Does anyone collect antique or rare chess books?

The Ken Wyhld Association is made up of several hunder individuals from all over the world who collect rare and collectable chess literature and ephemera.

I have several antique magazine yearbooks, original tournament books, chess problems, etc. But, I'm not in the same league as the major collectors, neither by rarity or quantity!

The only "rare" one I have is from 1937 about Nottingham 1936  

Check out the Chess Book Collector group on faceboook. 6000+ members and full of interesting book information. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/454058311291889/

I have a chess library but I'm not a chess book collector.  I do have a few older ones though that I came across while browsing through used book stores.  I own a copy of the original 1910 edition of St. Petersburg 1909.  I also have a copy of Sergeant's 1916 edition of Morphy's Games of Chess as well a copy of his 1931 edition of Morphy Gleanings. I  also picked up the original English translation of Reti's Masters of the Chess Board dated 1932. Add to these a copy of Freres Chess Handbook dated 1858.  Later works include Reshevsky's Best Games published by Dover in 1948 and Fine's Lessons From My Games published in 1958.

 

Yep. It's hard to keep up with all the posts there. Some people put up photos of their whole libraries.

 

He now has all of them. Found a copy of the third edition in England.

I'm with FentonWP, there is a distinct pleasure in reading a physical book. Less stress on the eyes too given that my job includes lots of time in front of a screen. Think there is also evidence that the brain processes physical text differently from screen text. 

I have a decent and growing collection of chess books but don't think any are particularly worth a great deal. Most bought on the secondhand market.

That's a great book that I bought in paperback many years ago.  I actually use it a fair amount for reference, it has lots of quirky old lines that aren't in the books anymore.

I am primarily a chess collector interested in sets, clocks and boards. However, I usually purchase chess books if they are rare or for a good price. For example, I bought once a book by Alekhine which was signed by the author - I didn’t even realise that the signature was original and not printed. This book is now in a private museum in Canada.

Some months ago a woman gave all books, clocks, and chess sets p from her husband who died recently. I got most prints from classical works published by the Edition Olms; they are quite expensive but I will try to sell them for a low price in Switzerland..

Not so long ago I purchased several old, highly collectible chess boards from Schachclub Bern. The boards are awesome. I have still most but one, which I sold to a collector from Zürich.

Years ago I knew someone who had a signed and numbered (out of 500) leather-bound first edition of BCE.  He had acquired it new himself.  That's probably the coolest chess book I ever saw.

I'm not into first editions unless they're very reasonably priced, but I like having lots of older books in descriptive notation or languages that I can read or figure out. I also have many/most of the McFarland, Caissa, and Edition Olms books of the players and tournaments I'm interested in.  Probably have about 400-500 books all told.  But for most books, I'm happy with a reissue vs. a pricey first edition.  The one first edition that I'd be tempted to buy but know I would not be able to afford and find in good condition is one of the numbered copies of the Sixth American Chess Congress 1889, edited by Steinitz.  I saw it in pristine condition in a Chicago Library and I really wanted it.  So I console myself with the very small, hard to read Edition Olms reissue.

After watching "The Booksellers", this topic is quite timely and apt. Collecting even when one has limited budget, time and resources boils down to the thrill of the hunt to physically attain stuff at bargain prices. Prior to the mid-2010s, I enjoyed being part of the hunt as the best educational chess materials were only available in print format. Also, it was the time when Amazon, eBay and other online resources made it convenient to find hard-to-find  books without blowing the budget on travel expenses or getting tempted to purchase books that I was not looking for. I do not think that book collecting will die since new chess books continue to get published every year. Time will prove which of the new publications will prove to be classics.

My problem is that I have too many books which I need for my research on human evolution and history of evolutionary ideas. I simply don't have much space at home. I would like to sell part of my collection, also boards, sets and clocks.  It doesn't make sense to have things which can't be displayed. 

I don't think it is a good idea to purchase new books as an investment.  The tendency is to reduce the amount of things, to be minimalistic. Quality over quantity.  

^^ I don't think anyone is stupid enough to think that chess books are an investment.

The choice to de-clutter to achieve minimalism is made easy using your preferences and needs: If you do not like to read physical books, if you do not improve as much when using chess books or if you quit chess completely, then you shouldn't buy chess books and you should donate or sell off all your chess books. Otherwise, the books are simply part of your chess library and are there for your active research or learning. They are no different from the tools in your toolbox or tool shed.

I guess that more than 90% of the chess books will soon go the bookshelve after a short period of time.  Perhaps even 95 %. Opening books are soon outdated.  I guess that the books on endgame and strategy are more likely to be regularly studied or at least consulted. I would recommend chess beginners to purchase only one book and only purchase a further book after finishing the first. Better even is to work twice or three times with the first book before moving on. 

Building a chess book library for opening repertoire research is akin to collecting print magazines. I only expect the most serious players who are dedicated to reach IM and higher ratings with over the board tournament games to supplement their database-driven, engine-verified repertoire preparations with printed books so that they can gather all the ideas and novelties that they can use to their advantage. There is nothing wrong with knowing novelties that were new and exciting back in the 80s when you can use them to gain an advantage against an opponent who hasn’t seen it or even thought about it before and will need to waste more time analyzing the ancient variation during tournament play. 

For me, the chess books worth keeping are game collections that have been properly compiled, analyzed and annotated by the strong players who played them over the board during tournament or championship conditions such as Kasparov, Fischer, Tal, Karpov, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Bronstein, Korchnoi, Shereshevshy, Tartakower, et al. Today’s online generation probably doesn't even realize that the quick YouTube videos that they enjoy so much are likely influenced by the annotations from these very books.  

I agree,  the books with annotated games are the most useful and enjoyable.