Collectors’ Guides

A series of resources for book collectors from Peter Harrington’s expert staff, from how to identify first editions to guides on collecting the works of popular authors like Beatrix Potter and J. R. R. Tolkien.

Featured Articles

300 Years of Immanuel Kant: A Collector’s Guide

The Enlightenment produced many great thinkers, but Immanuel Kant stands out as one of the most influential philosophers in history. As celebrations take place around the world to mark the 300th anniversary of his birth, it’s an ideal time to reflect on his legacy in...

Collecting Editioned Prints: Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt, one of the most recognizable artists of the 20th century, scandalized the Viennese establishment and awed his contemporaries with his opulent and erotic nudes. He rose to fame as a leading member of the Vienna Secession, a movement closely related to Art...

Shackleton’s South: is my copy a first edition?

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917) Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition was the last great undertaking of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. He embarked in 1914 on the Endurance to make the first traverse of the Antarctic...

Recent articles

Jane Austen: How do bindings affect value?

Adam Douglas, Senior Specialist at Peter Harrington, introduces a selection of Jane Austen’s first editions and explains how their bindings affect their value. Jane Austen – Sense and Sensibility...

Is my Harry Potter book valuable? How to tell if your copy is a first edition

This comprehensive article will help you establish whether you have a first edition Harry Potter on your hands. If you do have a first edition and are interested in selling it, please contact us on...

‘For little rabbits’: a guide to the books of Beatrix Potter

Items featured in this blog are drawn from a remarkably complete Beatrix Potter collection displayed by Peter Harrington in 2016. You can still view the catalogue online here, as well as our Beatrix...

Collecting Economics

The foundational book in classical economic theory is Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), but there is a large literature in the field of economics...

Maintaining the Condition of Rare Books

One of the most important considerations in maintaining the condition of your rare books collection is the storage of your books. Most book collectors are aware of the importance of using acid-free...

Building Your Roald Dahl Collection

Charles Dickens aside, it’s hard to think of an author with a legacy generating quite so many successes from independent stories and characters as Roald Dahl. If J. K. Rowling had never penned her...

Collecting Mary Shelley

Some might think collecting Mary Shelley books a daunting task. The first edition of her most important and well-known book, Frankenstein(1818), is rare and so valuable as to be out of the reach of...

The Nonesuch Dickens

Originally published in 1937, the Nonesuch Dickens continues to be a sought-after collector's piece for anyone. The director of the Limited Editions Club of New York, George Macy, described the...

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