But in this case, both sides seek the same outcome. I have worked with people on Welty and Faulkner as well as more affordable writers. Indeed, when it comes to collecting, one should always judge a book by its cover. It is still an exquisite automobile, but there is something lost that a new paint job cannot restore. With books, it is known as the first state.
Book collectors are passionate about the first state.
They want the closest thing they can find to the author's actual mind in motion. Thus first editions are better than later ones, which often include corrections and are printed in large runs with inferior paper and binding. Whether one is a bibliomanic or merely an impassioned collector, there are common rules for collecting, such as jacket required. Of course, if the jacket looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Just as vintage movie posters have become vogue, leading to a flood of reproductions, the century's best novels have been reproduced often in recent decades.