First of all, what IS an altered book? In their most basic form they are created from old (or new) books which are then rearranged by an artist to create a completely new book or a creation which no longer resembles a book but has a book as the base or shell of the new artwork. They may be painted, stamped, have the pages cut to resemble windows and more.
     There is even a Society of Altered Book Artists and other altered book organizations and many of them sell their work on Ebay. Some even add three-dimensional objects like dice, dominoes, old bones, doll parts - just about anything goes! Some tell stories while others leave the viewer to figure out the message within the art. Many are quite beautiful, evocative and even haunting. There are altered book on almost every subject, from Halloween to romance.
    Note: I'd show photos of some altered books here but I can't because of copyright law. I'll have to leave it to you, the reader to search out examples on Ebay. They are fairly easy to find. I don't feel it is right for me to copy photos of some of these from Ebay as they belong to the artist.
      At this point you might be wondering:
How do you decide what is worth buying or bidding for? What is a "good" altered book?  There is, of course, no definitive answer to that question but if you want to see what other Ebayers have liked, you can always do a search of current and completed auctions to see which altered books received the highest bids. Ultimately, however, I believe that the book you might want to get should be one that speaks to you, that resonates with you emotionally and which you will enjoy having in your home.
   Altered books are  variations of a larger category known as altered art, a form which starts with almost anything (a book, a journal, a cigar box, a doll) and then transforms those objects into something new. It is an exciting and emerging form of art.
   There is no guarantee, of course, that an altered book will be more valuable or collectable in the future. But there are already notable names in the field. So do a search under the words "altered art" "altered books", etc......and have aa look at this innovative and creative new type of art.
    One note: For those of you who find it painful to think of books being torn up and turned into art, MANY altered book artists are respectful of old and rare books and confine their work to books which would otherwise be dumpstered or thrown out or are in such terrible shape that they are really "rescued" by being recyled and reused.