Featured I'm probably gonna have to toss these in the bin......................

For over 50 years I have been carting around this inherited set of books (20 volumes):









The cloth bindings are getting ratty and there are a few water stains...........but the entire set - NOT ONE SINGLE VOLUME has been read! You know how I know that is a fact?

This is how I know:





Yep - the pages have never been cut...............every two pages are actually a single sheet, folded at the top or the bottom....................an average of 380 pages per volume, that means 190 "cuts" per volume, 20 volumes.............well, I could write the series before I got the pages cut....................there is no wonder about WHY these have never been read..........

These were a "gift" to an ancestor who wrote some of the introductions, but I see NO market for these. They do have a few nice plates in each volume so I may retain those.................

what a waste..................it was not a high end set to begin with, but still.................

 

Well I have no idea of value, but some people do buy books just as props these days. I have seen them sell on etsy for that purpose. So maybe you could break up the set, if so inclined, and sell a bunch at a time and perhaps make some extra cash that way?
But what do I know.

 

Unfortunately,Id cut out the plates and put the books in the recycle bin. At least then theyd get some use. I remember when I couldnt bear to throw out a book,it seemed criminal somehow.

 

Hi,
Mansons do not throw them out. I had an 1919 copy of Alice in Wonderland. It was never read also, pages never been cut. It was a Christmas present to a girl named Lizzie. I always wondered if she died before she could read the book. Also it sold for 15 dollars, I paid a dime for it.
greg

 

I had a set of very old...nicely bound books...did not want to toss...I use them as "bases" for some of my collectables and plants...gives me height (using 1 or 2) and pretty to look at !

 

Is this horse head hollow for candy? or solid?

 

Its a heavy, molded glass bookend (hollow from the bottom), and one of a pair (one has a chip in the bottom rim). Someone (I think it was Brad?) identified it/them for someone else a while ago.............possibly on the "old" forum.

 

Possibly Federal Glass.

 

Correct! I should not have been so lazy the first go-round and opened up the inventory before I responded. Sorry about that, but thank you for taking the time!

As I see things identified on this and other boards I snap a quick photo of MY piece and write (copy & paste!) a brief description. I have hundreds of "folders" on a removable hard drive so I have to do little research when I get around to selling something......and I have hundreds to go.............

 

The uncut pages are a book binding error. Even back then the pages were trimmed before binding, sometimes not cut short enough.

 

Maybe now - not back then.

 

Not so. People had special tools to cut the pages on books. Check out abehbooks.com for their article on uncut books. Then look up "antique paper knives" to see what was used.

 

I was doing an antique show a few years ago and there was a print dealer across from me. When things got slow she used the time to remove plates from books. She would find a plate she wanted, crack the spine and remove the plate - over and over and over again! Everythime she cracked the spine it made me wince

 

Wow! Sacrilege!

 

I sell books like that for fifteen dollars each, fourth five if I wrap a ribbon around two or three and call them "decorative book stack". They would sell even better if they were interesting like uncut pages .

Don't toss them!