Something different...1895 Times Atlas of the World
Discussion
I have a weakness for old books. I picked this one up today. It's the first edition of the Times Atlas of the World. Published in 1895 and very rare, especially in complete form. Most old atlases get broken up and sold as plates.
It's fascinating reading. It makes you realise how much the world has changed over the past 100 years. Europe is completely different, with references to the Ottoman and German empires and many other names that no longer exist. India is marked as mostly (but not entirely) part of the British Empire, and is divided into the regional kingdoms that existed before the British conquered them all and unified the country. The South Pole is largely marked as "unexplored region" since this was before the time of Scott and Shackleton (and of course Amundsen).
This was before the days of aviation. So all of the data in this atlas is the result of explorers traversing the world by land and sea and mapping it as they went along. Obviously the maps were all drawn by hand. The lettering was also done by hand (rather than being typeset). The draughtsmanship is incredible, with some details being barely visible to the naked eye. The labour involved in producing this book must have been huge.
The binding is in poor condition but the internals are complete and clean. After re-binding and a bit of cleaning it should look really nice and will surely retain some value in years to come.
I found it in a pile of books in a junk shop. It's such a beautiful thing, I thought it deserved to be restored. I guess it's the book equivalent of a barn find
It's fascinating reading. It makes you realise how much the world has changed over the past 100 years. Europe is completely different, with references to the Ottoman and German empires and many other names that no longer exist. India is marked as mostly (but not entirely) part of the British Empire, and is divided into the regional kingdoms that existed before the British conquered them all and unified the country. The South Pole is largely marked as "unexplored region" since this was before the time of Scott and Shackleton (and of course Amundsen).
This was before the days of aviation. So all of the data in this atlas is the result of explorers traversing the world by land and sea and mapping it as they went along. Obviously the maps were all drawn by hand. The lettering was also done by hand (rather than being typeset). The draughtsmanship is incredible, with some details being barely visible to the naked eye. The labour involved in producing this book must have been huge.
The binding is in poor condition but the internals are complete and clean. After re-binding and a bit of cleaning it should look really nice and will surely retain some value in years to come.
I found it in a pile of books in a junk shop. It's such a beautiful thing, I thought it deserved to be restored. I guess it's the book equivalent of a barn find
AmitG said:
It makes you realise how much the world has changed over the past 100 years.
Technically, and being pedantic, the world hasn't changed hardly at all in 100 yrs. A few feet of Continental drift and the odd volcanic island like Sertsy has popped up, but that's about it.The way we've divided it up between nations has changed dramatically.
Great find!
Sway said:
Absolutely stunning.
I have my childhood copy from the mid 80s, as well as a early noughties one, and thought the geopolitical landscape had changed!
What sort of value does it hold? Would be interested in attempting to track something similar down, finances permitting.
Thanks I have my childhood copy from the mid 80s, as well as a early noughties one, and thought the geopolitical landscape had changed!
What sort of value does it hold? Would be interested in attempting to track something similar down, finances permitting.
I bought it from a "house clearance" shop. They wanted 40 GBP, I offered 20 GBP and they accepted. Current market value, in its present condition, seems to be about 50 - 150 GBP. Fully restored and professionally rebound it might fetch 200 GBP.
www.abebooks.co.uk is the biggest website for antiquarian books. Lots of dealers list their stock on there. It currently lists 7 examples ranging from 55 GBP to 360 GBP. The most important thing is to ensure that the contents are complete. Worn binding and loose pages can always be fixed. But a missing or torn page destroys the value.
These types of books are very cheap at the moment. Nobody wants them. They're bulky and the information is out of date. But I think they are going to be sought after in the future, not least because we are nearing the end of the era of printed atlases.
The question of value is an interesting one. For rare books, there is relatively little publicly available price information, so you have to guess at what you think something might be worth. So you can see the same object priced very differently depending on whether it's in a local car boot sale or in a top-end London dealer. And one person's bonfire material is another person's priceless artifact!
I will post some more pics of my collection at some point...
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