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A Guide to Rare Books?



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 19th 03, 06:23 AM
Christian
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Default A Guide to Rare Books?

I was wondering if there was a serious guide out there that gives some
indicator as to the value of rare books, perhaps a speculator publication? I
am looking for something that goes beyond the simple value of first edition
STephen King novels and explores the values of very old books, dating form
16th century and earlier, into antiquity. Perhaps it also outlines current
collections and their worth?

I would assume there is something like this, and I'm interested in knowing
if it exists and where I might find something like it.

Thanks


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  #2  
Old August 19th 03, 07:29 AM
paghat
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In article , "Christian"
wrote:

I was wondering if there was a serious guide out there that gives some
indicator as to the value of rare books, perhaps a speculator publication? I
am looking for something that goes beyond the simple value of first edition
STephen King novels and explores the values of very old books, dating form
16th century and earlier, into antiquity. Perhaps it also outlines current
collections and their worth?

I would assume there is something like this, and I'm interested in knowing
if it exists and where I might find something like it.

Thanks


AMERICAN BOOK PRICES CURRENT available as hardcovers or CD-rams collates
prices actually obtained for books & manuscripts at auction houses, which
means the material covered is often vastly rarer than in typical catalogs,
& the prices were actually paid rather than merely requested by some
dealer who actually got $5 the bagful in the going out of business sale.
ABPC costs a bloody fortune & comes out seasonally, so it costs that
bloody fortune every time you turn around.

The net pretty eradicated the market for the discontinued INTERNATIONAL
RARE BOOK PRICES and MANDEVILLE'S USED BOOK PRICE GUIDE, of prices asked
by dealers around the world in their printed catalogs, rather than known
to have been gotten, & for the most part for books worth scant dollars to
perhaps a thousand dollars -- very useful in their day but not a record of
the rarest stuff on earth. Old volumes of these could still be useful to
at least see which titles by given authors were regarded as most valuable
in those given years. They're often pretty cheap per volume, but there's
so many of the volumes issued over time, a set would cost another fortune,
& they'd take up a hell of a lot of room. Which is why they're pretty
cheap -- everyone who ever invested in them now needs to room for actual
books instead.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/
  #3  
Old August 19th 03, 10:56 AM
John R. Yamamoto- Wilson
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Posts: n/a
Default

Paghat wrote:

The net pretty eradicated the market for the discontinued INTERNATIONAL
RARE BOOK PRICES and MANDEVILLE'S USED BOOK PRICE GUIDE, of prices asked
by dealers around the world in their printed catalogs, rather than known
to have been gotten


Just to clarify, one can see at a glance the prices dealers are asking by
going to ABE (http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookSearch).

That's probably the single most useful site, but if the book(s) you are
searching for information about cannot be found there, go to
http://www.trussel.com/f_books.htm. That has most of the searchable sites
for books.

Failing that, do a straight google search; that can quite often flush out
copies of books in catalogues not listed in the major book search organs.

Remember, though, that these are only *asking* prices, and books may not
sell at the price asked. When there are dozens of copies of a book listed,
it's pretty obvious that some are overpriced. The difficulty comes when you
can only track down one or two copies, and it's almost impossible to know
whether the price being asked is realistic or not. With experience, one can
often make a shrewd guess based on a knowledge of the dealer (as in, "Oh,
*him* again! He always has great books, but they're always priced about
20%-50% more than what most other dealers would ask", etc.).

You also, of course, need to get a very clear idea of the *condition* of
each copy being offered. Just as an example, here are some current ABE
entries for Lord Herbert of Cherbury's biography of Henry VIII:

*********************************************
__________________________________________________ _____________________
1. HERBERT, Edward
Life and Raigne of King Henry the Eighth|The
1649. (HENRY VIII) HERBERT, Edward, Lord of Cherbury. The Life and Raigne
of King Henry the Eighth. London: Thomas Whitaker, 1649. Small folio,
period-style full brown calf, raised bands, red morocco spine label. $1600.
First edition, with rare frontispiece portrait of Henry VIII. Courtier,
soldier, diplomat, and poet, Herbert began this history of Henry VIII in
1632, drawing from a number of original sources and authentic papers in an
effort to vindicate Henry from various slanders by Herbert's contemporaries.
Walpole called the Life and Raigne "a masterpiece of historic biography"
which "throws considerable light upon our legal history. and contains much
information which is not to be had elsewhere" (Allibone, 828). Early owner
signatures. Occasional ink marginalia and manuscript notes in the hand of an
early owner. Paper repairs to frontispiece, title page, first leaf and last
leaf of text, not affecting text or images. An extremely good copy,
attractively bound. Bookseller Inventory #22773
Price: US$ 1600.00
Bookseller: Bauman Rare Books, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
2. HERBERT, Edward Lord
The Life And Reign Of King Henry The Eighth.
London, 1682. 4to, full buckram. Fourth Edition. There is a supplied
portrait of Henry VIII after the titlepage. A loyal subject of King James,
Herbert left England when James abdicated and was eventually forced to
abandon his estates and retire to Flanders, where he died. There is some
small marginal worming to the first few pages, otherwise an attractive copy
in a recent full buckram binding with a leather label. Bookseller Inventory
#Cat27-819
Price: US$ 750.00
Bookseller: Detering Book Gallery Inc. ABAA, ILAB, Houston, TX, U.S.A.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
3. Herbert of Cherbury, Edward
The Life and Reign of King Henry the Eighth.
London: M. Clark for H. Herringman, 1682. New Full Calf. Near VG. 30 Cm.
Edge wear to title and fol. leaf, some marginal worming. Wing H1506.
Bookseller Inventory #010059
Price: US$ 650.00
Bookseller: Beechwold Books, Columbus, OH, U.S.A.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
4. Herbert, Edward (Baron Herbert of Cherbury):
The Life And Reign Of King Henry The Eighth.
London: Printed by Andr. Clark 1672. Second edition. 4to, pp. 639. Some
dampstaining. Title page repaired with minimal loss to text. With portrait
frontispiece of Henry VIII. Half calf, marbled boards, gilt. Edward Herbert
(1582-1648) was elder brother of the great Anglican poet George Herbert.
Bookseller Inventory #12371
Price: US$ 556.57
Bookseller: Unsworth's Booksellers Ltd, ABA & ILAB,, London,, United
Kingdom
__________________________________________________ _____________________
5. Edward, Lord Herbert.
The Life and Raign of King Henry the Eighth
London: 1649. Contemp calf, early re-backing. One tear repaired.
Hardcover, out of print. Light rubbing, remarkably fine condition for its
age. Europe: England; Biography. Bookseller Inventory #EDWALIFE01
Price: US$ 500.00
Bookseller: The Book Den, ABAA, Santa Barbara, CA, U.S.A.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
6. HERBERT, EDWARD LORD.
THE LIFE AND RAIGNE OF KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.
First Edition. Thomas Whittaker. 1649. Small Folio. Original calf on
boards, but spine is banded and a later calf. (quite good spine
presentation) Collation is correct but pagination is awful, there being a
jump from 79 to 91, no pagination on the next 17 pages after 203, the
pagination of the 19 pages 185-203 is repeated twice as is pagination
369-404. Collates : title page, 3 Dedication leaves. Leaf carrying poem by
James Howell, Copperplate portrait by T. Cecill, pp637 (paginated to 575).
Six leaves of index. New end papers (the original paste down onto inner of
both boards board may be carrying some contemporary writing on its pasted
downside). The title page has a tear near hinge without loss. ccjs02
CCJS2000 Wing H1504 US$0. Bookseller Inventory #18373
Price: US$ 477.06
Bookseller: John Shotton (ABA., ILAB), Durham, United Kingdom
__________________________________________________ _____________________
7. Right Honourable Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury.
THE LIFE AND RAIGNE OF KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.
Thomas Whitaker, London, 1649. Quarto, iv + 575pp + [viii] index,
disbound, remains of leather backstrip only. Title page soiled, with worn
edges. Spine broken vertically in three, the prelims and pages iv-46pp
detached. Lacking the portrait frontispiece and last two (?) pages from the
index (index ends at ?w?). The pagination is erratic, but appears
continuous, as do the signatures. ** PICTURES AVAILABLE, JUST E MAIL US **.
Bookseller Inventory #11442
Price: US$ 198.77
Bookseller: Patterson Liddle, Bath, SOM, United Kingdom
__________________________________________________ _____________________
8. HERBERT, Edward Lord. (1583-1648.)
The Life And Reign Of King Henry The Eighth. The life and reign of King
Henry the Eighth / Written by the Right Honourable Edward, lord Herbert of
Cherbury
London : Printed by Mary Clark, for Ann Mearn, 1683. pp.
[vi]+636+blank+[xv]+verso blank. Red morocco backed boards, spine gilt.
Ex-libris Hampstead Public Libraries with blind stamp to lower board, label
to front paste down and endpaper, shelf mark in gilt to spine and library
stamps to verso of title page 2 other leaves. Lacking frontispiece portrait.
Manuscript notes taped to rear blank endpapers, front endpapers slight
spotted. Bookseller Inventory #F29599
Price: US$ 159.02
Bookseller: Robert Frew Ltd., London, United Kingdom
__________________________________________________ _____________________
*********************************************

I happen to know that 1, above, has been sitting at that price for over a
year, and that another copy, priced at around $1000, has apparently been
sold, since it was there a year ago and is no longer listed.

2, 3, 4 and 8 are later editions. Given that 5 and 6 (although slightly
flawed) are first editions, 2, 3 and 4 (also slightly flawed) seem
overpriced. 8 is more reasonably priced, and from someone I know as a good
dealer, though the library markings (not usually so important in a book of
this age) do sound pretty offputting. 7 is a first edition, but quite badly
flawed, and hence much cheaper. 1 does not appear to be in significantly
better condition than 5 or 6, and I'm a bit put off by the expression
"period-style" (code for a recent rebinding).

6 appears to be the best copy, both for price and condition, and I like the
seller's tone ("New endpapers" - no coded language there - "pagination is
awful" - well, not that it affects the book's value, but that's frank!). It
has the frontispiece portrait, collates complete and has only one fairly
minor flaw. But it would probably be worth getting a more detailed
description from the seller of 5. Does it have the frontispiece portrait, is
it in a contemporary binding, are there signs of foxing, etc.?

I give this example because I picked up a nice copy of the first (1649)
edition, complete with frontispiece, in a bricks and mortar bookshop in
England about a year ago for 280 pounds (about $400), and recently received
an enquiry from a lady who has a copy and wonders what it is worth. How
would *you* answer, on the basis of the information we've got?

Assuming it's a first edition, with frontispiece, in basically sound
condition, with perhaps one or two slight flaws, I could tell her it's worth
anything from $400 (what I paid) to $1000 (what someone else was apparently
prepared to pay), but I really doubt that she'd get $1000 for it. It would
be misleading to tell her it's worth $1600, because no one, as far as I
know, has ever paid that much for it.

My feeling is that, if she puts it on eBay (which is probably her best
chance of getting a decent price for it), an experienced eBay bidder would
crosscheck with ABE and would bid less than the lowest ABE price for a
comparable copy. That means it might fetch $300-$400, or perhaps more if a
less experienced bidder pushes the price up.

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com

 




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