Over the next five hundred years, as monasticism spread throughout Europe, so too did the production of manuscripts. These were mostly books, such as musical and liturgical texts, made for the monks own use but some, including the famous Bedford Hours (ca 1423) were also made for wealthy patrons. Even after the introduction of printing, hand-made manuscripts continued to be produced and remained a significant part of book making until the late 17th century.

These manuscripts were generally made of vellum, paper being unknown in Europe before the 12th century. Paper did not become common for book making the the 15th century. 

Printing with movable type began with Johann Gutenburg in 1439. Books had previously been printed from carved woodblocks; Gutenburg’s invention made it posssible to edit text and greatly increased the speed at which multiple copies of a work could be produced. Very little of Gutenburg’s work has survived with the only complete book definitely attributable to him being the "36-line Bible" of 1457, which remains on of the most beautiful books ever made. By 1480, more than 100 towns had printing presses. By 1500, Venice alone ahad 150 printing presses.

William Caxton. the first English printer, produced the first book printed in English, Recuyellof the Historyes of Troye, in 1474 while working in Cologne. He produced the first book printed in England, Dictes and Sayengis of the Philosophers, two years later. The first American printing press was set up in 1639 with the oldest existing American book being the Bay Psalm Book produced in 1640. The first Australian printing press was established in 1795, only seven years after the first settlers arrived.

Early printed books from the fifteenth century are called "incunabula". They look very similar to manuscripts on which the type was modelled.

In the early years of printing, theological texts predominated, but historical, scientific and fictional works gradually become more important. 

Great private book collections began to be assembled from as early as 1550. Some of these became the foundation of national libraries - the British Library began with the collection of Sir Robert Cotton (1571 to 1631) and the French Bibliotheque Nationale began with the collection of Charles V.

Little changed in the technology of book-making until the early 19th century, when the whole process became mechanised. This allowed enormous cost reductions which, in turn, led to greatly increased numbers of books being produced. In the 1820s, England was producing about 850 titles a year; by 1835, the number had jumped to 2530 and by 1880, it reached 9,000. Before 1830, most new fiction was sold in three volumes at 31s 6d; by 1853, fiction reprints could be purchased for as little as 1s 6d. 

In 1837 in Leipzig, Christian Tauchnitz began producing cheap paperback pirated reprints of English books. Tauchnitz’ company eventually produced over 5,000 titles but agreed not to sell them in England or the British Empire. Low-cost, mass-produced paperbacks were not produced in England for almost another century when Allen Lane began the Penguin series.

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Our sister site, "The Menzies Era", has information, including bibliographies, on several collectable authors. These links will take you to the appropriate page:

Isaac Asimov
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Leslie Charteris
Agatha Christie
Ian Fleming
W.E. Johns
J.R.R.Tolkien
Patrick White

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Encyclopedias are normally only of interest while their content is current. Again there are exceptions, such as the first edition (1776) of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Textbooks are rarely of interest to collectors. The exceptions are illustrated schoolbooks from before about 1850 and mint condition early editions of a few books that remained in use for a very long time, such as the American McGuffey Readers.

Collected works are usually published because an author is very popular. For this reason, large numbers are usually printed and they are unlikely to be rare.

Sermons and books of religious instruction are also usually printed in large numbers and, so, are unlikely to be scarce. A few such works were written by major figures in the history of religion or relate to historical events, and may be collectable for that reason.

While it is theoretically possible that an individual book from a set may be just the one that some other collector needs, the chances of finding the matching set are so remote that it can be assumed that such books are practically worthless.

19th and early 20th century fiction, unless it is written by a well-known author, is almost worthless. (If you are not sure whether an author is well-know, check whether he appears is a standard reference work, such as The Norton Anthology of English Literature.)

Book club editions are produced in large quantities, often using inferior materials, and are usually of little value. (Most book club editions have a five- or six-digit code in a small white box usually on the back cover - but be suspicious of any book that does not have a price printed on the dust jacket.) The same applies to Readers’ Digest Condensed Books.

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Gemstones are measured in carats, abbreviated "ct" (and not to be confused with karats, with a "k", used for gold purity).

A carat is one fifth of a gram - or 200 milligrams.
A point is one hundredth of a carat - or 2 milligrams.
As an indication, a one carat round diamond would be about 6.5mm in diameter.

Different stones have different densities. For example, ruby and sapphire are more dense than diamond. Thus, a one carat ruby, or a one carat sapphire, is smaller than a one carat diamond.

Gold

In the United States and some other countries, the purity of gold is expressed in karats. The karat number refers to the parts of pure gold per 24 in the alloy. Thus, 12K gold has 12 parts gold per 24, or 50%, while 24K gold is pure old.

Many European countries mark gold with a three-digit number indicating the parts per thousand of gold in the alloy. Thus, an item marked "750" is 750/1000 pure gold - or 18K.

"Gold filling" is the practice of mechanically applying a thin sheet of gold to the surface of a piece that is made of some other metal. Gold filling is much thicker than gold plating in which a layer of gold only a few microns thick is electrically deposited on the surface of the piece. Gold filled pieces are marked with the fraction of gold by weight in the piece. For example, an item marked "1/10 18K GF" would have a layer of 18K (75% pure) gold making up one tenth of the weight of the item.

Silver

Silver, and sometimes gold, is measured in Troy ounces. A Troy ounce weighs about 10% more than the avoirdupois ounce that is commonly used for other items. A troy ounce is divided into pennyweight which, in turn, are divided into grains. One troy ounce equals 20 pennyweight; one pennyweight equals 24 grains.

To make matters even more confusing, one pound troy equals 12 troy ounces (not 16).

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With the burgeoning Industrial Revolution, machine-made furniture replaced hand-made. In the 1830’s machines were invented to cut veneer and to press designs, which would previously been carved, into timber. At the same time, improved transportation meant that a wide variety of imported timbers, including mahogany, rosewood, teak and ebony, become available,

As a result the typical Victorian item was a reproduction of something from an earlier period, such as Victorian Gothic and Renaissance Revival with reproductions of Queen Anne furniture being the most popular.

Elizabethan furniture designs, with their panels of open decoration and strapwork and profusion of knobs were well suited to mechanical reproduction. At the same time, Elizabethan styles were associated with romantic notions of "Merrie England" and, so, became popular in the early Victorian period.

The Gothic style, also associated with romantic "olden times"  rose in popularity in the 1840s, particularly as a result of the work of the architect and interior designer A. V. N. Pugin who designed furniture for the House of Lords.

"Louis Quartoaze" or "Louis" Revival furniture actually borrowed elements from the French Louis XIV, Louis XV and Rococo. including curvaceous ornament (often gilded), cabriolle legs scrolled borders. Some pieces were exact copies of 18th century French pieces. 

By 1850, English furniture was a lavishly decorated pastiche of elements borrowed from other periods and styles. During the following decade, however, a plainer "Old English" style gained favour. This was followed by a revival of the Queen Anne style. Throughout this period, French reproductions and furniture in the Chippendale, Hepplewhite and Sheraton styles continued to be produced.

Late in the Victorian era, the Arts and Crafts Movement revolted against the mass-produced furniture and other goods that had flooded the country. The argued for a return to the traditions of the artisans and craftsmen of the past and of Japan, which up to then had remained isolated from Western industrial influence. By 1901, the Arts and Crafts Movement had merged into the international Art Nouveau style.

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Planes, trains, boats and cars have long been a favourite subject because they look good in framed sets. To meet this need, transport cards often had adhesive backs and albums, with the description from the back of the card alongside each card’s position, were sold.
  

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Actors and actresses have been the subject of cigarette cards from the beginning. Stage actors and actresses were displaced by movie stars as the favoured topic from about 1915 when the American Tobacco  Company issued a series of movie stars. Scores of other series followed, issued by various companies all over the world. Movie star cards reached their peak of popularity in the 1930s. Production ceased during the Second World War and never really recovered.

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