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Collecting
Insights and Perspectives
The size of the global rare book market today is an annual sales total of $600 - $800 million. At the beginning of the 20th century, Shakespeare’s first folio had already been a collector’s icon for a long time, arguably since the Duke of Roxburghe’s widely reported purchase in 1790. Nevertheless, in 1900 the Folio had no claim to be a rare book; by 2000 it had become rare, since institutional copies tend not to move. Some books have become so scarce that they are no longer collectable, even for the wealthiest collector. For example, it is no longer possible to form a collection of Shakespeare quartos, as it was 50 years ago.
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| Although there has historically been a demand for rare manuscripts that exceeds supply, causing substantial increases in value, there is no guarantee that this will be the case in the future. Demand for rare manuscripts of a particular area or type may be affected by regional or world trends and tastes. | |