Rare Books

[Meenu Sharma]

what is rare books? i am little bit confuse about this pl. clearify me?

[Dr. Akhtar Hussain]

Dear Meenu Sharma,
Rare books are those books have a more importance and very few copies are available in the libraries such as the National Library, Kolkata, Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, patna etc
(Rare Books Exhibition available at: "http://viewpatna.blogspot.com/2010/11/rare-books-exhibition-at-khu...)
According to Cornell “Rarebooks books that are valued for the significance of their stuffing, their shortage, their imprint or date of publication, their physical characteristics or condition, or their associations (signed or annotated by a famous author, for instance).”
(Available at: http://copia.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/glossary.html#R)
Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science define “A book so difficult to find that only a few copies are known to antiquarian booksellers. Those that do exist seldom appear on the market and are consequently coveted. Rare books are often valuable, but not all highly valuable books are rare. Most libraries keep their rare books in a secure location to which access is restricted (usually in special collections). Very rare books are sold at book auctions and by dealers serving collectors. For a detailed discussion of the history of rare book libraries, see the entry by Daniel Traister in the International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science (Routledge, 2003). Many libaries are digitizing images from their rare books collections.”
(Available at:http//lu.com/odlis/odlis_r.cfm)

With regards,
Akhtar Hussain

[Jayshree Dave]

A book that is distinguished by its early printing date, its limited issue, the special character of the edition or binding, or its historical interest.
u can also follow the link
http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/5728/librarytr...

[Meenu Sharma]

Thank u so much to all of u to clarify this term.