Hi and welcome to my website. Here you can find information about Observer Books and purchase books to add to your collection.

I started collecting nearly fifteen years ago and there are still 3 or 4 I need to complete a full set of over 500 dust jackets. Some try  to collect one of every printing, that is over 1000 books !

You will find that when you begin it is fairly easy to get new titles but as the ‘wants list’ gets smaller, the challenge and the quest becomes more consuming.

I have managed to get early retirement from the day job so I hope to spend more time looking for books and also writing about them. My dream is to find a dust jacket that no-one else has got.

I thought I had found it the other day at the Antique Fair, convinced I had a glossy Freshwater Fishes but on closer examination in the cold light of day of the car park it was just the usual ‘perch’ version in excellent bright condition.

One of the ways computers have influenced our lives is their ability to produce excellent ‘mock-ups’ and facsimile jackets. You have to be very careful now when buying.

I am pictured here with a mock-up I made of Cathedrals with an old style cover. I was able to do this because I have a black and white negative of an original photograph which was done for Warne to advertise this book.

 Was this cover ever produced ? Like the unicorn you will have to bring it along to an Observers meeting to show the panel of ‘experts’ to get it verified.

It would be nice to have a page on the Society website displaying items which are so rare or unique that most of us would not see them otherwise.

I will start it off by putting one or two on the ‘about the books’ page. If you think you might have an item e.g. a boxed set, then send a picture to the e mail address below.

      rareitems@breydonbooks.co.uk