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Most expensive books sold on AbeBooks in December 2008:

Gedenkweerdige Brasiliaense Zee-en Lant-Reise by Johan Nieuhoff
Sold for $6,849
Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham
Sold for $6,000
Le Capital by Karl Marx
Sold for $5,795
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Sold for $5,750
Cezanne by Duret, Mirbeau et al
Sold for $5,600
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Sold for $4,870
Hali Magazine (147 issues)
Sold for $4,805
On the Anatomy of the Breast by Sir Astley Paston Cooper
Sold for $4,729
The Quran Al-Qur'an of Sultan Mulay Zaidan
Sold for $4,364
The True Prophecies or Prognostications of Michael Nostradamus by Nostradamus
Sold for $4,300

Pick of the Month:
	Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect Robert Burns Book Price: Ł11,250.00
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Focus on Book Care

Interview With A Bookbinder

Dave Allen is a surviving member of an endangered species - a professional bookbinder. Pick up your Yellow Pages – there won’t be many listed. Bookbinding is a highly skilled craft requiring enormous patience, concentration and knowledge. It is also a profession kept alive by a few dedicated bibliophiles like Allen.

His studio, located in a workshop behind his house, is 15 minutes drive from the AbeBooks’ headquarters in Victoria, British Columbia, on the western coast of Canada. His firm is called Beddall Bookbinding, Conservation and Restoration, and he makes his living doing custom repairs and restorations, as well as contractual work for newspapers and other businesses. Much of his repair work is drilling and side-sewing books that have fallen apart after only one or two reads.

Read our full interview...

Recommended Reading

Hand-Made Books: An Introduction to Bookbinding by Rob Shepherd

Hand-Made Books: An Introduction to Bookbinding
Rob Shepherd

A History of English Craft Bookbinding Technique by Bernard C. Middleton

A History of English Craft Bookbinding Technique
Bernard C. Middleton

ABC of Bookbinding: An Illustrated Glossary
Jane Greenfield

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Special Feature

Famous authors who self published: Walt Whitman

Collectable Self Published Books

Self published authors continue to fight for credibility amongst "traditionally" published writers. Yet many icons of literature, including Walt Whitman and DH Lawrence, resorted to self publishing. These original editions are now highly collectible and command very respectable prices.

AbeBooks' Richard Davies takes a look at some titles that publishers originally missed out on and that are now a staple of many a library.

More About Collectable Self Published Books

Favourites From Our Booksellers

Browse a special selection of books submitted directly from our booksellers.

The Less Deceived
Philip Larkin
Any Amount of Books
(London, UK)

Marvell Press, Hessle, 1955. First Edition. Hardback. 8vo.pp 43. First issue, bound with flat spine and rear panel dust jacket printed in black only. 'Floor" for sea in line 1 of poem on page 38 etc. No inscriptions, not price-clipped, no nicks or chips. Dust jacket included.

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Read our interview with bookseller Nigel Burwood of Any Amount of Books

Geographiae Universae by Claudius Ptolomaeus

Geographiae Universae
Claudius Ptolomaeus
Collectable Books
(London, UK)

'A new (Latin) Edition with new maps, edited by Giovanni Antonio Magini of Padua' [Henry R Stevens, Ptolemy's Geography. A brief account ]. This late 16th century edition is in an 18th century leather binding, sometime rebacked.

View this Collectable Book

Read our interview with bookseller Tom Biro of Collectable Books

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