Two other reference books that are useful are Dictionary of American Book Collectors and Dictionary of American Antiquarian Bookdealers [his spelling] by Donald C. Dickinson. When a good copy of a book that's appealing also has an interesting provenance you are standing on the threshold of collecting at the most sophisticated level. Dickinson helps you see into this world. Copies can be found randomly on various listing sites.

For those who love early American maps Book One is The Mapping of America by Seymour I. Schwartz and Ralph E. Ehrenberg. This is a coffee table book. It is also an excellent reference and the first bite of chocolate before you devour the entire box. This book has launched hundreds if not thousands of serious map collections. Read it with caution because you'll come away wanting a piece of the history it portrays through maps. See Books for Sale.

For those with an interest going further back there is Travel and Discovery in the Renaissance by Boies Penrose. It was first printed in 1952 and is a classic today. It both reconstructs the sequence of events by period and area and includes references to the first printed materials detailing the events. It is a roadmap to building a world class collection for the period 1420 to 1620. Magellan shows up in chapter 10 and Drake in chapter 12. This is both thorough and serious. See Choosebooks.

Then there is Colin Steele's English Interpreters of the Iberian New World from Purchas to Stevens. This is a bibliographical study of the period 1603-1726 and the preface explains it this way, "This book is motivated by a belief that a study of the English translations of Spanish and Portuguese books in the period 1603-1726 can shed significant light on contemporary English attitudes towards the Iberian New World." The Iberian peninsula in Europe is Spain and Portugal and the Iberian New World the territories controlled by them in North and South America. If you are interested in this category of material this book is an essential reference. See Abebooks.

And then there is John Parker's Books to Build an Empire. It covers material from 1481 to 1620 and includes a very complete list of material that will break most budgets and destroy many marriages. This material comes up from time to time and is obtainable at a price. Almost every item acquired will have a provenance and yours will become part of it as these items return to the auction rooms and are sold by the leading dealers of the next era. This is collecting history to become part of collecting history. See ILAB.

The ultimate gift for the book collector is of course the keys to the kingdom rather than the stories about it. That is a subscription to the AED. Here you build your own bibliography by running searches in the more than 1.4 million full text records, search the various listing sites, follow the auctions and receive AE Monthly on the first of each month. Click here to sign up!

There you have it, these lightning bugs in a bottle. Let them illuminate the darkness and point the way to understand the past and collecting in the future. Collectors will feel well pleased if they receive one or more of these gems.