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The Book Emporium - About Us
The Book Emporium is a rare book business specializing in high-quality first edition
fiction. We opened our doors in Rockville, Maryland in May of 1984 and have filled
the needs of first edition collectors over the past 23 years. We take pride in the
quality of the books that we are able to offer for sale to our customers. We are always
willing to pay top prices in order to secure the highest possible quality books
for our customers.
In 1994 we expanded into the price guide business almost by accident. It was in
December of that year that we decided to publish our first price and identification
guide as a gift to regular customers of The Book Emporium. Only 500 copies were printed
and these were all sent out immediately. Response for more copies of this first price
guide was so positive that we decided to offer an expanded edition for sale to the public in
1996. The entire print run of the 1996 edition was sold out early in 1996. Expanded
and updated editions of the price guide were produced in 1998, 2000, 2001,
2002, 2003, and 2004.
Our newest guide - the 2008 edition - was published in June 2007 and is now available on this website.
Price Guides
Collecting first edition fiction is a pastime for a large number
of collectors worldwide. These collectors range from the very serious,
well informed collector to the absolute beginner. The main factor
separating the two is knowledge. Serious collectors often have bookshelves
full of reference books for both pricing and for identifying true first
editions (Craig Stark of BookThink has a very good article on price
guides entitled Building a Bookselling Reference Library) and often hold
their knowledge close to their vests.
Given the fact that reference books for first edition fiction are often
difficult to come by and usually expensive, how can a beginner get started
without making too many costly mistakes? Our new 2008 price guide fills this need
- at the reasonable cost of $20.00 - by providing beginners with easy-to-understand
explanations of what factors need to be considered when collecting first editions.
Our guide provide detailed information on first edition points for many
of today's most in-demand fiction titles. Our price guide does not cover every
title by each of the authors that are covered. It does, however, cover
the early works (and usually these are the most collectible titles) of
each author included in our price guide. The price guide provides detailed information
on roughly 2,350 titles by about 160 authors.
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