Collecting Rare Books For Beginners

I think it would be fun to collect rare books some day down the line.... I haven't started collecting rare books for the following three reasons:

1. I've always had the impression that collecting rare books is an expensive hobby. One out of my budget.

2. I don't know much about collecting books and don't want to end up with a book that isn't all that rare, isn't a 1st edition after all, or the autograph inside of the book is forged. Put another way, I don't want to dish out a lot of money on what I think is a rare book, only to find out I've been scammed. 

So, before I even begin collecting rare books, I want to educate myself on the ins and outs of collecting rare books. Being a smart consumer is the only way to go in my opinion.

3. Lastly, what kinds of books do I want to collect???  


I recently discovered an article on a website called Best For Beginners by Joseph Pickett titled Collecting Rare Books for Beginners. In his article, Mr. Pickett provides 7 tips to collecting rare books. 

My favorite tip or piece of advice given by Mr. Pickett in his article is on 'where to start' and he writes the following:

The smartest place for the amateur book collector to begin is to check with the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (abaa.org) to locate a quality bookstore in your area. Every bookstore that is an ABAA member has been thoroughly vetted. It is very important for you to find a legitimate bookstore, as scammers and rip off artists are sadly too common in the world of rare books.

If you happen to visit any bookstore in you area, you should ask them if they are registered with the ABAA.

Mr. Pickett gives other good advice on collecting rare books as well. So, be sure and click on the link above and learn more tips on collecting rare books.

Once I have a good grasp on collecting rare books, perhaps I'll start collecting a few of them myself. 

Until my next post, happy reading!