Was this a good find?

[newhere]

Hi, I'm new here but have been enjoying scanning the forums while I've been researching a lot of books I found.

There is a 20 or so volume set of Shakespeare's Works.
The only publishing date I can find is 1909 by Bigelow Smith. The inside says only 1000 sets were made for "subscribers".

The condition varies, but none are in mint shape. Would these be worth getting rebound?

Thanks for looking and I appreciate any feedback.
I don't know much about vintage books (yet!) so go easy on me. :smile5:

http://www.dotsandloops.com/ebay/shake1.jpg

http://www.dotsandloops.com/ebay/shake2.jpg

http://www.dotsandloops.com/ebay/shake3.jpg

[dfloyd]

No, it would not be worth it. Rebinding books in half leather over paper boards, as these seem to be, would run around $400 to $600 per volume. It would be slightly less to rebind the books in a lesser leather than goatskin which would be the best. Rebinding is labor intensify and I have had binders quote as much as $1,000 per volume.

One of the best Shakespeare collections was published in 1939 by the Limited Editions Club. Each play is bound in a separate volume, and collections are available from time to time on ABE and Ebay. The LEC Shakespeare is not leather bound. The Easton Press publishes Shakespeare sets for about $50 per volume. They are in leather, although not the best. The advantage of Easton is you only have to pay for one volume per month. At 37 plays plus the sonnets, you'll be paying for about 40 months.

[stlukesguild]

dfloyd, where are you getting you binding costs? Having worked in library repairs and knowing several binders I must say your prices seem grossly inflated unless you are aiming for an archival restoration as opposed to a rebinding... a process that attempts to preserve as much as the original as possible while imitating the look and materials of original for any areas of replacement (which would be reserved solely for rare and expensive books). Simply having these rebound in linen and hardboard might run around $30 per volume while I've seen new leather covers run in the $60-$100 range. I would also guess that from the look of these books they could be simply repaired for less than even a new linen binding.

Even at that price I agree that these books are probably not worth rebinding. Unless the edition was constructed of exemplary layout and materials (which the cover doesn't lead one to expect) of the inclusion of some rather exemplary art work, there are so many editions of Shakespeare so as to make an edition from 1909... even limited to 1000... something less than impressive. Hell... the volumes of Browning, Keats, Dryden, and Spencer which I use regularly date to the 1890s (Cambridge Editions).

$1000 ... what sort of cover are you getting for that?

[dfloyd]

a binding by a book collector to restore books to their original condition. The subject books look as though they were bound in half leather with marbled paper sides. Sure, with a buckram binding you can lower the price, but you wouldn't have anything close to the original. Small hand binders run upwards from $65 per hour for their labor.

The price of $1000 per volume comes from using the best of materials such as Harmatan Nigerian goatskin and including the labor to develop onlays and inlays in goatskin.

For the subject books, a price of $350 to $450 per volume is not out of line. Especially when the books seem to be from their pictures in pretty bad condition and might require internal restructuring.

[mal4mac]

Yawn. This is a literature forum not a book binding forum!

[dfloyd]

and binding are as much a part of literature as any other aspect of the book. Have some patience and learn something.

[GenteelFiggar]

and binding are as much a part of literature as any other aspect of the book. Have some patience and learn something.

Wow... I hardly know how to think about a response as outrageous as that. Did you think about that statement before you typed it?