| The
English Experience series of 964 facsimiles of early
printed books was published in the 1960s and 70s in
the USA and the Netherlands. Now they are out of print
and the Publishers have gone out of business. They are
exceeding rare, even in the USA and can cost over $300
per volume plus postage. It is unlikely that these books,
at this price, will ever be available again in our lifetimes.
I am not running this as part of my business but in
order to give these books a good home. I am willing
to consider swaps for others in the series or other
facsimile books
The books
cover all subjects from exploration to literature, from
science to theology. As the series title says, they
are in English, although some of the earlier facsimiles
are in "Black Letter" typeface, but by the
Elizabethan period they are in a quite legible typeface.
They cover the period from the first published books
in English from the time when William Caxton started
printing in moveable type in 1475 right through to 1640.
There is nothing like these published here in the UK
where we have concentrated on facsimiles of theological
works and the plays of Shakespeare the supply the desire
of the Oxbridge "Greats" syllabus!!
Every re-enactor
who who portrays a literate role should possess at least
one of these books. For example, on the Mary Rose, books
were found in the chests of the Master Gunner and the
Master Carpenter. Rebound in the appropriate style they
make excellent props in your presentations and, even
on their own, they make great primary sources for your
research. To see the originals or even these facsimiles
themselves you would have to visit specialist libraries
such as the Bodlian, the British Library or the Wellcome
Institute.
I started collecting these books 10 years ago when I
was doing the medical research for my Barber- Surgeon
presentation (I can be seen on the BBC "Timewatch"
Mary Rose documentary which runs at the Mary Rose Trust
Museum, billed as a "Medical Historian" :)
). Later I started collecting some of the none medical
texts and, until recently, I had managed to amass 130
of the volumes, varying from small pamphlets to tomes
of biblical proportions.
Last year I was offered the entire collection of a USA
library of over 400 books (nearly half the series).
Now most of my purchases have arrived. There is now
some duplication and I am willing to sell my duplicate
personal copies for what I recollect paying for them
- which could be anything from £20 to £80.
In the intervening year I have found two small collections
and I have added the duplicates to the list.
The book
shops that have sold me these last two collections do
have some other items that either are too expensive
or lie outside the interests of my buyers e.g. Literature
and Theology.
You can contact
me on history_alive_ltd@yahoo.co.uk
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