Collecting
The Observer's Pocket Series

Since the beginning, the Observer's books have been a very collectable series.
My own collecting experience began in the '50s when they were five bob (5/-)  each, at that time the series ran to about 25 or so titles and most were in print and widely available.
After the the demise of the regular series in the early 80's which finally amounted to 97 titles, collecting went on but perhaps not until more recently has collecting these books really taken off again. 
The result is that Observer's books are becoming scarce and/or expensive due to the demand from new collectors which appears to be ever increasing.

Maybe some of this renewed interest has been brought about by the publication of the "Observer's Book of Observer's Books", written by Peter Maren & John Carter and published by Peregrin Books in 1999. This is in similar size and format to the last of the Observer's regular series with a laminated pictorial cover and numbered 99.
Since the first edition of 2000 copies, there have been several reprints, some with revisions
These later ones with a very limited production, each with its own distinctive and different cover. This series of books are rapidly becoming collector's items in their own right,
The cover of the fifth printing of 500 copies is pictured opposite
ISBN 0 95202685 6. 
"The Observer's Book of Observer's Books" can be obtained direct from the publisher:

Observer's early first editions and the later titles issued in the early 1980's in laminated covers are now scarce and some are very rare, perhaps more so in excellent condition.  To build up a complete set of all 97 titles may now cost a considerable amount of money if starting from scratch, indeed several hundred pounds, perhaps a four figure sum if you want to collect first editions in pristine condition.

Editions.

First editions are always most desirable in any book collecting hobby, earlier titles or first editions from the '30's and '40's may be difficult to find in good condition and expensive if you do find it.  
A true first edition is usually considered as the first production printing e.g. a 'first state', thus any reprint of the first edition is NOT a first edition even if it does not declare to be a reprint.  With many book types determining a first printing can sometimes be difficult - this is not so with Observers Books. 
Most of the earlier Observer's titles carried a 'print mark', and as such are quite easy to determine if you have the correct information available.  ALL first editions are copyright year dated, however some later printings retain the original first published year and are often wrongly quoted as a first edition - beware! 
A book without any copyright year mentioned is definitely NOT a first edition.
The older books are likely to have had appreciable wear and may be missing their dust jacket.   Often a later edition either revised or rewritten may be a much better book regarding content and there should be room in the collection for these also.

An important page for the collector, reverse of the title page, this example from 'Freshwater Fishes', this is the fifth reprint of the fifth edition, the published date is 1962 - not as some would have it 1941.

Warne printed the books very regularly, for the popular titles this would be once  sometimes twice in a year depending on demand.   Individual printings can usually be found using the 'print mark', fortunately for collectors these were printed in code fashion on either the rear of the title page along with publication information or at the end of the book after the index (as example below).

 
example printmark "1859.266" from last index page of 'Trees' 1966. printed 2/66 = February 1966, this may be the only way to date some books.

Deciphering the 'print mark' code gives the month and year of printing although this was not necessarily the date of publication which could be the following year or even later in  a couple of cases.  The first part before the separation is a printers code of some sort and can be disregarded, the second part gives the month and year when the book was printed.
Early reprints often had the publication date omitted, fortunately the 'print mark' may be the only way to identify the approximate year the book was produced.  These 'printmarks' were omitted from some books printed in the late 1970's altogether.  The price printed on the jacket can also give clues as to when the book was actually sold, this may be several years after the book was printed.

Some books, in particular some of the later titles were printed once only, these are usually scarce, at the time public demand was dropping anyway and some of the new titles enjoyed little success and are quite rare. 

Collecting every printing of every title is a mammoth and costly task and probably going to take a very long time, but I understand that already such complete collections exist!

Jacket Variations.

One of the interesting facets of collecting is the great number of jacket (dust wrapper) variations, this is well documented and collectors often use a notation which relates to the jacket rather than the book. 
The jackets on some books were changed for each edition and in some cases each year, it is not uncommon for a particular edition/printing to have two or more jacket types, this happens frequently around 1970 when the jacket style changed, existing books were apparently re-jacketed with the new style.  Sometimes a book may be fitted with a much later jacket which adds to the confusion. 
After completing your title collection, you could start collecting each jacket variation...this should keep you busy for a great number of years as there are over 600 variations, some of these variations may be very slight, perhaps just a title list or price change. 
Some of these jacket variations have led to 'rarities' within quite common titles so there is always something interesting to look for.

Condition.

Condition of a book is a very important factor for the collector, who is probably more concerned with the book's appearance and value than the subject or content.  Most, if not all book collectors regard a book with its original dust jacket as essential, those without are considered of little value excepting for the rarest of editions.  It may be possible to add a photocopied/printed jacket as a substitute (beware when buying), personally I think if the book has no jacket then it should stay as so.
Some of these pocket books have had a hard life, it's unlikely to find a book without any fault so some compromise must be made regarding condition.
Book dealers and collectors use certain terms to describe the condition of books and their jackets, e.g. Good, Very Good, Fine etc. usually abbreviated to G, VG, F. Condition is described separately for the jacket thus VG/G, usually the book is  described first. This can only be a general guide and should be qualified with a brief description of faults, its interesting to note that books described as 'good' are really not that at all, a more likely meaning being 'not very good'

Mint. (M) A book in new condition - this would not normally apply to a used book.
Fine. (F)  A book so described should have very little signs of use and certainly no serious fault to the  book or jacket.
Very Good. (VG) A book that has some minor wear from use, rubbing, minor soiling, minor bumping, minor fading, age must be taken into consideration especially for the jacket where the odd small closed tear or chip to the jacket.
Good. (G) A book with noticeable wear, soiling, stains, inscriptions, library marks, fading, jackets with considerable fading, open tears, larger chips, noticeable creasing, smaller pieces missing etc, but nevertheless  a complete book and probably would be the minimum condition of any interest to a collector.
Fair or Poor. A book with serious problems, large tears. missing pages, unsightly stickers, heavy staining/soiling, splitting spine, loose binding and possibly worse.  Only the rarest of books could be considered of interest to the collector in this condition.
Reading Copy. As above perhaps worse still.  Suitable for content only, not of any interest to a collector.
Variations of the above are rife, Near Mint, VG+, are common additions, "Fine except for fault " is wrongly described, as every book would be 'Fine' except for its faults!.

It is essential to realise that every dealer and collector may have differing ideas of what constitutes each grade, raising a book condition from 'Good' to 'Very Good' or from 'Very Good' to 'Fine' would give a considerable increase in its value, thus there may be a tendency to over-grade or use the "Very Good except for fault..." statement.

Here are some other terms used by book dealers to describe the condition of dust wrappers

Rubbing or rubbed is a term used to describe a jacket that has what appears to be soiling due ink transfer from being adjacent to another book on a shelf, this only happens to the older non-laminated jackets.
Ink from one jacket tends to rub onto the next, giving that familiar smudged appearance noticeably on white backgrounds, especially on the back, in more severe rubbing ink is removed from the surface of the paper leaving small white or paler patches on the jacket illustration.
Rubbing could also describe any abrasions from storage to the jacket. 
Chipped or chips is a term used to describe the small pieces lost from the edges of the dust jacket, early paper jackets are very prone especially at the top and bottom of the spine and corners, due to continual removal from shelves.
Closed Tears are so called because the tear can be closed to so that the join would not look at all obvious.
These conditions in moderate amounts, are part of good honest wear and it is not likely that you will find a book of forty plus years without some or all of these faults, such faults do not devalue a book to the same degree as as would staining or other damage.

When starting a collection it may be desirable to collect as many and as quickly as possible so some of your books may have to be acquired in less than a 'fine' state.
Here are some things to look out for when inspecting books.

Jackets.
The dust jacket should be complete without major tears, creases or stains but some natural discoloration and edge (shelf) wear due to age is acceptable to most people.   Older titles with good honest wear and tear to their fragile jackets are quite acceptable and do not look out-of-place, however similar wear to more recent editions just look untidy and undesirable.
The title letters on the spine have a tendency to fade when sunned, jackets of the seventies are particularly prone, as are early Birds Eggs and Astronomy.  I have seen jackets with the red title letters completely faded away! 
The fading is due to printing inks with poor lightfastness, particularly the red used for the title.  Warne never seemed to address this problem as even the last titles produced with laminated boards faded if continuously exposed to sunlight, some printings appear to be more prone than others, various printers were used by Warne and would account for this . 
Sunning also causes uneven discoloration and darkening of any exposed part of the jacket especially the spine and sometimes leaving darker irregular patches or 'framing' on the cover or back.

A faded title on the spine of a dust jacket, a result of too much sunlight.

Nice sharp titling looks much better on the bookshelf.
The dust jackets, particularly those of the 1970's have a tendency to 'yellow', this discoloration may be due to one or more of several different factors.  The 70's jackets have a thin film lamination of plastic hence the glossy appearance, although this gives greater resilience to the jacket, the plastic film does tend to take on a yellowish hue from continual exposure to ultra violet light (sunlight), at the same time the paper itself may also loose its whiteness.  The earlier non-laminates take on more of a greyish  hue with age but are stained much easier and thus take on a grubby appearance due to handling and prolonged exposure to tobacco and open fire smoke which was often the case in homes at that time.
Price clipping of dust jackets, especially in the inflation hit seventies was quite normal, an official 'Warne' sticker was often added with the revised price, this is not a serious defect, but nevertheless jackets without clipping  or stickers are slightly more desirable.   Although price stickers may be removable this should not be done as it is considered to be part of the original condition of the book when purchased, it is likely that it will leave a lighter mark where a sticker has been too, often a 'glue' mark will remain - this is more likely on non-laminated jackets.

Books.
Spines of earlier cloth boards kept without their jackets had a tendency to 'bleach' in sunlight, it should be the same colour as the front.
Underlining and 'ticking' of pages can be something which is not always immediately obvious, certain titles are more prone, especially the 'spotter' titles like Aircraft and  Birds. Always check for this - it seriously devalues the book.

Note ticking on this title list, avoid such a book!

An early 'Birds Eggs' spoiled.

Ticking off titles on the title list was also a habit, perhaps not the most serious fault but can easily be overlooked, there are usually title lists in both the book and on the jacket.
Bumping of the spine and boards is fairly common and may only be obvious if the jacket is easily removable, beware - plastic covers are an ideal way of hiding this?,  Boards or spines creased or split from pocketing or rough handling is a more serious fault.
Grease and dirt marks on pages or boards are unsightly, the 'outdoor' titles seem more prone.
Books with damp stains or tide marks on pages are best avoided, after paper dries out after a spill or dampening it may leave behind resides causing the characteristic tide mark.
A more serious fault is when pages have 'wrinkled' due to continuous exposure to damp often accompanied by unpleasant smell and foxing. 

Written inscriptions, e.g. owner's name, address or dedication etc. devalue a book. Inscriptions are usually found on the first blank page (called the front free end paper 'ffep'), and more seriously on the title page or other point in the book.
On older books, a contemporary inscription, name, date etc. can add a little bit of character, but generally a 'clean' book is desirable  with collectors. 
A book inscribed by its original Author will usually enhance its value, normally this would be found on the title page but not many Observer's books are found 'signed' so be wary.

A great number of Observer's Books were added to Public and School Libraries, these are always ruined by stamps or other additional writings.
A stamp was often added to the title page and possibly on the page edge together with a pocket or flyleaf - often removed but with tell tale glue marks, usually the reason for a missing fep, although for security reasons Libraries find this necessary - the book is ruined from a collectors point of view. 
Another (dirty?) trick was to add an adhesive plastic coat effectively sticking the jacket to the book, although protecting the book this is not a desirable solution for the collector.
If a jacket has at some time been taped to the book - usually with Sellotape, tell-tale glue residue and stains remain on the insides of the boards and jacket even when the tape is removed.

Its worth spending some time looking at all the pages too. Notations may have been added at any point in the book, pictures cut out for that school project or even entire pages missing, it's likely to go unnoticed without careful inspection of each individual page.

Some good looking books may have found their way into a child's hands at some stage, usually resulting in a few extra 'illustrations'!

Price

The price you pay may not always correspond to value, you can expect to pay more for those books in excellent condition or when demand for a particular edition or book is high, for this reason it is quite difficult to generalise values.
The going price in used book shops is around £3.00 for the commonest titles, at this price the book should have its original dust jacket, but condition can vary wildly from awful to very good.  Prices can vary wildly for less common or scarce books usually but not always reflecting their condition.  Prices can also vary among collectors,  they may be slightly higher priced, but books are likely to be more accurately described and documented.  Get a more detailed description and value from my price guide.

Restoration

To find a book in mint condition is rare, some signs of age are inevitable and appreciate that this 'ageing' can add to the character of an individual book and is part of the natural paper and book ageing process which is entirely acceptable.

Some improvements can be made to the appearance of books which may be acquired in less than perfect condition, however in most cases it may be better to leave it in its original condition as you may end up with something looking worse than when you started and something not in the desirable original condition that collectors like..  In any case I make these remarks out of interest and you follow them at YOUR OWN RISK.

Purchased books may have a pencil inscription on the free end paper (fep). The fep is the first and last - usually but not always blank - page in the book, usually these inscriptions mark the sell price of the book and may include a dealer code of some sort.  With care it can be removed with a quality pencil eraser, the page must be held firmly at the edges when doing this else you will end up with a badly wrinkled fep. 

On pre- 1970's books a very small pencil mark or initial on the rear free end paper or inside rear board may have been made by the printer/publisher quality checking department, although not significant - these should NOT be removed.

Ink inscriptions and library stamps are virtually impossible to remove either by rubbing or other means.  Some books have had the fep or even the title page removed because of such marks - definitely something to watch out for when buying.

I have used optical cleaning fluid and optical cloth with some success to clean dirt from the later dust jackets with the gloss laminated plastic coating and also from laminated boards, a great deal of care should be taken especially with the laminated paper jacket - the absolute minimum fluid should be used, I certainly would NOT recommend this on any valuable books.  DO NOT try this on earlier non-gloss paper jackets!

The age discoloration of jackets, boards and paper is not removable or reversible and you will have to be content with it!

Removing Sellotape - particularly on the jacket is a real challenge and is best left alone as are books affected by it, it's unlikely that the adhesive will come away without considerable damage to the page, board or jacket, in any case it's the actual adhesive from the tape backing that discolours and stains the paper or boards.

It would always be a temptation with worn and fragile paper jacket, to use a tape reinforcement at the folds or to repair tears etc., however this will remove the 'original condition' so tape should not be used, you may think it OK but the next owner may not.   If you must use tape then use 'archive' tape which can be removed later with some care. Although magic tape does give a neat repair it isn't removable and you will devalue your precious book.  Under no circumstances use sellotape or other sticky backed tape, you will definitely ruin your book.
Clear adhesive book film stuck over the jacket is a definite no-no too. 
Rather than reinforcing or repairing that fragile jacket, treat it to a removable plastic sleeve, this will protect the jacket from further damage, soiling and rubbing all in one go.

Original price stickers issued by Warne should not be removed, these were usually affixed to the inner front flap, on later laminated covers these will be on the rear board.
Other non-original stickers will present a challenge to remove, on the later glossy jacket and laminated covers these may be removable with care and without any damage, but on the earlier paper jackets, an attempt at removal will almost certainly pull away some of the paper's surface thus defacing and devaluing the book.

Loose pages/spines could be re-glued with a great deal of care using (only) a PVA glue and may stop further deterioration although books with this sort of trouble probably have other serious maladies too.

The practise of altering books e.g. adding missing pages, removing end papers, indeed any act that changes the book from its original state is questionable.

Adding photocopied jackets is a trend among some collectors, photocopying gets better and better and it's likely at some stage in the future these may be sold on as original copies either inadvertently or fraudulently to some unsuspecting buyer - these books are WORTHLESS!.
Buyers must be especially wary when buying rarer books with jackets that the wrapper is original, early Aircraft, Automobiles, the rare "black and white's" jackets   and Cyanamids are regularly getting the treatment so there are quite a few in circulation. 

Any such additions/alterations seriously devalue or even scrap a book from a collecting point of view, so motives and scruples need to be examined?

Storage

Collectors may add a removable transparent plastic cover to their books, this definitely adds to the resilience of the book without affecting value, protecting both jacket and book from further damage but not from sunning.

Books should not be exposed to bright sunlight, or indeed any sunlight at all for any period of time on a shelf or bookcase. Artificial light (lamp light) may have less of an effect but even so should not be discounted, but as there is not much point in keeping them in the dark altogether, some compromise must be made.

Extremes of temperature and above all moisture can degrade a book in a short time and may well encourage insects and fungal infections, the attic or garage is is NOT the best place.
Books should not be kept airtight as good air circulation is worthwhile, do not pack too tightly on the shelves for this reason. 

Books should not be 'stacked' in piles for any amount of time, this causes the book to 'lean', this means that the book will no longer look square and one of the covers will overlap the other.
Storing the books with spine upwards can also lead to a problem, over a period of time the spine will sag becoming concave as the effects of gravity take place.