Bibliography, the history of the book, and the literature of collecting itself.
Every collector eventually discovers the strangely satisfying field of “books about books” — the reference works, histories, and memoirs that take the book itself as their subject. It is the collector's own library: the shelf that makes every other shelf intelligible. Randall House kept the field well stocked, for a dealer's reference collection is the tool of the trade.
The Reference Shelf
At the heart of the field are the working tools of bibliography. John Carter's ABC for Book Collectors — the classic glossary from which our own Glossary descends — belongs on every collector's desk. Beside it stand the great author and subject bibliographies that identify editions and states, the reference works on binding and paper, and the histories of the famous presses and publishers. These are the books one reads to learn how to read all the others.
The History of the Book
Beyond reference lies a rich literature on the history of the book as an object and an institution: the invention of printing and the age of incunabula, the rise of the great publishing houses, the story of the private press, and the social history of reading itself. This scholarship — sustained by bodies such as the Bibliographical Society of America — turns collecting from a hobby into a discipline.
Memoirs of the Trade
Not least, the field includes the memoirs and essays of booksellers and collectors — the anecdotal literature of the hunt, the great sales, the legendary finds and the ones that got away. These books are the trade's own folklore, and they are often the most purely enjoyable of all. They also document the fine-printing tradition celebrated in our Grabhorn Press department.
Why Start Here
For the new collector, books about books are the best possible investment — not of money but of understanding. A modest reference shelf, well chosen and actually read, will save its owner many times its cost in avoided mistakes, and will deepen the pleasure of every other book on every other shelf.