Investing In The Antique Books

Today, collecting the luxury items is very popular all over the world. Moreover, not only for the wealthy, but for all those who want to secure their money, making long-term investments. After all, any bank can go bankrupt, but the books are not the same unstable. For educated people and for the connoisseurs of art in most cases, books are not only (and not so much) interesting in terms of money and profits, as in terms of the ability to plunge into the art, to feel the spirit of time.

In order to build a decent collection of books in your house, you need to invest in this business a lot of time and effort. Not all old books are in a high demand, and the search of a really valuable item sometimes may take years. Among the antique books there often are offered for sale some publications of religious subjects, written or printed in Cyrillic letters. But the experienced collectors know that most of them are of no interest and value. The exception are only those books that are profusely illustrated and have been published before 1700. Therefore, most collectors are paying attention to those books that are printed in a civil fonts and have a civil non-religious content.

Any publication that has been in use by the readers for any amount of time, it is considered second-hand. Depending on the year, when the book was released, all publications can be divided into antique (vintage) and second-hand. It is difficult to determine the chronological framework within which the book is considered as an antique, but it is still possible. In the 18th century all manuscripts and early printed publications were regarded as antique, in the early 20th century - all those books, that were published before 1830. Today as an antique there are considered all cultural values, that have been established more than 50 years ago - books, jewelry made of gold, silver and stones, paintings, etc.

Strong demand is clearly marked on the first editions of works that were issued prior to 1917. Thus, at the International Book Fair in London, the novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky called "The Brothers Karamazov," which was published in 1881 in the print shop of brothers Panteleyev, was valued at 40,000 U.S. dollars. Even more rare and old books can be assessed in the amounts up to half a million U.S. dollars.

The interesting story, that had added it's own touches, is significantly increasing the value of the book. Autographs or marginal notes, left by some famous people, also may increase the cost of the publication. In the same time, the value of old books is determined by the luxury, rarity, original binding. There are known some editions made of leather, inlaid with semiprecious and precious stones. Especially the books, made of calf leather are in the high price today.

Very important is the fact that the risk of buying a fake on the antique book market is almost minimal. Unlike other types of antiques, it is economically disadvantageous to fake books. Fraudsters can make only a few tricks that also can be easily noticed by the careful examination of the items: pasted multiple copies of the lost pages, fake library stamps and so on.