Featured Advice/help regarding this little book please...

Discussion in 'Books' started by LucyLocket, Jun 11, 2021.

  1. LucyLocket

    LucyLocket Well-Known Member

    20210611_115117.jpg 20210611_115157.jpg 20210611_115233.jpg 20210611_115315.jpg 20210611_115355.jpg 20210611_115419.jpg I would very much appreciate any help or advice about this little book. I acquired it in the 1980s and it has been sitting in a drawer ever since!
    It is "The Surprising Travels and Adventures of Baron Munchausen" by R E Raspe published by J F Dove, St John's Square in 1826.
    The book is bound in leather with gold embossing but the front cover has come away completely, there is just a fragment of the spine cover which has also come off.
    There is a sweet little inscription inside the front cover dated 1834. The book itself is in reasonable condition although the pages are discoloured (foxed?). The book measures approximately 5"x3".
    I have attached some photos.
    Would this be worth anything - or indeed would it be saleable in this condition? I couldn't bear to throw it away!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 11, 2021
  2. Houseful

    Houseful Well-Known Member

    Bronwen likes this.
  3. LucyLocket

    LucyLocket Well-Known Member

    Thank you! That is interesting - it never occurred to me that I might be able to trace the person in the inscription. I can imagine that a gift like this in 1834 would have become a treasured possession.
     
    pearlsnblume and Bronwen like this.
  4. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    pearlsnblume, Born2it and Bronwen like this.
  5. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    The last name looks like Hodston to me & she spelled her first name Pheobe. Why do I get the feeling Pheobe was dyslexic?
     
    pearlsnblume and wiscbirddog like this.
  6. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    Such a sweet volume. One wonders where it's been all these years. How many shelves has it sat on? How many hands has it passed through?

    Debora
     
  7. Aquitaine

    Aquitaine Is What It IS! But NEVER BORED!

    Would you consider getting it conserved by a VERY GOOD bookbinder/conservator ??? It looks positively WONDERFUL!!! Or do you plan on selling in it's current condition? I found the below link on Vialibri, but it's not in English....is part of your book in German by any chance??? Check out the link....you can also click on 'translate'....but I believe the version they are showing is from 1816.....

    https://www.vialibri.net/searches?a...+Baron+Munchausen&s=1.qujpn8.f572cd8b73d4234b

    Sorry, this is the link for the 1816 version:
    https://www.antiquariat.de/tigross.jsp;jsessionid=18B98E51BE1CB6C24DDB7F0F14DA71AD?id=37346890

    And this is the translation page: click far to the right:
    https://translate.google.com/transl...search-result/202106111625gyGr6_XwI.1y&anno=2
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2021
  8. LucyLocket

    LucyLocket Well-Known Member

    Many thanks for all your replies.
    I too wonder where it has been and who read and enjoyed it over the years - incredible to think it was given to Pheobe/Phoebe three years before Queen Victoria came to the throne!
    I acquired it in about 1981/82 so a few years before the film came out.
    Thank you for the suggestion but I don't think I would have it conserved - I would leave that to its next owner. All the text in my edition is in English - no German, but thanks for the interesting links.
    I was considering putting it on ebay but truly wasn't sure if the state of the cover would make it unsaleable which is why I thought I'd seek advice here first. Having had a good look at it I see that the back cover is only attached by a couple of threads so will try to handle it as little as possible. Surprisingly the gilt edging on the pages is still in very good condition.
     
  9. 2manycats

    2manycats Well-Known Member

    There are a couple copies of this Dove edition on Abebooks for a bit over $100, in considerably better shape. Rebinding in an appropriate period manner would cost quite a bit more. Selling on eBay may be your best bet, as is.
     
  10. Fid

    Fid Well-Known Member

    it's very difficult to tell when this collection of stories started. most probably around 1750 and not by the Baron himself, although some stories were probably "after" stories told by himself when he came back from Russia and the east.
    some stories were publicised by a hoodlum in English and later re-translated into German and included into later editions, as were other stories. so rather a "work in progress" by several authors and still read to children these days.
     
    Gus Tuason likes this.
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