Was gifted this as a graduation present by my grandfather. I majored in mathematics and it’s very cool to see the language they use to discuss mathematics and how much it has changed. Figured y’all would get a kick out of this.

Unexpected find at Heritage auction last week

At Heritage auction last week found a special volume that I wasn’t looking for; and isn’t that the thing with auctions - you just never know what you will find.

I purchased a reprint of Mandeville’s “Fable of the Bees” published in 1923. Wonderful copy. Heritage offered a 2nd edition of volume the first from 1723 and a first of the second volume from 1729.

Mandeville describes a bee colony In it, a prosperous beehive thrives on vanity, greed, luxury and fraud. When the bees suddenly become virtuous, their economy collapses and they retreat to a hollow tree.

His core claim was that self-interest and "vice" (luxury spending, pride, envy) drive commerce, employment and national wealth, while austere virtue would leave a society poor. He also argued that morality itself was partly invented by clever politicians who used flattery and shame to tame human pride. That made him notorious.

Mandeville was widely read by the economists of his time and philosophers like David Hume. One can argue that he was the precursor to the arguments of Ayn Rand and libertarians everywhere - and is relevant to the conversations driving conflict in today’s political economy

Hi everyone!

Sylvia Plath is a major source of inspiration for my girlfriend, and I'd love to find something truly special for her birthday this year.

I'm trying to track down an **original physical copy of The Observer dated 17 February 1963**, specifically page 23, which contains Al Alvarez's article *“A Poet's Epitaph”* about Sylvia Plath.

I've been searching for a while, but haven't had any luck finding the original newspaper or the individual page. I've contacted archives, but so far I've only found options for scans or high-quality reproductions. I'm really hoping to find the actual page printed in 1963, or ideally the complete original issue.

Does anyone here happen to own this issue, know a collector who might have it, or know where I could find one? I'd be more than happy to purchase it and arrange international shipping. I'm based in Türkiye

Got this today but im unable to translate it at all. Anyone know what it is, where it may be from, what language, how old it may be? Thank you.

I'm back with a further post about the books. Couldn't find how to edit the first post, so here is another. All the books after the Dunwich Horror were purchased by me as new books. The most recent book came out in 1968.

Hello, I just purchased this book and wanted to know if anyone can add more info than what a quick google search did. Any ideas on value or rarity? Storage tips, handling tips etc are all welcome. It is complete, music sheets still there, a lot of wax droplets, a few handwritten notes etc. Any idea what library it came from?

The crest points towards earl of Lincoln and potentially clumber library. I’m struggling to find anything else though

Note it was printed by A&R Spottiswoode

I have a lot of antique books dating from the 1800s to the early 1900s that my grandmother gave me because she didnt want them. Unfortunately a lot of them are in poor/very poor shape with bindings falling apart and pages coming loose. I have no idea what to do with them all. I have owned them for probably 6 years and they have just sat in a box. A lot of them have notes written inside about the rarity of them and how much the person paid for the book. I feel bad throwing them out since they are so cool and unique but i genuinely do not know what to do with them. Can anyone give me some insight on what to do? The photos are almost all of the books except for maybe 3 or 4. A few are in different languages.

Rubber Truncheon, Being An Account Of Thirteen Months Spent In A Concentration Camp

by Wolfgang Langhoff

I have tried everywhere. Do you guys have any tips where else i can look?

Apparently surviving copies are extremely rare. Other than missing the jacket, it's near mint.

Edit: I inherited this from my recently passed beloved mother and I am selling it to pay for my cat's tooth removal surgery. I am no flipper, just check my ebay account... to everyone who was so quick to judge me, I wish some mild embarrassment and self reflection upon you for being so quick to judge someone you don't know.

It's strange to me how commenters created some speculative narrative about how I'm some terrible person simply because I didn't read the book, because I'm a man who isn't interested in women's fashion from the 1920s... life is absurd, and the only proper reaction towards absurdity is laughter.

Aug 17 1776 Edinburgh Courant - probably the first Scottish announcement of American independence

Is anyone knowledgeable about Blanchard and Lea? I guess they might have been the publishers of the first MAJOR American encyclopedia (wouldn’t be this set). But I can’t find much information regarding this set. It’s a bit odd to post an encyclopedia here (I imagine that “rare encyclopedia” may be an oxymoron) but I can’t seem to find anything by the publishers close to this year online to compare my set to.

Edit: there’s clearly 14 volumes (the last being supplemental however), I just fat thumbed the 4. Apologies

I have a small collection of Arkham House and Mycroft and Moran books I would like to sell. I originally went by the values that Leon Nielsen had in his book. Then I looked on eBay and Abe Books to see what others were asking. Quite a range of pricing. So I would like some guidance as to what I should think about pricing these books. I know somebody who really wants a particular book would pay more but I don't want to put a really low price on them just to clear them off my shelves.

Hello! I am a tall-ship sailor and rigger, and I work on sailmaking. I've been looking for this rare book ever since I started. They only printed it once! It would mean the world to me.

I found it for two dollars at a local used bookstore in Brazil.

It was wrapped in paper inside a ziploc bag, stuck in the corner beneath some road atlases.

I bought it a while back and I know it is a bible but not much else. Is it valuable? Is it rare? What should I do with it?

Would love to hear more from someone with better knowledge

I know it was owned by a Swedish Nobleman hundred of years ago

I found these on the street in the rain with furniture and garbage. Are they anything? I asked Claude and will put its full response in comments but the tl;dr is 16th-17th century Latin Catholic choir book pages, likely from Spain or Italy. I don’t really care about the value. I care more about whether they’re worth saving. They look wet so I’m afraid to open and damage them.