How to Value Books - Rare First Editions
How to Value Books
Ascribing a value to a collectable first edition is not as straight forward as it may seem.
Your host is currently busy, for a change, doing some valuations. If properly undertaken it’s not easy and carries quite a lot of responsibility.
First one must consider what exactly you want the value to reflect. A book does not have a single value.
My first question before undertaking this task was: What do you want the value to reflect ?
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An insurance value
What a member of the public could hope to get for the book
What a general bookseller would sell it for
What a specialist may sell it for
What could you get an avid collector to pay for it
Looking for books offered for sale on the internet is a poor way of doing it.
By definition if you see it there at say £500 and it’s rare and collectable then were it truly worth that then it wouldn’t be there as it would sell.
Secondly, it could be a simple guess on behalf of the seller - over priced or under valued !
I’ve put a lot of weight behind experience, using prices I know books actually sell for. I’ve also tried to reflect the fact that some books are much scarcer than others published around the same time. Books do not automatically fall in value from the author’s first book to their last in a nice even way.
Unless a book is relatively common and has a regularly proven value there is an inevitable ‘matter of opinion’ aspect in the process. Because it is not an exact science there are bound to be differences of opinion. Care should be taken to weed out vested interests in these opinions though.
For example, a guide that prices books at the high end does not help the likes of me to buy them from others at a price to allow profitable resale.
The flipside to this of course is that if I sell a book for £100 it’s not helpful for it to be valued at £50 !
Collectors who already have the books look for the highest value possible whereas collectors looking to buy the books prefer less ambitious prices.
All in all it’s a bit of a minefield and something not to be entered into lightly.
My advice, should anybody be interested, is only do it if you know what you are doing and stick to areas you have real knowledge and experience in.
Rod Collins
Classic Crime Fiction
WoE said,
September 19, 2008 @ 9:39 pm
Rod,
Is this anything to do with short selling… we’re learning a lot this week
WoE
Rod said,
September 20, 2008 @ 8:37 am
WoE
Is this anything to do with short selling
Selling is not currently a word many associate with collectable secondhand books I’m afraid
I was going to blog about the financial crash and how I have been predicting exactly this for some years now - nobody listened of course
Cheers
Rod
WoE said,
September 20, 2008 @ 1:09 pm
Rod,
‘nobody listened of course’ …. that’s the drawback to being seen as mere eye candy (it’s a funny old world!)…. get used to it, women suffer this way all the time
WoE
Nick said,
March 29, 2009 @ 3:08 pm
Rod
Maybe you could answer a question that at the moment no book dealer has been able to or maybe willing to provide an answer.
Why whenever you go to a book fair does it seem that all the “gems” have already been traded between the book dealers before the fair doors open ? I have stopped going to book fairs because they simply have become a waste of time for this very reason. Dont bookdealers think that if they continue to fail to offer books to established collectors as well as new , that those collectors will turn their attention and their money to areas new ?
The main London bookfairs are a prime example where whist they are meant to be the highlight of the book collectors year, they continue to dissapoint.
If collectors fail to attend book fairs, dealers will fail to appear and the book fair ceases to exist and we have another nail in the book collectors coffin.
Nick
Rod said,
March 29, 2009 @ 5:45 pm
Hi Nick
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site - hope you’ll return.
I can see this point from both sides of the coin. I remember many years ago as a collector getting up first thing on a Sunday morning and driving half way across the country to stand in a queue waiting for a book fair to open.
Having to stand there outside waiting for the doors to open whilst all the dealers went round buying all the best books from each other was trying to say the least !
Subsequently, I then became the one on the other side of the doors, selfishly, it then suited me !
The problem is that not all the best books have gone as such but all the bargains have !
That said, I’ve bought plenty of books later in the day that both dealers and colectors have missed over the years.
Despite being a book dealer I no longer go to book fairs Nick, haven’t been to one for some years now. Sadly I find them a waste of time both in terms of buying and selling.
I used to be at the Russell Hotel in London every month but gave that up, having to be in London so early to set up etc was OK when there were plenty of books to buy but then they all dried up so it was as dead for the dealers ar 7am as it was for the collectors and public at 9.30 !
I think the internet has done more to kill sales than pre opening inter trade buying Nick, but that’s another story.
Thanks again for the comment Nick, hope I didn’t go on too much
All the best
Rod
Nick said,
March 31, 2009 @ 7:35 pm
Rod
Many thanks for your response. Sadly I have to agree that book fairs are becoming a waste of time, a sentiment I am sorry to say , is voiced by other dealers. In a few years time they probably will just become a fond memory just as the Second hand bookshop has become. Very sad and in my opinion very damaging for the book trade etc
Still , having said that I will be going to the Royal National this coming Sunday not because I expect to find anything but because a major bookdealer in crime fiction has promised to buy me lunch !! However having just spent several thousand pounds with him , he can afford it !!
Keep up the excellent work on your Crime Fiction Website
Nick
Rod said,
March 31, 2009 @ 8:56 pm
Hi Nick
I agree that most bookfairs will soon be a thing of the past - it’s a sad thing, I used to love going to them myself.
Pleased you like the Classic Crime fiction site it’s been a huge job but one that still gives me a real sense of pleasure. I still enjoy putting new content on it and I don’t imagine a day when it will be finished !
As to a free lunch in London - order the most expensive thing on the menu !
I can only imagine one crime fiction book dealer making such a lavish offer
Make your teeth meet - literally !
All the best
Rod
Nick said,
April 2, 2009 @ 9:15 pm
Rod
Oops……….a slight mistake on my part. I wish I had thousands to spend on a book let alone in these credit crunch days. I should be so lucky !!
With respect I doubt whether you would know the individual concerned. Having been a dealer for some longer than I can remember he is now, in effect retired and spends most of his time in Portugal playing golf. When in London he attends the odd book fair just as a fond memory of ” the good old days “. However as he says , it remains in the blood and he still comes across the odd “item of interest” every now again.
Apologies if any confusion caused.
Take care
Nick
Rod said,
April 3, 2009 @ 7:42 am
Nick,
it’s spending £1,000s and free lunches that threw me
I also take back my earlier advice, order something more reasonably priced
Have a great time and hope you bag something at the book fair as well
All the best
Rod
Amiguru said,
September 24, 2009 @ 5:33 pm
Hi Rod,
I watched episode one of The Victorian Farm on Sunday and noticed that they were using Stephen’s Book of the Farm of which I have a copy. This evening I googled it and found a 1st Edn. minus one volume on E-bay selling for £600. I’m not sure which edition mine is but it is a complete set in good condition but currently boxed up in storage. Is this generally a high value set or is it particularly inflated due to the popularity of the TV programme?
Rod said,
September 24, 2009 @ 6:03 pm
Amiguru,
it does look like a good set of books, especially if a first edition set.
TV shows do inflate book values in as much as they increase demand so prices go up due to increased scarcity and greedy book dealers
In this case though, whilst not familiar with the programme, I doubt this affects the books value
Cheers
Rod