A hundred or so years ago, a group of booksellers gathered in London for their debut exhibition, with a catalogue that boasted no fewer than 15 original William Caxton books.
Today’s book dealer can only fantasise about owning a complete Caxton; most would be satisfied with a single leaf from a tome by the English language’s pioneering printer.
It would be easy for dealers, collectors and curators to feel wistful about those early days of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association, when collecting was a growing pastime, masterpieces were yet to disappear behind institutional walls and the definition of ‘rare’ was tightly framed as being pre-1800.