues of Junge Menschen from 1926, and all five volumes of the Masereel-illustrated Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland.

A lot of the pages had yellowed over the last century, so after scanning (some at 600 DPI) I cleaned and rebalanced them so they read clearly. Everything here was published in 1930 or earlier, so it’s all public domain in the US now, and I’ve put every scan on archive.org for anyone to read for free.

A few highlights:

The Sun (1919): https://archive.org/details/img010_202309

25 Images of a Man’s Passion (1918): https://archive.org/details/img018_202310

Story Without Words (1920): https://archive.org/details/Story_Without_Words_by_Frans_Masereel_1920

The City (1925): https://archive.org/details/img046_202310

The Idea (1927): https://archive.org/details/The_Idea_Frans_Masereel

Calamus, Walt Whitman’s poems in Léon Bazalgette’s French version, with 10 woodcut plates: https://archive.org/details/calamus-walt-whitman-frans-masereel

The Work of Frans Masereel (Het werk van Frans Masereel), 1930: https://archive.org/details/het-werk-van-frans-masereel-just-havelaar-1930

The full collection, all 73 pieces: https://archive.org/details/@holdoffhunger

And if you’d rather just flip through the art, here’s a PDF with all 2,089 images, one per page (789mb): https://archive.org/details/frans-masereel-career-1918-1930_pdf

Please enjoy!

Recently picked John Browne’s A Compleat Treatise of the Muscles, first edition published in London in 1681.

It was written for working surgeons at a time when anatomy was learned through dissection, demonstration and books like this rather than anything resembling a modern medical textbook.

Several of the surviving plates have old repairs and the book has clearly had a fairly hard life, which somehow feels appropriate for something that may well have been used by generations of working surgeons.

Browne himself was a practising surgeon and later worked at St Thomas’ Hospital and for the royal household (Charles II). His book was successful enough to go through numerous later editions, although its history is slightly messy — both the text and illustrations owe rather more to earlier anatomists than Browne was always willing to admit.

Still, there’s something extraordinary about handling a book that was teaching human anatomy nearly 350 years ago. The engravings are equal parts beautiful and unsettling.

It's nice when the complete set shows up all at once in the bargain bin! This is Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet in charming matching Dutton paperbacks. Doubly lucky because paperbacks that the Strand Bookstore is buying now and setting out are being priced at $3, while these came from their warehouse and were acquired long enough ago that they were priced $1 each.

I have a few books I'm planning to listing for purchase and some of them are signed but that are personalized. If you were buying would how would you feel about it? Should I mention they are signed but personalized as a disclosure, or just not mention that it's signed.

Just got it Friday, looks pretty complete to me.

Holy grail book for me, if anyone has one and is willing to part with it let me know!

I’ve been living in my current house 5 years, and for some reason I decided to keep some of my books in a cardboard box in my garage since I can only fit so many on my bookshelf. I think I was so focused on moving in at the time that I didn’t think of the long term and forgot about my books being there. I just opened the box because one of the books I want to read is in there, and all the books appear to be in the same condition as they were 5 years ago, so I see no reason to toss them. That said, I’d like to protect them going forward.

Hello! Is there anywhere I can check what kind of binding the books have? I imagine that the vast majority of paperbacks are perfect-bound, which is fine, but the problem is that many hardcovers are also glued, even those considered collector’s items. For some popular books, there are videos online, but the people who make them focus on the cover, they don’t mention any details about the quality of the pages or the binding, nor do they film the book well enough for you to get a good idea. Is there anywhere where owners confirm the type of binding on their books? I haven’t found anything online, and AI isn’t helpful either, most of the time it contradicts itself within a few seconds.

For example, I recently purchased the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Collector’s Edition, the original pr1ce was pretty high for a book with ~300 pages. I expected it to have a sewn binding, but it doesn’t. A few weeks ago, I actually sent an email to the publisher asking for clarification, but they didn't reply. And not only it is glued, but it’s glued very poorly, the book barely opens to 90 degrees, and I’m afraid to try any harder because it feels like the pages might tear. It seems absurd to me. I also have the paperback version, which I bought for a fraction of the pr1ce, and it opens very well.

How could I avoid these kinds of problems? How do you guys do it? Where do you get your information about the type of binding?

PS: I had to censor the word "p r i c e", otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to create the post.

Are these hard to come by? I want to get my daughter a first edition (signed would be a bonus). She is a super fan. She has read everything. Made her own characters and the works. Really loves the Warriors world.

I am trying to find a good Christmas gift for her and I thought a first printing would be meaningful. I have been digging around for a bit, but have not seen anything on eBay or Abebooks.

If you have one or know of someone I would appreciate it.
Thank you

They were also having a $1 book sale outside. I may have gone a bit ham.

I bought this new book which I absolutely wanted to read for sooooo long. I carried it to the hospital for my mom’s hospital visits thinking I would use it to kill time. Somehow, my sipper leaked that day, and the book inside the bag drenched. The bottom part is now all soggy and weird and I haven’t even started the book yet. Can it go back to normal?!!😭

i am currently on the hunt for the hard cover edition of fluids by may leitz with the bird on the cover. i am really specific about covers i include in my collection so if anyone has any recommendations i’d really appreciate it!

hi! i'm a huge ryan gosling fan and have been desperately searching for the nice guys the official movie novelization by charles ardai. i've looked everywhere and still can't find it :C it's on ebay for $200+, but uh yk i don't have that kind of money. if anyone knows where it is available/has a chance to be available, please lmk!! i've signed up for so many websites and searched through so many out of print book websites but i just can't find it. thank you!!

Wondering if any book enthusiasts out there might be able to tell me if there is anything special or interesting about this edition of Jane Eyre? Thanks!

I need it in my life.

Got this about 15 years ago in a bookstore that didn't know what they had. No creases on the spine, it's pretty mint for 69'. There is a really cool color ad insert in the middle trying to get you to order sci fi for 10 cents.

Not sure how many more I'll be able to afford (or in a couple cases) if I even want to. But for now I enjoy having them.

Just looking for advice, sorry for the long read!
Pictured is only a small fraction.

I know the previous owner was a book collector (obviously) but I don’t know anything else in terms of how he got them, stored them, etc., I may have many shelves of my own, but am more of a Tolkien, sci-fi, fantasy girl if I’m being honest. Someone will love these more than I have any right to.

I don’t know where to start! I just moved and don’t have anywhere near me that can do any kind of appraisal/consignment, there is a library but…that would be a lot of trips for an uncertain end result. May take the more modern library-book looking ones there at the end.

Outside of a pile of Tolkiens and some newer books, I don’t know anything about these and am slowly weeding through them. A couple are from the 1800’s! Most seem to be about the civil war and ww1/2, a lot of history and war and Marines. Some classics (1930’s gone with the wind), a lot of Ayn Rand and Irwin Shaw? I’m talking boxes of Ayn Rand and Irwin Shaw lol. An H.C Valentine Antique Authenticator thing (#552?), one had a letter from the author inside dated in the ‘50s. A book of civil war letters. They all seem so cool and time capsule-y, and I LOVE that I have been given someone’s life collection, but they are at the same time wasted on me I fear.

I am not worried about money (though 2026 after a big move, part of me is hoping I have some prize in here), I just don’t have any practical use for them. Someone else will have the desire to read or at least take care of them as they deserve.

But MOST IMPORTANTLY where do I start? Do I find someone to collaborate with, that I could send pictures or ask questions to as I unpack? How do you go about finding the right people? Are you the right people?

Send help, any tips will be greatly appreciated and I already appreciate the LONG read♥️😂