There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

Finally, Sophie got around to finishing Rare Books Uncovered by Rebecca Rego Barry. This collection contains 56 true short stories of people who found unexpected and valuable treasures in unlikely places. Vintage comics, first editions, and historical documents, there’s a bit of everything in here.

The stories come directly from the people who made the discoveries as Barry interviews them to hear their version of how they came to acquire such amazing items. Many were found at estate sales or even when driving past yard sales, others shoved to the back of shelves in bookstores, and one was discovered hidden under the eves of a house by contractors. The nature of the book makes it great to dip in and out of, and every page feels positive and full of enthusiasm for its subject. It is a book filled from cover to cover with hope.

This is a book that will have you racing out to the next estate sale you hear about in hopes of uncovering a Shakespeare First Folio worth millions (hint, the odds are definitely NOT in your favor). However, while Rare Books Uncovered is careful to remind readers that amazing discoveries are few and far between, it also thrills in reiterating that much-loved quote from Cadillac Jack, “anything can be anywhere,” encouraging those with the desire to hunt that there is nothing to say they won’t be the one to find the next item that will enthrall the book collecting world.

This book is a fun read for a book lover. If you have ever wished to find a rare book or longed to have a first edition in your own personal library, you would enjoy reading about the discoveries of books. Have you ever wondered how a book came to be somewhere, especially if found someplace you would never imagine, this might be the book for you!

As a self proclaimed book lover, I had really hoped I would connect deeply with the stories contained in this volume; unfortunately this was not the case. I went into this expecting a reflection on the more human and emotional side of book collecting; I wanted to see the joy, the rush of adrenaline, the disbelief that this book was just sitting there waiting for the right person to come along, pick it up and recognise its true value. Instead this came off as almost clinical; I often felt these stories got bogged down with the technical aspects of how the finder identified that this was in fact a rare and much sought after edition.

I was honestly saddened by how much focus the author put on the big scores for professional book collectors and sellers, to me it seemed that this put heavy emphasis on the corporate and commercial side to the industry. I was often frustrated with how much time auction houses and private traders spent in the spotlight while libraries, historical societies and ordinary humans were portrayed in a negative light or taken advantage of.

I would have loved to have seen a more human connection or historical significance focus to these stories. Maybe I'm being overly sentimental but I did not see myself and my love for books and book collecting reflected in these pages at all.

2.5 Stars

A joy! If a bibliophile, like me, you will undoubtedly love 'Rare Books Uncovered '. Stories of amazing finds described beautifully by the author. As interesting as it is compulsive. A pleasure to read and left me wanting more.

This book is a collection of essays about booksellers and ordinary people and the rare books they uncovered. This book does answer the question that not everything has been already discovered . After reading this book you will be haunting stores and markets looking for your own treasures. Anyone who enjoys reading books about books will enjoy this. It will also make a great gift for the bibliophile on your list.

I love books. I love to read. Therefore this book was a no-brainer. In this book are many stories about people and their books. Mostly rare book finds. Wouldn't it be great to find the first edition of a classic book? Could be worth millions. But just think of holding that first edition in your hands. I wish for that! Then there was the comic book collection worth millions found in an attic (my husband would love that!). The chapters are small, mostly short little stories about these books. Great read!

A wonderful book for any book lover. Do you go to yard sales just for the books, looking for hidden gems? This volume gives you inside information on a number off titles that would be thrilling to find.

Books that are about books. There's a novel idea :)

If you are a book collector or any other type of bibliophile, this book will make you jealous and filled with yearning.

I think all of us want to make a great discovery at a bookshop, estate sale or in grandma's attic, and the people featured in this book have done just that. Some truly fantastic finds, of historical, sentimental and even monetary value.

I read this book with interest, enjoying the various stories the author put forth for our consideration and getting a kick out of the antics of book collectors and their joy at finding the rare and wonderful. If you are not a collector already, this book might create a new level of interest within you. It did for me. Or perhaps it simply renewed an interest that was already there. Either way, I enjoyed this a lot and recommend it to other 'book people.' You know who you are.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

My love for books is both my family's pride and the bane of their existence. As a young child my parents would be thrilled to see me reading and infuriated to find my still reading at midnight. No matter where we are, no bookstore can be passed without a visit. And too often I turn pleading eyes onto my family members and beg for 'just 10 more minutes'. I can spend hours in bookstores, especially when they're the kind of bookstores you can get lost in, where the shelves reach to the ceiling, where old meets new, literary fiction meets art history and music theory settles in next to science fiction. So how could I resist Rare Books Uncovered? Thanks to Quatro, Voyageur Press and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My obsession with antique books is really my family's fault. I think it started when my granddad one day decided that since I liked history I could help him riffle through a chest (I'm not kidding!) of old papers, photos and books that had been there for who knows how long. Not only did we discover we're related to George Friedrich Handel (again, I'M NOT KIDDING! It was an exciting day!), but we also unearthed a centuries old Latin copy of Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico. We went to the local library the next day to have it assessed and almost 8 years later my grandfather gifted it to me. That day spent with him lit a fire in me for antique books because I began to appreciate how wonderful those old books are, how they have passed through countless hands and how imbued with history they are. So from then on my trips to bookstores included hunting down books that struck me with that sense of history, books whose plain covers hid fascinating content. It started a passion that hasn't abated and probably never will. I own 7 different editions of Wuthering Heights and have stacks of books waiting at my father's house for me to get my own apartment with actual bookshelves. I may have a problem...

Rare Books Uncovered is the perfect book for bibliophiles and collectors like myself. Barry fills the book with short chapters dedicated to extraordinary finds, whether it's superhero comics or Dali's Alice. For someone who delights in boxes of books and dusty bookstores, these chapters are a delight. I found myself excited by these finds, laughing at the sheer serendipity of most of them, and inspired by the collectors' clear passion for books of whatever kind. Not each find pulls at me equally. I'm much less interested in driving manuals than in Frankenstein, and yet each chapter held something of interest for me. The chapter that struck me most was 'Scarce Scottish Imprint Hiding in the Stacks' in which Barry describes a surprising find in the St. Andrews Rare Books library. The library began a program called 'Lighting the Past' in which they started working their way through their backlog. While doing my Master's Degree in Medieval English at St. Andrews I actually spent time myself helping dig through the Rare Books and cataloguing them, comparing them to other copies in WorldCat and other collections. The work done on 'Lighting the Past' happened in the room next door. I loved the mornings I spent there, surrounded by books, and I felt a surge of pride reading about it in Rare Books Uncovered.

Rare Books Uncovered could easily be a dry and boring book. After all, it is simply a collection of book titles, dates, names and prices. But Rebecca Rego Barry brings these stories to life. Each chapter feels like a mini mystery, and the interviews she has done with the collectors and discoverers brings a personal touch to their stories. There is a love for books in Rare Books Uncovered and it is a love that is shared by Barry, the people she interviews and us, the readers. One thing I especially adored were the little asides in the book that explained certain lingo like 'provenance', 'ephemera' or 'marginalia'. It makes the world of book collectors a little bit more accessible and, in my case, gives me the vocabulary to describe some of the things I have found in my years of book collecting. Rare Books Uncovered is probably not for every reader. If you love reading but don't feel the need to collect them then this book will perhaps not fill you with the same sense of recognition as it did for me. Some of the stories will be interesting and you'll enjoy leafing through it. But if you're like me then this book is close to inspirational. I will have to hunt down a physical copy of Rare Books Uncovered because reading it filled me with joy.

God I adored this book! Barry has written a book for book collectors, full of anecdotes, surprises and passion. Although book collecting has changed a lot in the last few decades, the spirit remains the same. It's about the joy of knowing anything could be anywhere and that maybe you'll find it. I'd recommend this to anyone who knows how addicting book collecting can be.

Interesting collection of stories of fantastic book finds. Also covers fantastic finds of posters and other ephemera. All the finds take place within the last few decades, so it's up-to-date and contains new stories compared to previously published books on the same subject.

Really enjoyed this very unique perspective! Engaging and filled with rich detail. Barry did a fabulous job. A must-read for the bibliophile.

What book lover doesn't like reading a book about books? The topic is like catnip to me, so when I saw the title, it was a no-brainer.

The book is comprised of short chapters that each tell the story of an individual book hunter who found something incredible in an unexpected place. Not always a book, the printed word and other interesting ephemera were also discussed. I have to say, I didn't realize Larry Mcmurtry was also a book hunter and aficionado as well as a highly respected author.

This book is more geared for the collector than the average reader. I am an average reader, so while the book was interesting, I didn't quite get the whole collecting thing. I love stories of pieces of history being saved from destruction, but other than the historical factor, I wasn't that overly impressed with this book.

By average reader, I mean I buy books to read them and pass them on. I don't have multiple copies of more than a few titles, and that's only because I have my personal copies of a few books and I have loaner copies that if I don't get them back, it won't ruin my day. Books enter my home in a revolving door. They come in and they go out too. That's not to say they don't stay a LOOOONG time before they are read and go back out, but they do leave.

But a collector, they are different. My Roomie is a collector. As in, there are a few authors where she has EVERY version of their work that she can get. Foreign editions, mass market, trade paper, hard cover, ebook, audio AND when new covers come out? They are added to the collection.

And when I read this book, I realized that she was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to collecting books. There are some pretty intense book lovers/collectors out there. Not judging. Just making an observation.

Good, solid 3 star book. Not as in my wheelhouse as I had originally thought, but not a bad book and I am glad I read it. I learned something about the world of collectors and book hunters out there and it was interesting. Recommended if you like to read about books and don't want to feel QUITE so bad about the hundreds to thousands you have piled up in your home. It's all about perspective and I feel much better about my books now!

My thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Voyageur Press for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

This will certainly be a book that pleases many a bibliophile, but unfortunately not this one. Whilst the premise was an intriguing one I found that I didn't actually care as much as I thought I would about the concept, in actuality. The writing was solid and the facts imparted both seriously but accessibly, but I found the actual focus of the book to be of little continuing interest to me. There will be many readers eager to get their hands on this one, and I already knew a fair few who I will be recommending this book to. Unfortunately however, I wasn't the right reader for this one, through no fault of this book or its author.

Rare Books Uncovered tells true stories of fantastic finds in unlikely places. For me this was a fantastic find and anyone who is a bibliophile will be, at least, intrigued by the book.

It is full of interesting people as well as extraordinary finds although some are in amazingly mundane places such as a library and under a bed. This makes it even more amazing and the stories are well structured and easily readable.

Thank you NetGalley, Quarto Publishing Group – Voyageur Press and Rebecca rago Barry for the ARC in return for my honest review.

Brilliant read and highly recommended.

A book about books! 52 amazing stories about finding rare books in (often very) unexpected places. It opened up the fascinating and obsessive world of book collecting to me. Anyone who truly loves books will love this book! Now excuse me while I go check my shelves for first editions......

Thank you Netgalley and Voyageur Press for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

This delightful book asks book collectors, dealers, and others to reflect on their "best deal." That would make it fun enough, but the author goes beyond the usual "editing-only" voice that results in a mess of different voices.

Instead, like a good reporter she takes each story and infuses twitch background and additional information while using extensive quotes. The result is a lovely book about books.

More than 50 chapters about rare findings of books, comics and music also. Best stuff ever is the way some of the people involved in these findings find out that they were potential millionaire ;) As a lover of books I enjoyed this volume a lot, but I understand that it is not the right reading for everybody.

Piú di 50 capitoli che raccontano le fortunose e fortunate scoperte di rari libri, fumetti e musica. Alcuni delle migliori tra queste sono le reazioni dei potenziali milionari, una volta scoperto che potevano diventare ricchi. Come amante dei libri, questo volume mi é piaciuto parecchio, ma mi è anche chiaro che non possa andare bene per chiunque,

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

Opening line:
"In 1925, Vincent Starrett posed a question in the Saturday Evening Post: "Have You a Tamerlane in your attic?"

This book was full of fascinating finds--such as a first edition of To Kill A Mockingbird--in unfascinating places--such as under a bed. It would be really fun to make a TBR list from this book of finds. The only negative to this book??? I want to go to all the yard sales and estate sales and find me a rare-find book!

Thanks to netgalley for the read! I loved it.

I read a lot of nonfiction about rare and antiquarian books and booksellers back when I was in library school just over a decade ago. I always enjoyed the topic, so it's been great to have a sort of "update" on the subject courtesy of Rebecca Rego Barry's collection of stories and anecdotes, first published in 2015 and now updated for 2018.

The stories here are full of interesting people and even more interesting finds. Various book scouts, dealers, and random people who happen to have unearthed something interesting are asked about their experiences. Some tales are very recent, but others are relics of days gone by. There is a lot of repetition that "there are still things out there" vis-a-vis any claims that the Golden Age of book scouting and "barn finds" is over, and while I'm sure there are still *some* things out there, methinks these people doth protest too much. The internet has had too huge an effect on the world, in too many ways, for things to be otherwise, and this fact is largely downplayed in this book but for a handful of examples. As far as the brick-and-mortar world goes, serendipity and/or an overabundance of free time seem to play more of a role than deep, hard-earned knowledge.

In any case, I really liked this book. I could have done without the little sidebar definitions of rare book terminology, which are not needed among the majority of the book's audience, but that's a minor quibble. There are a lot of wow moments, some because of the circumstances of the find (as in, "Wow, what an amazing twist of fate!"), and some because of various behavior (as in, "Wow, I can't believe Harvard did that, what a bunch of a--holes!"). One of my least favorite parts, I should note, was actually the author's introduction, in which she first tells the neat story of how she unknowingly acquired a somewhat valuable copy of Death of a Salesman with an interesting provenance, and then actually laughs it off when it gets damaged by her dog. Haha, right? Sooo not funny. Fortunately, that weird attitude does not carry over into the rest of her writing, which is uniformly good throughout all the other 50+ (!) chapters.