Out of Print & into Profit A History of the Rare and Secondhand Book Trade in Britain in the Twentieth Century

Published to mark the centenary of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association, this is the first book to map out the history of the rare book trade in the 20th century - the end of this period broadly coinciding with the end of an era in traditional bookselling and the arrival of the Internet. Twenty contributors describe and explain the ways in which booksellers acquired their stock and sold books to customers, bringing to life the personalities in this most individualistic of trades, and offer many insights into changes in taste and fashion in book collecting, during what was also a formative period for many of the world's most important research libraries, especially in North America. Bibliographical scholars write alongside well-known experts from the book trade itself, drawing on a wide range of sources, including unpublished archives, marked sets of catalogues and the memoirs (published and unpublished) of members of the antiquarian book trade itself. The book will appeal to historians of the book, and of 20th-century cultural and intellectual life, as well as to everyone interested in the world of buying and selling rare books, either as booksellers themselves or as readers and collectors. Co-published with The British Library. Sales rights from Oak Knoll Press in North and South America. Elsewhere from the British Library. Available in September 2006.Mandelbrote, Giles is the author of 'Out of Print & into Profit A History of the Rare and Secondhand Book Trade in Britain in the Twentieth Century', published 0017 under ISBN 9781584561903 and ISBN 1584561904.