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I believe that engaging with the larger community of book artists and craftspeople is an important—and arguably essential—part of being a book collector. I enjoy occasionally commissioning custom bindings for my books. This copy of Hallock’s…

Additional binding photo.

I chose this copy of The Fishing Tourist for rebinding as the text block was generally clean but the binding had suffered serious damage. When I received the rebound book from Debra Frances, I was delighted to find a portion of the original…

This is one of the earliest publications by zoologist and explorer, Sir John Richardson. His Notice of the Fishes was included as an appendix in Sir John Franklin’s Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819, 20, 21,…

This close-up of the inscription found within Richardson’s Notice of the Fishes is addressed to “Dr. Greville.” This Dr. Greville is likely Robert Kaye Greville (1794–1866), an English natural historian who specialized in mycology and botany.…

This beautiful full-page plate of an Arctic Grayling is the only colour illustration in Richardson’s Notice of the Fishes and is one of my favourite images in my collection.

Dust jackets have been used by publishers for at least a few centuries to protect a book’s binding and also to advertise the book’s contents and other works from the publisher. Dust jackets were often discarded, however, to reveal the attractive…

A primary purpose of dust jackets has been to preserve and protect the bindings they cover. The jacket has certainly served this purpose, as both the boards and gilding of this copy are bright and clean.

One significant new direction in my collection since A History of Fish debuted is my effort to collect books in less-common languages and from non-Western authors. This set, purchased from a bookseller in Japan, includes the complete fish section of…

In addition to the diversity of perspectives that non-Western books bring to my collection, the physical books themselves reveal differing characteristics of book-making around the world. These Japanese books are bound by punching holesthrough the…