My great friend Pat, has some more wisdom on books to pass along to you. From her notes she has compiled this list of publishers to look for when out trying to find books. Here is here info followed by a link to her store where she has about 1000 books listed!
WHICH PUBLISHERS TO SNAG WHEN LOOKING AT OLD BOOKS...(For those of you who may run across old books and just don't know, here's a list of what does well and what some collect.) There are more, but this is a start. This thread only looks at publishers.
Golden Cockeral
PressBallantyne (do not confuse with Ballantine)
Montague
Centaur
Kelmscott
Bodley Head or John Lane, The Bodley Head
Limited EditionsClub
Roycrofters - pre 1915. Elbert Hubbard, soap salesman and wanna be writer, began this group in Aurora, New York. They turned out magnificent reprints of books, many published in fine leather or suede. I say pre-1915, because that's when Hubbard went down on the Lusitania. However, others are becoming more collectible.
Erotica
Alfred Comstock the infamous founder of the Comstock Laws passed such prude laws that even famous classics could not be published without subscription. Even medical books could not mention the word contraception. Thus, sprung up a myriad of publishers for subscribers only to publish what is now known as erotica. Such famous illustrators as Mahlon Blaine and Arthur Zaidenburg and Alexander King, and even, Vincent Minelli were drawn to this.
Rarity Press
Hogarth
Three Sirens
BibliophistSociety
Deluxe Editions
Exotica
Navarre
Hermitage
Pierre Louys Society
Bennett Library
Panurge Press
Many simply say "Privately Printed."
Book Club Editions
When we think of book club editions, book of the month clubs, or BOMC, we think cheap and no resale value. In modern works, this is the case. But, it wasn't always so. The first book clubs in the US were truly book clubs by subscription only and oftentimes, only for invited memebers. Benjamin Franklin started the first known one in 1726.
1864-1875 This was the Golden Age of Book Clubs with Knickerbocker, Narragansett and others.
1876 - Historical Printing Club
1883 - Bookfellows Club
1883 - Grolier Club
1884 - Felson Club - first to admit women. Franklin Library - Sadly now out of business, they published many signed and magnificently reprinted classics which are quickly rising in price.
First Editions Library - Highly collectible facsimiles of the true firsts sold by subscription. These are hard to identify from the first, but somewhere there will be the F.E.L. initials.This is just a start of what I can recall off the top of my head.
See this book wizard's stuff at www.hortonsbks.com
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