How it all started. The antique prints and maps you can view and purchase on the Goldiers website are from my own private collection that was built up over 25 years. The collecting started when I was purchasing private book collections in Kent, South East England, in the early 1990's. In those days I had a small shop and we had calls every week to clear out the books from peoples homes locally. Th
e books came in various conditions so most of the time was spent sorting everything out. It was quite hard work but very rewarding when something rare was found. I soon built up a good collection of material. The better condition material was cleaned and restored then retailed in the shop. The poorer condition books (often much older) were put into storage. As with many book dealers the damaged book collection grew quite quickly. I had no idea what to do with the books. In the late 1990's my business was growing quite rapidly and technology was changing too with selling books online becoming viable. In 1997 I decided to specialize in antiquarian leather bound books as they were clearly my best seller. That turned out to be a brilliant decision and the business grew even more quickly. In 2001 the Golden Books (Group) website was launched after nearly two years of research and development. The website took time to develop so we ran lots of auctions on eBay. Even to this day I sometimes list on eBay as I still feel part of that community. Back in the late 1990's I decided that books that were way past restoring should be broken for their plates. This allowed us to make more space in the storeroom and to recycle the binding materials to be used for restoration/re-binding of the leather bound books. That process carried on until 2012. I do not have a huge collection of prints and maps but they are all from books that were way beyond repair. I do remember where most of the prints came from so dating the prints is quite a lot easier. It is a conscious decision to sell the prints and maps in their original condition. This means the flaws are pointed out and I consider them to be part of the history of prints and maps which can be 300 years old. If you have any questions or need general advice I am only to happy to reply. Feel free to leave a message here and I will reply. To answer a question I have been asked a few times. The beautiful young woman in the Goldiers profile picture is my girlfriend Joylyn.
