The Battle of the Books
You can’t sell that!
Collectible books gathering dust in a library in Wales are the focus of controversy and the naysayers are “claiming victory in the first battle of the war over the historic texts.” The public libraries of Cardiff have some rather scarce items in their holdings, including a Tyndale Bible, early editions of Shakespeare, and valuable texts printed during the English Civil War. They want to put them up for auction, with an estimated value of the collection being set at £3m, or $5,347,000 U. S. dollars.
That much money, of course, attracts attention.
“The sell-off has also sparked fury among councillors, with Labour group leader Ralph Cook alleging members were not told of year-long discussions with Cardiff University about the institution keeping the books before they made the decision to sell them.”
The pro-sellers claim that the collection is unused. They wish to turn each collectible book into cash and purchase new books that their reading public would enjoy.
In our view, acquisitions by libraries that actively encourage their use by researchers is a good thing. But books kept by libraries in storage ought to be let loose and sold to a dealer who will place them with appreciative collectors and archivists.
This is a book brawl, a bibliographical battle, an imbroglio of imprints, a quarto quarrel, a rare book ruckus…well, you get the idea.
Read all about it below.
