Vintage & Collectible

I've always found the below introduction amusing and am loathe to get rid of it, but it doesn't really tell you our goal of this category. You'll notice many of these books are not in-stock. It's unlikely we'll ever have very many at a time, but we're building it with the intention of helping you find the information you need to collect these series and volumes. We plan to continue adding more titles primarily from the 1960s and before, pictures, copyright dates, illustrators, ISBNs (if they exist), and more, to help you track down these awesome books from the past. If you like this section and want more, we'd like to commend the Facebook group Reshelving Alexandria, where you'll find a community of people passionate about books like these!

To see ONLY books that are actually available, use the filter below to look for in-stock books!

For some, book collecting is like African big game hunting—taking down the animal is pretty satisfying, but the real excitement is in tracking the beast, following it for hours or even days, picking up sign as it melts into the horizon until finally you get it in your sights. Eli is that kind of book collector. It's the thrill of the chase that drives him; once he completes a set or finds a particular volume it's a bit of a letdown.

That's not to say Eli doesn't love books (he owns a bookstore, after all). It's just that collecting them is something different altogether from owning or reading them, something almost primitive and instinctual, drawing on skills that lie dormant in most of us. The book collector's skills are the same that help a man on safari smell his prey in an old footprint or see a clump of fur caught in the bark of a palm tree or simply see the animal in the distance.

These aren't just any kind of books we're talking about collecting. Anyone can procure each volume of their favorite new fiction, or each year's New York Times bestsellers. They're everywhere, and they don't take much effort to find. The kind of books collectors go for (especially collectors like Eli) are hard or next to impossible to find, typically old, and just plain cool.

Exactly the kind of books we've put in this category, in fact. "Vintage & Collectible" isn't just some goofy title we came up with to generate interest; although most of these books are not technically "rare," and only occasionally expensive, they aren't at every street corner bookshop and they're typically titles appealing to a very specific readership (or ownership, if we're going to be entirely accurate). There's plenty here that the more average library compilers among us will find interesting.

As you scan the titles below, imagine you're in some mahogany-lined old bookstore in an old city and that a whispy-haired old man can tell you the history of each volume in his collection. Or just look for the book you're after, it might be there. Whatever you do, give these books a good home and help us perpetuate one of the most exciting and underappreciated sports in the world.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Parent Categories
Vintage & Collectible
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64 Items found Print
Active Filters: World Landmark Books, 5th grade (Ages 10-11)
Adventures and Discoveries of Marco Polo
World Landmark #3
by Richard Walsh
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Adventures of Ulysses
World Landmark #40
by Gerald Gottlieb
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Alexander the Great
World Landmark #2
by John Gunther
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Balboa: Swordsman and Conquistador
World Landmark #25
by Felix Riesenberg, Jr.
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Battle of Britain
World Landmark #10
by Quentin Reynolds
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Ben-Gurion and the Birth of Israel
World Landmark #62
by Joan Comay
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Captain Cook Explores the South Seas
World Landmark #19
by Armstrong Sperry
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Captain Cortés Conquers Mexico
World Landmark #45
by William Johnson
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Catherine the Great
World Landmark #29
by Katharine Scherman
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Chief of the Cossacks
World Landmark #39
by Harold Lamb
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Cleopatra of Egypt
World Landmark #50
by Leonora Hornblow
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Commandos of World War II
World Landmark #61
by Hodding Carter
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Commandos of World War II
World Landmark #61
by Hodding Carter
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
Crusades, The
World Landmark #11
by Anthony West
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Exploits of Xenophon
World Landmark #18
by Geoffrey Household
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Exploring the Himalaya
World Landmark #36
by William O. Douglas
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Fall of Constantinople
World Landmark #30
by Bernadine Kielty
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Famous Pirates of the New World
World Landmark #35
by A. B. C Whipple
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Ferdinand Magellan
World Landmark #31
by Seymour Gates Pond
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
First Men in the World
World Landmark #1
by Anne Terry White
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Flight and Adventures of Charles II
World Landmark #38
by Charles Norman, illustrated by C. Walter Hodges
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Florence Nightingale
World Landmark #46
by Ruth Fox Hume
from Random House
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Flying Aces of World War I
World Landmark #60
by Gene Gurney
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
French Foreign Legion
World Landmark #22
by Wyatt Blassingame
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Garibaldi: Father of Modern Italy
World Landmark #32
by Marcia Davenport
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
General Brock and Niagra Falls
World Landmark #28
by Samuel Hopkins Adams
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Genghis Kahn and the Mongol Horde
World Landmark #12
by Harold Lamb
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Great Men of Medicine
World Landmark #49
by Ruth Fox Hume, illustrated by Robert Frankenberg
from Random House
Science biographies for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Hero of Trafalgar
World Landmark #55
by A. B. C. Whipple
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Hudson's Bay Company
World Landmark #24
by Richard Morenus
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Jesus of Nazareth
World Landmark #42
by Harry Emerson Fosdick
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Joan of Arc
World Landmark #4
by Nancy Ross
from Random House
Biography for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Julius Caesar
World Landmark #43
by John Gunther
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
King Arthur and His Knights
World Landmark #5
by Mabel Louise Robinson
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Lawrence of Arabia
World Landmark #52
by Alistair MacLean
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Leonardo da Vinci
by Emily Hahn
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Life of Saint Patrick
World Landmark #17
by Quentin Reynolds
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Life of Saint Paul
World Landmark #53
by Harry Emerson Fosdick
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Magna Charta
World Landmark #26
by James Daugherty
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Man Who Changed China
World Landmark #9
by Pearl S. Buck
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Marie Antoinette
World Landmark #20
by Bernadine Kielty
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Marquis de Lafayette
World Landmark #34
by Hodding Carter
from Random House
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Martin Luther
World Landmark #23
by Harry Emerson Fosdick
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Mary, Queen of Scots
World Landmark #6
by Emily Hahn
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Napoleon and the Battle of Waterloo
World Landmark #7
by Frances Winwar
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt
World Landmark #59
by Elizabeth Payne
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Queen Elizabeth and the Spanish Armada
World Landmark #13
by Frances Winwar
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Queen Victoria
World Landmark #37
by Noel Streatfeild
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler
World Landmark #47
by William L. Shirer
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
World Landmark #8
by Richard L. Neuberger
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Simón Bolívar
World Landmark #14
by Arnold Whitridge
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Sinking of the Bismarck
World Landmark #51
by William L. Shirer
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Slave Who Freed Haiti
World Landmark #15
by Katharine Scherman
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Story of Albert Schweitzer
World Landmark #33
by Anita Daniel
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Story of Atomic Energy
World Landmark #48
by Laura Fermi
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Story of Australia
World Landmark #44
by A. Grove Day
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Story of Scotland Yard
World Landmark #16
by Laurence Thompson
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
United Nations in War and Peace
World Landmark #63
by T. R. Fehrenbach
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Voyages of Henry Hudson
World Landmark #54
by Eugene Rachlis
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Walter Raleigh: Man of Two Worlds
World Landmark #58
by Henrietta Buckmaster
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
War in Korea: 1950-1953
World Landmark #57
by Robert Leckie
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Will Shakespeare and the Globe Theater
World Landmark #21
by Anne Terry White, illustrated by C. Walter Hodges
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
William the Conqueror
World Landmark #41
by Thomas B. Costain
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Winston Churchill
World Landmark #56
by Quentin Reynolds
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)