Leather-bound books: Dr. Johnson, Don Quixote and Unknown.

Hello all,
I acquired these book for free at the Healthy Planet Shop in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. I am now wondering if I should have them restored soonish? I am moving out of London where the best restorers in England seem to be located, but if someone here tells me they don’t particularly need saving or they’re sturdier than they look then I’ll store them away for a quieter time. Obviously two of them are well know titles, but in this instance I don’t know how that would affect their scarcity. All input appreciated!
apologies if this post is a bit off, I’m struggling to post photos.

 

Your photos are great, thanks INH, I think the Don Quixote book may have value.

I doubt I would restore any of them, unless you love them that much for yourself. Please wait for the knowledgeable book collector members to weigh in.

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=5...young lady in a very expensive manner&f=false

 

The lower case "s" is typed like it is an "f" but it's not.

 

This is how old cursive looked too! With the Ss looking like Fs!

 

1. Unknown book, seems to be printed around the end of the 18th century. It could be bound magazine like this one. It has the same stories in it as your copy.

i really like the fact that aunt Harriet gave her old book to her niece Jessy!

https://books.google.nl/books?id=l2...ce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false





2. THE WORKS OF THE ENGLISH POETS With Prefaces, Biographical and Critical (Samuel Johnson London 1779).

This is a single copy (nr. 48) of a series of 75(!) volumes. Here is a copy of the book but in a far better state for sale:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R86S9Y2/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=

3. The History and Adventures of the Renowned Don Quixote. Vol 3

This is also a part of a series of 5 volumes of the famous Don Quixote de la Mancha book from Miguel Cervantes, first published in 1605-1615.

Can you please make a better photo of the title page of this book, so I can date this book correctly? Are the "Suberb engravings" still in the book?

Sorry to say this, but all three books are not really worth of restoring (from a financial perspective). They are not really scarce and they have only value when they are in good shape and complete.

 

I have found your edition of Don Quixote. It is printed in 1799 by the London printer Cooke.

http://webs.ucm.es/BUCM/foa/exposiciones/15Quijote/losquijotes/103b.htm

 

The Don Quixote appears to be Cooke's "pocket edition". A dealer on abebooks.com lists a copy of volume 2 of the set, in what sounds like a bit better condition, for about ₤30.
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Se...tby=17&sts=t&tn=don quixote&yrh=1805&yrl=1790

As a single volume of a set it has less value than a full set. The same would be true of the volume on poetry. I doubt that any of them are worth the cost of restoration.

 

I like that, too! And am interested enough that I puzzled out the name and found a little information about Aunt Harriet. This is rather long and you may not be interested, but I hope you are, @Van_Poperin .

The name is Harriet Frances Twemlow. She was born Harriet Frances Townshend in May of 1789, according to a pedigree chart in The History of the Ancient Parish of Sandbach, Co. Chester, which is digitized in Google Books. She married Thomas Twemlow. Here is a link to the page in the book where the pedigree chart/family tree is. I looked it up in archive dot org. Sometimes Google Books doesn't allow people in other countries to view the US version.
https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00earw/page/110/mode/2up?q=twemlow

There is also a Jessie Barbara in the family tree in that book who might possibly be the niece who received the book. If so, she would be a niece by marriage. Jessie Barbara Armistead in 1871 was married to John Fletcher Twemlow, who was son of Francis Twemlow, brother of Thomas. They were married a very short time. John died in 1874. So Harriet gave the book to Jessie not very long after Jessie was widowed.

Papers of the Twemlow Family are in the National Archives in the UK. According to the description in the online guide to the papers, Thomas Twemlow is one of the main subjects of the papers. Thomas died in 1872 and his wife Harriet continued to live on the property until her death, which it appears was in about 1880, per some other sites I found. Link to description of the papers: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/22e64dc6-06ba-454f-94d9-e6390e1f1d57

 

I just left a job in publishing so finding a restorer for a good price doesn’t worry me {she says, possibly jinxing herself}. I don’t really care about market value except to stop me neglecting something I can’t replace

 

You could always store them in an archival box and use your restoration budget for new acquistions.

Debora

 

I like the inscriptions too! Part of why I love “second hand” is the human stories tied to objects.

The Mirror has no title page, but the plates are dated and I don’t suppose they were printed outside of this volume, or not much? Others put here per request The low value means I can store them away and come back when I’m not busy, so I’ve no problem with that!

 

I don’t mind about monetary value... unless something needs to be insured! Thank you for looking it up though!

 

I could I suppose I just have a soft spot for neglected things. Plenty of other people to take care of the treasure!

 

Yes, I believe you've found the correct book @Ex Libris , thank you.

@Van_Poperin , I do understand about your soft spot for neglected things, I USED TO have the same, I was probably about your age. As I grew older, my focus shifted. If you restore "The Mirror" - suggest you fabricate the missing front pages and include them - just my own suggestion. I like completeness in books and believe this won't harm any potential value of the restoration.

 

I somehow missed this yesterday— It. Is. AMAZING!! I can’t believe you did this research! I’m with you about the interest—- knowing about the human being who came before is so meaningful and the feeling you get can’t be gotten any other way.
I have a few things bequeathed academic and cultural institutions, so I think I’ll contact the National Archives and ask if they want the book after my death. But I am DEFINITELY going to print out this response and keep it, it’s honestly so thoughtful of you and mirrors (aha!) the interest I take in these items but surpasses the kind of commitment I usually show but *leagues*. I definitely owe you one!!

 

If it’s ideal and can be done I definitely will, I don’t believe in doing these things by halves. I’ve only ever had one book like this rebound (my company had taken it apart for scanning) though I don’t remember them replacing pages it was no more expensive than a designer handbag. I have never in my life wanted anything Prada, a mended book will do me fine! Thanks for the advice

 

You're welcome! I'm glad it is interesting to you. We have other members here who also will sometimes do this sort of thing for others. They usually beat me to it. Actually, I was trying to figure out the handwriting, trying different options in a search. Then some useful info popped up.