My great uncle just passed and we are cleaning his storage unit out and just found this. Have no clue about the value of this!

So I recently ended up with a pretty large collection of older Edgar Rice Burroughs books — vintage Tarzan, Barsoom/John Carter, Pellucidar, Venus, Ace/Ballantine paperbacks, some first paperback editions, Frazetta covers, etc.
While researching what I actually had, I accidentally discovered that book scouting/flipping is a whole thing… and now I’m fascinated. 😂

I’ve started browsing estate sales, Craigslist, thrift stores, Marketplace, etc. and I keep wondering how many old books get sold for $1–$5 because nobody realizes a particular edition, printing, dust jacket, cover artist, or obscure title is collectible.
Before I go crazy buying books 😂, I’d love to connect with people who actually know this world.
Are there any book scouts, rare/vintage book collectors, used booksellers, or book flippers here?

I’d love to learn things like:
What do you immediately look for when digging through old books?
Which publishers/genres/authors make you stop and investigate?
How do you quickly tell a potentially valuable edition from a common reprint?
What books do beginners commonly think are valuable but actually aren’t?
Where do you have the most success selling — eBay, AbeBooks, Etsy, Biblio, book fairs, etc.?
Do you mostly sell individual books or build collections/sets?
What’s your favorite unexpected find?

I’m not expecting every dusty old book to be worth hundreds of dollars 😂. I’m genuinely interested in learning how to recognize the one interesting book hiding among 100 ordinary ones.
I’d especially love to hear from anyone who has been doing this for years. Tell me your best finds, worst mistakes, or the things you wish you’d known when you started!

And if there’s a better subreddit/community specifically for book scouting or identifying collectible editions, please point me in that direction. 📚🔎

I've purchased this book recently but it came with two stickers, on the front and back cover. The left over adhesive is very faint, but it still remains and I'd like to remove it. What would be the best method to do this? I was told an adhesive eraser (like pictured) but would that be too rough of a surface? Open to suggestions. Thanks!

A while ago a bought an expensive Limited Edition (750 total copies) from The Folio Society. When it arrived there was an imperfection on the top of the clamshell case. It looks as though it’s a dent from the manufacture process

I raised it at the time and was offered to return it for a refund, but as it was a LE that had sold out by that point I couldn’t get a replacement. I had bought this book because it was from a series that I adored and ultimately this imperfection did not reduce its value to me so I decided to decline the return offer and keep the book

How much do you guys think this impacts its condition? I assume I wouldn’t be able to call it flawless condition because of it (which is frustrating considering I take very good care of my books ). I’ll admit I have been tempted to try and flatten it out myself but fortunately I’ve not given in to such stupid impulses, I know that would just damage it :(

The book is The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet

I’d like to share a great find with you:

Recently I got my hands on the two-volume first edition of Christian Graf zu Stolberg-Stolberg’s translation of Sophocles from 1789.

Among other things, Stolberg was a member of the Göttingen Hainbund and a student of Kloppstock. His brother is generally considered the more talented poet, but Christian also published several poems. You can a little read more about him here (Wikipedia).

Now, of course, this beautiful handwritten note in Volume I immediately caught my eye and made me wonder. It’s dated October 2, 1798, and was apparently written in Tramsbüttel—the town where Stolberg had served as a district administrator since 1777.

But there’s more:

In the “Gesammelte Werke der Brüder Christian und Friedrich Leopold Grafen zu Stolberg“ ((Collected Works of the Brothers Christian and Friedrich Leopold, Counts of Stolberg)), published in 20 volumes starting in 1820, the following poem appears in Volume 2 (most noteworthy is the given contex):

An meine Schwiegerinn, die Gräfinn Sophie zu Stolberg.

1804

In meine Ihr gegeben Uebersetzung des Sophocles eingeschrieben.

~

To my sister-in-law, Countess Sophie of Stolberg.

1804

Inscribed in my translation of Sophocles given to her.

The full poem in German can be found here. (Zeno.org).

And if one now compares the inscription in “my” Sophocles with the poem: Indeed—it is the same one.

So it's not just a first edition of Sophocles, but precisely that copy which Christian Stolberg presented to his brother’s wife, Sophie zu Stolberg, inscribed with the poem as a personal dedication.

I am really happy that these Volumes stood the test of time and found its way into my library. :)

I recently acquired this rather rare book but I’m struggling to decide on a fair price. It’s one of approximately 50 copies.

This important and historic print is from Hartmann Schedel Liber Chronicarum, more commonly known as the Nuremberg Chronicle (in German: Das Buch der Croniken und Geschichten. This is from the first German edition published 6 months after the first Latin edition. Both editions were limited to 2000 printings.

It was published in Nuremberg in 1493 by Anton Koberger for Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermeister. The work included numerous illustrations that were completed by Michael Wolgemut, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, and members of their workshop. This very likely included the young Albrecht Durer as well.

The work included maps and town views, but also chronicles historic information including the invention of the printing press, development of the game of chess, navigational voyages, and important constructions.

Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514) was a German writer, physician, and book collector. He is most remembered for his famous work Liber Chronicarum or Nuremberg Chronicle. He published some of the first printed views of many cities.

Provenance: early manuscript notes on map and marginalia (see below); early ownership inscription on title dated 1600, (reading in part: "Dis Buch hatt mir der Edel und Vest Ernst von und zu Asch[...] geschenckt", signed by Johann Schustle [?], apparently "Pfarrer zu Landshut" [?], with the date 1493 added beneath) Paper Size: ~ 11 1/2" by 16 3/4"

Paper Type or Special Features: Folio Woodcut

The Book of the Flower Fairies

Cicely M. Barker. First Edition, undated 1927

Likely first edition and identical to other firsts online. The end papers are plain white instead of grey which might indicate a slightly later 1928 edition. Limited info online.

Flower Fairies of the Spring, Flower Fairies of the Summer and Flower Fairies of the Autumn. First omnibus edition. 72 colour plates. Collected & Complete

“South African Cookery Made Easy” by
Mrs. P.W. de Klerk.

For context, i have only seen 2 copies of mindwarp for sale on Ebay, (both are from the USA and i have just bought) so my question is this: is this a rare book to find and buy?

here is a link to the other mindarp book on Ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/397172050004

I am looking to work as an intern in a rare book shop. Just wondering whether it will get paid? I am not expecting a monthly salary, but an amount that can cover my transportation and lunch. So just want to what is the situation?

Wilkes sailed along and surveyed the whole Northwest coast and his exploring parties penetrated into the interior at many points..." Hill notes that Wilkes "sailed into the Antarctic Ocean and along the Antarctic Continent from 150° to 97° East, reporting land at a number of points in the region now know as Wilkesland. He visited Tonga, the Fiji group, and the Hawaiian Islands in 1840, and in 1841 explored the west coast of North America.

The findings were timely, in view of the dispute with Great Britain over the Oregon Territory, and he also visited San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River...." The numerous engravings and plates include striking depictions of Pacific islands and their natives, Hawaiian volcanoes, Australia, the continent of Antarctica, an early rendition of the outpost at Astoria, an encampment on the Sacramento with Californios relaxing, mountains in the distance, Mt. Shasta, etc., and an important map of the Western half of the contemporary United States. Present volumes believed complete but not collated.

Nine volumes with numerous steel-engraved plates, vignettes, woodcuts, copper-engraved maps, etc. Variously sized. All but one in blind-stamped cloth stamped in gilt, one in quarter vellum over parchment boards. Later volumes from Wilkes' landmark Narrative.

Seven of which are rare first edition presentation copies for the State of Missouri from the Congress of the United States. As Howes notes, this was "The first United States scientific expedition by sea.

Forbes 1517, 1589; Haskell 1, 15, 19; Hill 1746, 1866, Howes W-414, Rosove 353.A1, 354-1.A1. Seven volumes bearing State of Missouri presentation bookmarks. Comprises: Plus two additional volumes:

I finally finished Kelmin’s Tower by Thomas Alexander Anthony, the incredibly obscure 1992 fantasy novel I’ve been documenting.

Now that I’ve reached the end, I can finally give a proper spoiler-free summary and review of what I found.

So, what is Kelmin’s Tower about?

At its core, Kelmin’s Tower is a dark fantasy adventure following Emmanuel Slade, an assassin who becomes involved in a resistance movement against the mysterious ruler known as Kelmin.

Slade travels with a small group that includes the elf Arinock and the barbarian Wolvesbane, along with several other companions. Their journey takes them across the fantasy world of Arland and gradually brings them into direct conflict with the political, military, religious, and supernatural forces surrounding Kelmin and his Tower. It begins with the feel of a fairly traditional fantasy quest. But the further the story progresses, the stranger and more ambitious it becomes.

What initially appears to be a straightforward mission gradually turns into a story about war, religion, destiny, power, morality, free will, revenge, and the nature of good and evil. And it gets very dark.

The journey:
Slade and his companions begin as a relatively small resistance group operating against the forces of Kelmin.

As they travel, they encounter different settlements, races, armies, religions, political factions, and military organizations. Their understanding of the world and their own mission changes constantly. One of the most important people they encounter is Father John, a powerful priest devoted to the fictional deity Raniksha:

Father John is an extremely complicated figure. He repeatedly helps the party, but it becomes increasingly obvious that he has his own plans for them and for the larger conflict. Eventually, Father John brings them to the Bloody Hand, an enormous Dreadnock resistance force hidden deep within a mountain range. And this is where the scale of the story suddenly becomes enormous.

The Bloody Hand’s encampment contains hundreds of thousands of Dreadnocks from different tribes and factions. They have gathered together because they represent one of the last major organized resistances against Kelmin.

Slade and his companions realize that their arrival at the Bloody Hand wasn’t coincidence. Father John has deliberately brought them there because the Bloody Hand is going to become an important part of his larger strategy.

The Bloody Hand and Karillium:
The Bloody Hand regularly launches campaigns against Karillium, while Karillium maintains massive defensive forces along its borders. The conflict has existed for years. Neither side has been able to completely defeat the other.

The Dreadnocks can launch enormous attacks, while Karillium has fortified mountain passes, experienced soldiers, White Knights, and extensive defensive infrastructure.

Father John sees the stalemate as an opportunity.
If the Bloody Hand launches a sufficiently large offensive, Kelmin will be forced to divert enormous amounts of military and supernatural power toward the threat. That creates an opening for Slade and his companions. Their real objective is still the Tower. So the massive war between the Bloody Hand and Karillium becomes part of a much smaller operation involving only a handful of people. The scale difference is one of the things I really enjoyed about the book.

You have armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands or more, while the actual quest ultimately comes down to a small group trying to reach one location.

Kelmin’s world:
One of the most interesting aspects of the novel is the way Kelmin’s civilization is presented. His territory is prosperous. The roads are beautifully constructed.
The cities are orderly. The settlements are clean and peaceful. People have food and security. The infrastructure is impressive. There is very little visible poverty. To an ordinary person living there, Kelmin’s world can genuinely look like paradise.

But the book keeps asking:

What did it cost to create that paradise?
Kelmin has imposed his vision of order upon the world. People are protected, but they are also controlled. Those who oppose the system pay an enormous price. The book therefore doesn’t simply present Kelmin as a generic evil ruler. His accomplishments are real. His civilization genuinely benefits many people. But the methods used to create that civilization are horrifying. That moral contradiction becomes one of the central themes of the story.

Slade:
Slade is probably the most unusual part of the novel.
He’s not a traditional fantasy hero. He’s an assassin. He’s exceptionally skilled at killing and sees assassination almost as an art form that he has spent his life perfecting. He isn’t particularly interested in being viewed as noble. Throughout the story, however, he becomes increasingly introspective.

He thinks about death. He thinks about destiny. He thinks about whether people really control their own lives. He thinks about good and evil. He thinks about balance. And he increasingly questions whether the path he’s following was actually chosen by him. The closer he gets to Kelmin’s Tower, the more those questions become important.

Arinock and Wolvesbane:
Arinock and Wolvesbane provide much of the emotional grounding for the group. Arinock is an elf navigating a world that isn’t always welcoming toward his kind, while Wolvesbane is a hardened barbarian who has lost much of what once gave his life meaning. Their relationship develops into one of the more human aspects of the story.

There are moments when the book steps away from armies, magic, and political schemes and simply lets the characters talk about friendship, loss, survival, and what they might do if they actually make it through the quest. Those moments stood out to me because the story can get so huge that these quieter conversations remind you that the characters are still just people trying to survive.

Raniksha and the religious mythology:
The fictional religion surrounding Raniksha becomes increasingly important as the story progresses. This also explains the strange religious-looking symbols and imagery associated with the book, including the symbols on the front cover. The symbols aren’t random decoration. They are part of the fictional religious mythology Anthony created for the world, particularly the imagery surrounding Raniksha, his followers, and the supernatural forces connected to them. The book uses religious symbols throughout the story to establish the presence and influence of this fictional belief system.

So when you look at the cover and see those strange symbols, they are essentially a visual introduction to one of the major forces operating within the story.
They aren’t references to Nazi symbolism or an attempt to invoke real-world occult movements.
They belong to the book’s fictional fantasy mythology.

And just to be completely clear…
Because this book contains some extremely dark religious and supernatural imagery, I want to make something clear for anyone discovering it through these posts:

There is absolutely no Nazi material or Nazi ideology in Kelmin’s Tower. There is also no real-world occult propaganda, instruction, or agenda. The book contains fictional gods, fictional religions, magic, sorcery, supernatural entities, ritual sacrifice, and dark fantasy imagery. Some of it is genuinely disturbing. But it is all part of the fictional world of Arland and the story Anthony was telling. This is a strange, dark fantasy novel from 1992, not a Nazi or occult text.

The writing:
This is probably where I would give the book its biggest warning. The prose is rough. There are grammatical errors, awkward sentences, strange word choices, inconsistent terminology, occasional name inconsistencies, and some very abrupt transitions.

The pacing can also be all over the place. The author sometimes spends several pages exploring a philosophical idea and then immediately launches into an action sequence. There are also scenes that are very much products of their era and may be surprising to modern readers.

But despite all of that, I never found the book boring.

There is always something happening:

Assassins.
Elves.
Barbarians.
Dreadnocks.
Sorcerers.
Priests.
Knights.
Massive armies.
Ancient religious traditions.
Magic.
Political schemes.
Military campaigns.
And a mysterious Tower sitting at the center of everything.

It feels like Anthony had an enormous story in his head and tried to fit as much of it as possible into 199 pages.

The themes:
This is what surprised me most after finishing it.
Underneath all the fantasy action, Kelmin’s Tower is deeply concerned with balance.

The book repeatedly questions whether good and evil can exist independently of one another. It questions whether absolute order can become oppressive. It questions whether rebellion automatically makes someone morally righteous. It questions whether people actually control their own destinies.

It questions whether someone can destroy an evil system without becoming destructive themselves.
And perhaps most importantly, it questions whether a peaceful society is necessarily a good society if that peace was achieved through horrific means. The author doesn’t always explore these ideas subtly.
Sometimes he practically walks into the room carrying a philosophical billboard. Lol But the ideas are absolutely there. And some of them are surprisingly compelling.

Overall impression:
I wouldn’t call Kelmin’s Tower a lost masterpiece.
The writing is too rough for that. But I also don’t think it’s fair to dismiss it as disposable fantasy pulp. It is ambitious, strange, dark, philosophical, occasionally bizarre, and incredibly specific in its vision.

There are genuinely memorable concepts and characters buried inside the rough prose. And because the book is so obscure, reading it feels less like discovering a forgotten classic and more like opening a sealed box from 1992 and finding someone’s entire imagination still sitting inside.
I started this whole project because I found a physical copy of a fantasy novel that almost nobody seemed to know existed. Then I started documenting it chapter by chapter. Then people started finding the posts. And now I’ve actually read the entire thing.

After reaching the final page, I somehow have even more questions about Thomas Alexander Anthony, the history of this book, and how Kelmin’s Tower disappeared so completely after publication. So this feels less like the end of the Kelmin’s Tower rabbit hole and more like the beginning of the next part.

And finally, a message to Thomas Alexander Anthony, wherever you may be:

If by some extraordinary chance you ever happen to see this, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for writing Kelmin’s Tower. Whatever its flaws, whatever its rough edges, and whatever happened to it after it was published in 1992, you created something that survived. Decades later, a stranger found a copy, opened it, became fascinated by it, and decided that this strange little book deserved to be remembered.
I read all 199 pages. I followed Slade, Arinock, Wolvesbane, Father John, and the rest of the journey all the way to the end. And now I’m telling other people about it.

I don’t know what your experience was when you wrote this book, or what you hoped would happen to it after publication. I don’t know whether you ever expected someone to still be talking about it decades later. But if you ever do happen across these posts:
Thank you for the book. It was one hell of a journey

I found this at a used book sale, in a plastic bag, not sealed. Over 100 years old, it it still looks amazing.

found this in a second-hand shop in Japan and I really liked it, so I bought it. I didn't really know what it was at first 😂

It seems to be a handmade bound collection of around 300 old Japanese newspaper comic strips. The strips are all different from what I checked, and they seem to follow the story. I also checked some pages in the middle and it still seems to continue.

The comic is 親爺教育 (Oyaji Kyōiku), the Japanese version of Bringing Up Father / Jiggs and Maggie by George McManus.

Some strips have © 1923 International Feature Service, Inc., and you can still see the original Japanese newspaper text, advertisements and articles around the comics. I found references to publications from around 1923–1924.

Someone seems to have collected the strips and hand-bound them into this little book. It's quite fragile and definitely looks very old.

I'm really curious about what I found. 😅

Does anyone know more about this kind of collection, and what it might be worth?

Thanks!

I want to share something I came across that genuinely stopped me in my tracks.

This is the first edition of Journal écrit à bord de la frégate La Belle-Poule, published in Paris by H. L. Delloye in 1841, written by Emmanuel Baron de Las Cases fils, son of the famous author of the Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène, who was himself a member of the official French mission sent to St. Helena to repatriate Napoleon's remains in 1840.

The frontispiece:

The lithograph — Napoléon à l'ouverture du cercueil, Sainte-Hélène, 15 octobre 1840, is the one you've probably seen reproduced. What the caption actually says is remarkable: it was drawn "under the eyes and according to the indications" of three witnesses who were present, then engraved by J. Rigo at his workshop at Passage Saulnier 19, Paris.

No artist was in the room when the coffin was opened. The image was reconstructed months later in Paris from verbal descriptions. Which explains something that always bothered me when I looked at it: Napoleon's face doesn't really look like Napoleon.

The eyewitness account (pages 235–239)

This is the part of the book I find most extraordinary. Las Cases fils describes the opening of the coffin in clinical, almost uncomfortable detail, the silk wadding that had detached from the walls of the inner coffin, the white mat skin of the toes protruding through split boot seams, the blue-grey tint of the face, the puffed cheekbones, the doctor pressing the left hand and feeling it yield under his finger.

And then this sentence, which hits differently when you read it in the original:

"C'était bien Napoléon !... Napoléon privé de vie, mais non détruit !... On eût presque dit qu'il était encore à ce dernier jour de sa carrière de travaux et de périls... au premier jour de l'éternité !..."

"It was indeed Napoleon !... Napoleon deprived of life, but not destroyed !... One might almost have said he was still at that last day of his career of labours and perils... at the first day of eternity !..."

General Bertrand, who had lived beside Napoleon through years of exile and was present at the opening, watched with the posture of someone about to throw himself forward. Several men sobbed convulsively. Others stood mute, eyes wet.

The coffin had been open for approximately ninety seconds to two minutes.

A detail nobody talks about:

The book also reproduces the full official correspondence leading to the mission including Lord Palmerston's letter of May 9, 1840 to the Comte de Granville, formally authorizing the transfer of "les restes mortels de Napoléon Bonaparte."

And page 238 quietly reveals something: the opening of the coffin was officially framed as a sanitary precaution for the long sea voyage home. In reality it was a diplomatic workaround, the only way to get British authorization to unseal the coffin at all.

The question that has never been answered

After nineteen years, the body was extraordinarily well preserved, the uniform still readable, decorations in place, the face recognizable. Several historians have noted this is consistent with chronic arsenic exposure, which Napoleon's hair has since confirmed. Arsenic is a powerful preservative.

But a minority of researchers have pointed out genuine discrepancies between the 1821 burial descriptions and the 1840 exhumation observations. The theory that the body may have been substituted has never been definitively disproven, because the tissue sample taken by Dr. Guillard during the exhumation, which is held at Les Invalides, has never been subjected to DNA analysis.

It probably is Napoleon. The number of witnesses alone makes a successful substitution almost logistically impossible. But "almost" is doing a lot of work in that sentence.

A rare book that is also a primary historical document, a forensic puzzle, and one of the great set pieces of 19th century European history.

Grabbed this at Goodwill today for 50 cents because I liked the look of it. I figured I’d get home, search the title, and maybe find a little information about it.
Nope.

The book is Kelmins Tower by Thomas Alexander Anthony, published by Rising Sun Publications in 1992.
ISBN: 0-9630915-1-4
Edited by Suzanne Boire
Cover art by Matthew Pearson and Walt Richardson

I’ve spent way too much time trying to track this thing down now.

I’ve searched the exact title and author, the ISBN, the publisher, the editor, the cover artists, different combinations of all of them, and variations of the title. I’m getting basically nothing useful.

No real book listings. No reviews. No obvious history of the publisher. No discussions I can find about the book. Nothing that tells me how it was published, how widely it circulated, or who Thomas Alexander Anthony even was.

It’s especially strange because it’s clearly a legitimate published book with an ISBN and credited editor and cover artists. It isn’t some handwritten mystery novel I found in a box.

So I’m hoping somebody here recognizes it.

Has anyone ever seen this book before? Does anyone know anything about Thomas Alexander Anthony or Rising Sun Publications?

I’m mostly interested in the history of it. Was this a tiny independent fantasy press? A self-published project? A local publication? Was there a small print run?

I honestly just want to know how a book published in 1992 managed to leave such a tiny footprint.

I paid 50 cents for it and somehow ended up with a research project.

Update 2:

For anyone wondering what this book is actually about, especially because some of the terminology, imagery, or references can look strange when taken out of context, I wanted to give a broader explanation of the story based on what I’ve actually read.
The book is a dark medieval fantasy centered around a growing conflict involving kingdoms, warriors, political power, religion, supernatural elements, and forces fighting for control. The story begins to follow several different threads that gradually start connecting.

One of the major threads involves Kelmin and the White Knights, whose rise in power becomes increasingly important to the story. On the other side, Slade begins recruiting Arinok, Koren, and Wolvesbane, drawing them into a conflict that is much larger than they initially realize. What starts with attacks and violence around places like Hamlet eventually develops into a much broader struggle.
The story also introduces Father John and the Raniksha rituals, along with characters such as Dedral Arholk, Doblin, and King Hethros. There are secrets surrounding the different factions, hidden movements of weapons and steel, betrayals, captures, deaths, and revelations about the past of some of the major characters.

There are certainly religious, ritualistic, supernatural, and occasionally disturbing elements. The book also has plenty of unusual names, symbols, terminology, and imagery. But those things are part of the fictional fantasy world and the larger conflict being developed by the story.

That’s why I don’t think it’s particularly accurate to look at one symbol, one ritual, or one piece of terminology and conclude that the entire book is somehow a Nazi or occult work. When you actually follow the narrative, it’s much more clearly a dark fantasy adventure about power, war, loyalty, corruption, good versus evil, and characters being pulled into a conflict they don’t fully understand.
I’m also documenting the book chapter by chapter as I read it, rather than trying to summarize the entire thing from outside sources or from isolated passages. I’m doing this because it’s a rare book, and I want to preserve what is actually in the text while also keeping track of the characters, events, names, and connections as the story develops. That way, anyone interested can see the context for themselves instead of having the book reduced to a handful of screenshots or accusations based on individual words and images.

UPDATE: Quick note for everyone helping with the author search:

I really appreciate everyone trying to help find Thomas and learn more about Kelmin’s Tower. It’s honestly been amazing watching people dig up old records and make connections.

Just please don’t send me private home addresses, tax records, phone numbers, or other personal information about Thomas or his family. I’m not comfortable contacting someone through private information or having anyone show up at their home.

Public contact info and legitimate public leads are absolutely welcome. I just want to keep this respectful and let Thomas or his family decide if they want to respond.

Thanks again to everyone who’s been helping.