The market for rare books has been characterized as unpredictable, and driven by the whims of a small number of rich individuals. Yet behind the headlines announcing new auction records, a range of sources make it possible to analyze the market as a whole. This book introduces the economics of the trade in manuscripts and rare books during the turbulent period ca. 1890–1939. It demonstrates how surviving sources, even when incomplete and inconsistent, can be used to tackle questions about the operation of the rare book trade, including how books were priced, profit margins, accounting practices, and books as investments, from the perspectives of both dealers and collectors.

Federico Botana is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of London as part of the CULTIVATE MSS Project.
Laura Cleaver is Senior Lecturer in Manuscript Studies at the University of London and Principal Investigator of the CULTIVATE MSS Project.

"Introduction: The Value of Rare Books," by Federico Botana and Laura Cleaver
Chapter 1: "Valuing Rare Books in 1920s Germany: Prices in Jacques Rosenthal’s Bibliotheca medii aevi manuscripta," by Angéline Rais
Chapter 2: "Leo S. Olschki’s Card Index and Potential Profits," by Federico Botana
Chapter 3: "Stock-books and Ledgers: J. & J. Leighton and Édouard Rahir and Company ca. 1897–1904 and E. P. Goldschmid and Company ca. 1925–1933," by Laura Cleaver
Chapter 4: "Léopold Delisle, Henri Omont and the Price of National Collecting: The Medieval Manuscript Acquisitions of the Bibliothèque nationale ca. 1900–1910," by Hannah Morcos
Chapter 5: "Herschel V. Jones: Public Collections and Private Investments," Danielle Magnusson
"Conclusion," by Laura Cleaver
Appendix 1: Inflation
Appendix 2: Exchange Rates