Featured An unopened book

This book was cited in a thread a while ago. It sounded interesting so I went looking for a copy and found one online that was half the cost of other copies, even with the shipping included. This book cost less than the print-on-demand copies being offered, and it's an original printing.



I was looking for a working copy, so it didn't matter to me if it was tattered or battered so long as it was all there. So I bought it.

I was surprised when it arrived because it's a nice, tight, clean copy. In fact... unread condition. Why so inexpensive? It's unopened.

I don't know how books are made today, but not long ago at all, several pages would be printed on a large sheet. The sheet was folded so that the pages correctly aligned and then it was sewn together with other similarly printed and folded sheets (called signatures) to make the book. The signatures were trimmed to eliminate the folds so the pages would open properly. In book terminology, "unopened" means the folds weren't trimmed from some (or all) of the signatures so the pages are not properly separated. That's the situation with this book. It's mostly unopened across the top and a large proportion of the fore-edge is also unopened.



I think this is fun. A curio. The problem is that if I want it to be a functional reference, if I want to read it, I'll have to separate the pages... and I don't really want to. I don't want to buy another copy either. It is available as an online text, but I've never been happy reading online texts. I do like books. I like them as artifacts. I like to hold them in my hands and turn the pages... when they can be turned.

Oh well, it's a quandary I'm in no hurry to resolve. One way or another, it was a good and interesting purchase.

 

Is it illustrated? If so, I think I'd be tempted to slit open those pages, even if not others. Own a good paper knife?

 

No illustrations. None expected.

 

I have a rare book with unopened pages; a dealer once told me that to preserve value, the pages should be left that way....but I don't really know. I've never opened that particular book, in any case.

 

I learned something new, thank you!

 

One of the issues is that if you (or I) cut the pages open, it's probably going to be obvious that they were cut open after the fact. I suppose that would be taken as damage.

But unless the binding is the thing, what's the good of a book that can't be used?

I can't see where advertising a book as unopened (in this sense) would give much of an advantage. The seller of the book I bought never mentioned it, and wasn't he taking a chance that I wouldn't complain?

 

Hi,
I have a copy of Alice through the looking glass. It is not a first edition or anything it was printed in 1923 and given to a girl for Christmas. I wonder if the girl died before she could read it or what. I would never cut the pages. It is just a weird feeling that the girl never read it.
greg

 

You can be sure there are people who collect Alice obsessively. If you've got a gajillion different editions, maybe an unopened copy would make an interesting curio.

Not suggesting that you ever sell yours, just saying maybe there are instances where unopened would elicit interest. Maybe there are people who collect unopened books... a library of books that not only haven't been read, but physically can't be read.

 

The seller of your book does not sound like a real book expert.

Guess you have to weigh how you think it would be of most value to you: in its current state as possibly a collector's item or with the pages separated so you can benefit from the info.

 

@moreotherstuff, just as perplexing as the unopened or uncut pages, I think, is the title.... EIGHTEENTH CENTURY COLOUR PRINTS.....with NO prints to view!!!!! If you DON'T want to cut them and DO want to keep it as a collector item, then I would just download a free version of the online text to use strictly as a reference, even though I know you stated you like the "feel" and "texture" of the real thing in your hands!!! I have many friends just like you!!!!!! But instead of buying books too often anymore I now LOVE my Kindle APP and wait for the "freebies" !!!!! It's a "to each his own" world!!

 

Hi,
I am a member of old school. I like books!!! I do not want to read them on line or anything else. I like the feel of a book and can get lost in it for hours. One of my old old teachers once said "A book is a friend you can always count on." Thank goodness I took a speed reading course years ago. It takes me about 2 hours to read the average 700 page book especially if I had read it before.
greg

 

Just a poor trimming job at the bookbinders, it happens more than you might think.Unless the book is of special value just slit the pages. Use a long bladed sharp knife cutting outward when pages are flat. A deep blade offers more stability.

 

It appears from this review that the earliest editions did have illustrations.

 

That must be the first addition. This is the second. The first was quatro, this is octavo. Those disignation have to do with the number of pages in a single signature. I think it's safe to say that books in quatro are usually much larger (height and width) than those in octavo.

"Watered silk binding, decorated cover, rough edges, folio, 132 pages of text and 50 plates." None of which applies to this edition (which has 307 pages of text plus the preface).

Maybe the second edition was meant as an addendum to the first. Maybe, if the price is manageable, it will work out that way for me.

 

This information from Abebooks:

Published by Macmillan and Co, London, 1900. , xvii, 132 pages, with colour frontispiece and 52 plates, monochrome, with tissue guards. The second volume was 50 mounted colour proofs. Limited Edition of 60 Copies

pricey, pricey... if it could be found.

 

That was pretty much my plan... eventually.

 

It does sound like a good book. I hope it's useful to you.

 

Found a review from The Spectator 1901:

Eighteenth Century Colour Prints. By Julia Frankau.

(Macmillan and Co. .a3 8s.)—This is a very bulky book upon a rather slender subject The eighteenth-century engravers were nothing if not light and pretty,—in fact, one often wishes they had not poured their sweet sauce over everything quite so evenly. It matters little if the inanities of the Rev. W. Peters are well sugared, but when it comes to Reynolds it is annoying to have the grandeur of his technique reduced to a pretty formula. The essay at the beginning of the book contains not only technical accounts of colour printing, but there is also much amusing gossiping biography both of the artists and their sitters. The latter part of the volume is given up to fifty-one good reproduc- tions of typical engravings in monochrome, while a colour print forms the frontispiece.