People often ask about books they have collected over the years or about books their
Grandfathers or other relatives have passed down to them. Are they worth money?
Are they worth keeping? If sold, how much should they fetch?
These are difficult questions, especially if I do not have the books or my research
tools in front of me, but I can give general guidelines.
Old does not always mean expensive in the case of books. I have a book written in Old English
dated 1866. It's a translation of St. Luke's Gospel. You'd think a book that old would be worth alot.
It's worth about twenty dollars. It's not in very good condition, which is very important with books as
with other collectibles, but even in very good condition it wouldnt't be worth much more.
On the other hand, if I had an Atlas dated that same year, and in very good condition, it would
be worth in the thousands.
What makes the difference. One difference is that many people collect Atlases, while there is not
much demand for Gospels or other work written in Old English. There are also a number of
these Old English books on the market.
First Editions can also demand good prices, depending on the Author. Is he well known?
How many books were there in the first printing? An Author's first book for example
may not have had a large first printing. That book might well fetch more than some of his/her
later editions. A rule of thumb may be the popularity of the Author and how long ago it was
printed and whether or not it was one of his/her first books.
How can you tell if a book is a First Edition?
There are times when only research will give you an answer, but there are often clues.
Older books often do not have fates to tell you when they were printed. Knowing when
it was printed is helpful. Here's how you can tell with most books printed over the last fifty to
sixty years. Open the book and find the printing date, it should be aftet the title page
or close to it. Look below the date, most often you will see numbers from one to ten, called the
number line. If the list of numbers begin or end with number "one" then most likely you have
a First Edition. If it begins or ends with the number"two" any other number, then you have
later impressions. Some publishers indicate if it's a First Edition or later printing.
Children's books can also be very collectable. First Edition of series books such as
Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys and others of similar vein can command good prices
if they still have the dust jackets intact and are in excellent condition.
Like any collectibile book, value depends on the availability, the number of people
who collect and the condition of the book.
A book which has been autographed by the author will be more desirable than
one that isnt.
Following are three examples of books presently on the market
and the estimated value of each.
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