Rare Books and Collectibles

An artist book is a book that that is made up of an artist’s work or an artwork which has its origin in the form or concept of the book. One of the best ways of learning about artists is by viewing an artist’s book. Typically artist’s books that are printed today are limited edition handmade books. Traditionally they are published as part of a small edition, however they can be published as ‘uniques’, meaning that they produced as a one-of-a-kind object. The concept of artists producing their artworks in books came about during the 20^th century.

Artist’s books can come in a variety of different forms such as scrolls, fold-outs, concertinas, loose items contained in a box as well or artworks bound in printed sheets. They can come in a assortment of different shapes and sizes and can be made from many different materials such as wood, handmade paper and stone.

Books and Collectables

Books and Collectables offer a wide variety of online bookstores that sell artist’s books and are backed by a database that is constantly updated. Featuring a sophisticated book search engine, Books and collectables source rare, used and out of print books from all over the world. Based in Australia, our service offers you the opportunity to search the stock of book stores worldwide. So no matter what you are looking for, when it comes to artist’s books, Books and Collectables is your one stop information centre.

Books form a large part of children’s learning. Introducing your child to read books can be done from when they are just infants and they will continue to read children’s books up to around the age of twelve years old.

The concept of printing books for children was brought about during the 17^th century.  Before this time reading books was seen as a concept only for adults.

Most commonly books are written by adult for children. However, books can also be written by children, for children, for example The Young Visiters by Daisy Ashford (aged nine years of age).

Children are very visually stimulated and vision takes up a large portion of their learning process. For this reason, most children’s books are illustrated with colourful images to help to bring the stories to life.  Some authors with an artistic, creative flair will create their own artworks for children’s books, however others will work alongside an artist who will create the illustrations for them.

Sourcing Children’s Books

Through the marvel of modern day technology, such as the internet, parents can now purchase rare books and out of print books all with the click of a button through the wonders of online bookstores. Children who are enthusiastic about reading will often read large quantities of books. For this reason some parents find that it is easier to purchase secondhand books or used books for their children as it is a more economical choice as well as being more environmentally sound.

Antique Alarm Clocks

Alarm clocks are ancient devices, their history stretching back to ancient Greece. Plato (428 – 348 BC) was said to own a water clock with an alarm signal similar to the sound of a water organ. Ctesibius (285 – 222BC) fitted elaborate alarm systems to his water clock would sound at pre-set times, including pebbles dropping on a gong and trumpets blowing.

Mechanical alarm clocks that could be set by users data back to at least 15th century Europe, although they were developed in other regions as well, including the Ottoman Empire. Traditionally, alarm clocks would have one or two bells that ring when the designated time was reached. Early clocks would be displayed in public to notify residents of the time, with chimes sounding every hour. Household alarm clocks became popular in the early 1600s. These early clocks are still in existence today and highly sought after as very rare and valuable items.

Old Atmos Clocks

Cornelis Drebbel invented the first atmospheric powered clock in the early seventeenth century. Increases in atmospheric pressure and temperature causes the ethyl chloride hermetically sealed in a capsule to expand, compressing a spiral spring. Decreases in pressure and temperature allows the gas to condense and the spring to slacken. These changes create motion that constantly winds the mainspring, meaning it can be powered for long periods of time without being wound by human intervention.

Atmospheric clocks continued to be experimented with during the Enlightenment. The Beverly Clock, developed in 1864, is still running today!  These antique clocks are highly sought after as limited numbers were produced, making them quite rare. Drebbel  built only around 18 clocks, one being for King James VI of Britain and another for Rudolf II of Bohemia. Then there is the fact that these unusual clocks do not need to be wound and so can run for years.