Ethics of Book Disbinding...

I have recently bought a couple of nice engravings on eBay for an
affordable price. I'm pretty sure I couldn't afford a whole book from
1672 or whatever. But...it's made me wonder about the ethics involved
with taking apart an old book and cutting out the engravings for
individual sale and I certainly don't want to contribute to an ongoing
or emerging problem. Can anyone point me to a web site or NG thread
that addresses this issue? Thank you.

"Palladiotypist" wrote in message
...
I have recently bought a couple of nice engravings on eBay for an
affordable price. I'm pretty sure I couldn't afford a whole book from
1672 or whatever. But...it's made me wonder about the ethics involved
with taking apart an old book and cutting out the engravings for
individual sale and I certainly don't want to contribute to an ongoing
or emerging problem. Can anyone point me to a web site or NG thread
that addresses this issue? Thank you.

Whatever you do, don't ask palmjob - he'd recomment dipping those old
engravings in bleach!

I don't think ethics enter into it. If a book is worth more disbound,
someone will break it up. However, it would be unethical to put
together a book from different sources and then try to pass it off as
anything else.

Perfectly decent picture framers have been mutilating books for years,
slicing out maps and illustrations for individual framing. It may be a
cause of distress to someone who seeks a complete copy of the original
book, but the framer has to make a living. Besides, if in slicing out
ten handsome plates and framing he makes ten customers happy, then one
could argue that more people had been made happy than if he hadn't and
just one person had bought the book.

I once procured the drab end of Elliott O'Donnell's letter collection.
All the letters he had received from Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker etc had
been weeded out, leaving only minor authors like B M Croker or Violet
Tweedale. Of course it would have been better to keep the collection as
a whole, but someone along the line made a business decision and no
matter how sad or regrettably that might have been, no laws were
broken.

CB

Palladiotypist wrote:

I have recently bought a couple of nice engravings on eBay
for an affordable price. I'm pretty sure I couldn't afford a
whole book from 1672 or whatever. But...it's made me
wonder about the ethics involved with taking apart an old
book and cutting out the engravings for individual sale and
I certainly don't want to contribute to an ongoing
or emerging problem.

I'm glad the ethics of this give you pause. Most collectors of books are
strongly opposed to the breaking of volumes. See, for example, the following
threads discussing the ethics of "bookbreaking" in the newsgroup archives:
http://tinyurl.com/3q7z8.
http://tinyurl.com/5rn7x

Apart from aside the ethical issues, there is also a practical
consideration; once prints have been removed from the book they belong to,
it is very often difficult or impossible to verify their actual age. For
example, take a look at the following engraving:
http://rarebooksinjapan.com/religiou...rlesbasil3.JPG
You probably can't see it, but down in the right-hand corner is a date,
"1662". If I were to remove this engraving from the book there would be no
way of knowing that in fact this engraving was taken from the second (1687)
edition. In other words, the earlier engraving was used again in the second
edition, but without changing the date, so, once removed from the book, it
would look as if it is a quarter of a century older than it actually is.

The first edition of the book itself (Basilika. The works of King Charles
the martyr) might fetch two or even three times the price I paid for this
second edition copy. I don't know much about the market value of engravings
which have been removed from books, but if the same price difference
applies, this engraving could be fraudulently sold as a first edition and
fetch a much higher price.

Many engravings do not have any date on them, and the only proof of their
authenticity is destroyed when they are removed from the book.

I would say, then, that there are both ethical and practical reasons for
avoiding such prints.

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com
"" wrote in message
...
Can anyone point me to a web site or NG thread
that addresses this issue? Thank you.

Hoppy, what of your vow to leave this NG on 12/12/04?
wrote in message
oups.com...
[Having decided to leave the venom-filled pit called rec.collecting.books,

On 18 Dec 2004 16:55:15 -0800, wrote:

It may be a
cause of distress to someone who seeks a complete copy of the original
book, but the framer has to make a living

So do crack dealers.

Yes, of course you are right. Picture framers and heroin dealers are as
bad as each other. How silly of me.

CB

Hoppy, you suppurating pustule, what of your vow to leave this NG on
12/12/04?

wrote in message
oups.com...
[Having decided to leave the venom-filled pit called rec.collecting.books,

"John Yamamoto-Wilson" wrote

... I don't know much...

No but that never stops you from pontificating, you sanctimonious,
hypocritical windbag.

"Bob" wrote in message
...
"John Yamamoto-Wilson" wrote

... I don't know much...

No but that never stops you from pontificating, you sanctimonious,
hypocritical windbag.

OK, Bob, You win. I can do without the aggro.

This must be your crowning achievement. Don't forget to crow about it.

As for the others, well, I guess you've got the newsgroup you deserve.

A merry Christmas to one and all!

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com