Getting more $$ from your Book Sale -or- Is this Old Book valuable?
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This document summarizes a presentation given by Cecelia Lawrence and Michael Sauers on evaluating books and determining their value. It outlines several criteria for evaluating books, including scarcity, importance, author, edition, condition, age, aesthetics, and associations. It then provides more details on aspects like editions versus printings, condition grades and descriptors, and potential resources for researching books. The presentation aims to help librarians and others determine if old books in their collections may have monetary value and provide tips on selling books that do not sell at sales.
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Getting more $$ from your Book Sale -or- Is this Old Book valuable?
- 1. Getting more $$ from your Book Sale OR Is this Old Book valuable? Presented by Cecelia Lawrence and Michael Sauers Nebraska Library Association Annual Conference, October 16, 2015
- 7. NLA/NEMA2015
- 8. NLA/NEMA2015
- 9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 NLA/NEMA2015 Printing
- 10. 75 76 77 78 79 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 (Fourth Printing, 1975) NLA/NEMA2015 Printing
- 11. First edition 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (First edition – Third Printing) NLA/NEMA2015 Printing
- 12. NLA/NEMA2015 Some of Michael’s Favorite “Confusing” Examples
- 13. Limited Editions
- 14. For more info on Edition vs. Printing Editions and Printings, How to Tell the Difference: a guide for book collectors by Michael Sauers http://www.travelinlibrarian.info/writing/editions/
- 16. NLA/NEMA2015
- 17. NLA/NEMA2015 Condition Grades As New Fine (F or FN) Very Good (VG) Good (G) Fair Poor Binding Copy Reading Copy
- 18. Condition Descriptors Here are some examples of common terms when it comes to describing a books condition and what they mean… NLA/NEMA2015
- 26. Price Clipped NLA/NEMA2015 Hanging On photos courtesy of Randy Wiggins
- 27. More Condition Descriptors Other terms used in Conjunction with the Grading Scale Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) Bowed Dampstained Darkening or Fading Edgeworn Loose Made-up Copy (Uncorrected) Proof Re-backed Re-cased Re-jointed Shaken Shelf Wear Sunned Stripped Tight Trimmed Unopened Working copy Worming or Wormholes NLA/NEMA2015
- 28. NLA/NEMA2015 Age
- 31. Remarques
- 32. Edition Aesthetics Age Author Importance Scarcity Condition Association NLA/NEMA2015 Tying it all together…
- 33. Print Resources
- 34. NLA/NEMA2015 Online Resources Editions & Printings: How to Tell the Difference http://www.travelinlibrarian.info/writing/editions/ ABEBooks.com Alibris.com
- 35. NLA/NEMA2015 What if the book doesn’t sell?
- 36. NLA/NEMA2015 You can lower the asking price and try to sell the item at your next sale. Set up an Sellers account online with Abe Books or ebay and sell it yourself. Utilize a service like BetterWorld Books…
- 37. NLA/NEMA2015
- 39. Getting more $$ from your Book Sale OR Is this Old Book valuable? By Cecelia Lawrence and Michael Sauers THANK YOU FOR COMING!! NLA/NEMA2015
Notas do Editor
- Good Morning and Welcome to Getting More Dollars from your Book Sale or Is this old book valuable?? My name is Cecelia Lawrence and I am the director at the North Platte Public Library. As librarians, we know that Rare books can sell for hundred, thousands, even millions of dollars. But what factors turn a book, common in most households into an item of value? Well there isn’t a single hard and fast rule, usually it is a combination of factors that give a book some sort of value. Every year our Friends of the Library hold two book sales. And while they tend to make between $3500 and 6000, we knew that some buyers were getting rare first edition books at 50 cents or a dollar and we were missing out on that revenue. I was actually the one who noticed about 100 first editions that came in from an estate that the Friends sold for fifty cents each. The books were older, but in great condition. I found a first edition American Printing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskerville’s – Another Sherlock Holmes Adventure” from 1902 was worth between $375 and $425 based on its condition. After that Book Sale, in which the Friends lost quite a bit of potential revenue, I started evaluating and pricing rare and potentially valuable items. Now, the Friends members have always pre-sorted our donated books and library discards into broad subject headings, so we simply added another category for old and rare items. And I implemented a procedure to evaluate and set a price on these special items. It was out of this evaluation procedure that this presentation was created. And now I train volunteers to determine book value. But before we get started, I want to say that I am not a professional book expert, nor am I a book appraiser. The knowledge I have comes from several years of handling and pricing the rare and valuable books for the Friends of the Library Book Sale, as well as doing research on evaluating valuable books. I am going to share with you the tips and tricks that you need to know to determine if you have a valuable book based on several criteria, look at the online tools available to help you and what to do with your specially priced books that don’t sell at your book sale. So with that disclaimer, let’s get started!
- There is quite a list of evaluation criteria and while we are going to look at each of these, I can tell you that the two most important criteria are the edition and the condition.
- Scarcity – Is the book hard to find because only a few copies exist? The advent of the internet has actually shown that many books really weren’t that scarce. A Good Example of true Scarcity would be the first American edition of Moby Dick because a majority of editions were destroyed in a warehouse fire. Publishers can also artificially create scarcity by printing a small number of copies, a limited edition in order to create desirability.
- Does the book have any social significance that makes it desirable? Did it influence literature like Jane Austin’s Pride & Prejudice? Or politics, like Marx’s Das Kapital? (The one shown is signed by UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN ABRAM PIATT ANDREW, JR. which also makes it an “association copy” which we’ll talk about later.) In most cases the earliest copy is the most desirable; which is the true first edition.
- Collectors want to own books by successful authors and usually it is the earliest edition they want the most. If the author has signed a book, that is going to push up its value. The death of a major author can push up prices as well.
- Edition – Collectors want the first edition, first printing of a book. That means the title’s first appearance. Later editions and reprints just don’t have the same appeal. Take for example The Grapes of wrath by John Steinbeck. There are many editions of the Grapes of Wrath by different publishers. But to find the original hardback with its dustjacket in good condition is what will make that a valuable book.
- So lets talk about what is a first edition, because being able to correctly identify a first edition may greatly impact the value of the book. So again, the first edition of a book is the first appearance of a title by a specific publisher. There are many publishers and they all use different methods of defining a first edition and those methods often change. If you are a collector, you are interested in collecting a true first edition. That is the original printing of a book. The handout I have is available on the NLA convention website and includes a valuable list from Quill and Brush Books. This particular website is extremely valuable because it takes you through how to identify first editions by quite a few publishers. But lets start with modern day practices. You might get lucky and the publisher may actually state first edition or first printing on the copyright page. However stating the words first edition or first printing is a style most typically only used since World War II.
- So lets talk about what is a first edition, because being able to correctly identify a first edition may greatly impact the value of the book. So again, the first edition of a book is the first appearance of a title by a specific publisher. There are many publishers and they all use different methods of defining a first edition and those methods often change. If you are a collector, you are interested in collecting a true first edition. That is the original printing of a book. The handout I have is available on the NLA convention website and includes a valuable list from Quill and Brush Books. This particular website is extremely valuable because it takes you through how to identify first editions by quite a few publishers. But lets start with modern day practices. You might get lucky and the publisher may actually state first edition or first printing on the copyright page. However stating the words first edition or first printing is a style most typically only used since World War II.
- However, books also have printings which are not the same an edition. Think of it this way: if a book first comes out in hardcover and later in paperback, those are two different editions. However, the publisher might print 500,000 hardcovers and then the book sells so well, they go back and print another 500,000. Those are two different printings of the same edition. So, how do you tell which printing you have? Again, for most modern books, this is indicated by the number line on the copyright page. The line sequence could ascend or descend or even have no discernible order depending on the publisher. <CLICK> All of these sequences are first printings. because they have the number 1 in their line.
- Sometimes the number line includes the year. This number line identifies a second printing printed in 1975.
- Sometimes the number line is also accompanied by the words ‘first edition’, but be careful because some publishers leave on the words ‘first edition’ even when the book is in its third printing <CLICK> and that fact is reflected in the number three in this number line. The three being the lowest number shown in the line.
- Related: Numbered, Lettered, PC
- Condition – If house buying is location, location, location, then rare book buying is condition, condition, condition. <CLICK> And the condition includes the presence and condition of a dust jacket. In some first editions, say The Great Gatsby for instance; the presence of a dust jacket IS the defining aspect of the books value. Condition and edition are very important to assessing a book’s value.
- Condition is very subjective, but understanding the grading system of books will help you determine a value. This information is available in your handout. As New: The book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. This could be the description for a book that has been lost in a warehouse for years, never shelved, thumbed or even opened yet may still be some years old. Fine (F or FN): A Fine book approaches the condition of As New, but without being crisp. The book may have been opened and read, but there are no defects to the book, jacket or pages. Very Good (VG): Describes a book that shows some small signs of wear - but no tears - on either binding or paper. Any defects should be noted by the seller. Good (G): Describes the average used worn book that has all pages or leaves present. Any defects should be noted by the seller. Fair: Worn book that has complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc. (which must be noted). Binding, jacket (if any), etc., may also be worn. All defects should be noted. Poor: Describes a book that is sufficiently worn. Any missing maps or plates should still be noted. This copy may be soiled, scuffed, stained or spotted and may have loose joints, hinges, pages, etc. Binding Copy: describes a book in which the pages or leaves are perfect but the binding is very bad, loose, off, or nonexistent. Reading Copy: A copy usually in poor to fair condition that includes all text presented in a legible fashion. The copy is fine to read but nothing more.
- Other Descriptors used in Conjunction with the Above Grading Scale. The handout I’ve given you also has this. But the conditions I run into most often are: Bowed - A condition of the covers or boards of a hard cover book. Bowed covers may turn inward toward the leaves or outward away from the leaves. The condition generally results from a rapid change in the level of moisture in the air and is caused by different rates of expansion or contraction of the paste-down and the outer material covering the board. Bumped Corners The corners are basically dented in and no longer at a 90 degree angle. Chipped - Used to describe where small pieces are missing from the edges of the boards or where fraying has occurred on a dust jacket or the edge of a paperback. Edgeworn - Wear along the edges of hardback book covers. Ex-library – the book was once owned by, and circulated in, a public library. This book could well be in any of the above general categories but more often than not has been well used. May have library stickers, stamps, or markings. Any former library book must be marked ex-library. With this said—you would think that Ex-library books don’t have much value. And you would be right about 90% of the time. However Library’s purchase expensive coffee table books and rare reference works and local history books and small publishers that may only publish 20,000 copies or less. Even with the library markings and barcodes, some of these Library books can still hold their value into the hundreds of dollars. Foxed / Foxing- Brown spotting of the paper caused by a chemical reaction, generally found in 19th century books, particularly in steel engravings of the period. Shelf Wear - The wear that occurs as a book is placed onto and removed from a shelf. It may be to the tail (bottom) edge of the covers as they rub against the shelf, to the dust jacket or exterior of the covers (when no dust jacket is present) as the book rubs against its neighbors, or to the head of the spine which some use to pull the book from the shelf. Sunned - Faded from exposure to light or direct sunlight. Worming, Wormholes - Small holes resulting from bookworms (the larvae of various beetles.) One last condition is Moldy or Mildewy. If you have a book that has spots that are any color except brown, your book may have mold or mildew spores. It is difficult, but not impossible to get mold completely gone from a book. Whenever people donate books to the library that are moldy or mildewy we throw them away immediately because mold spores are airborn spores that easily transfer from book to book.
- Age can affect scarcity but is not usually a critical factor in assessing a books value. Attics and basements usually contain many old books. Old bibles, old encyclopedias, and other books printed in huge quantities, I am sorry to say are worth very little.
- Is you book beautiful? Does it have a gorgeous binding? Or has it been illustrated by a famous artist or contain memorable photography? Many book collectors do judge a book by its cover and a pretty book can fetch a pretty price.
- Association – Books can gain value by being connected to someone of significance. The most common occurrence is when a book has been owned by and/or signed by someone who is important.
- So, IF you have a beautiful first edition of a book of some importance, written by a famous author, and yet it is still in great shape; but has become hard to find and it was once owned by someone of significance – then you have a very valuable book.
- Abe Books is my favorite online resource. So lets go take a look at it. The reason I like abebooks is because they have so many criteria that you can utilize in the advanced search. Alibris is a decent site as well, but because my needs are so specific in what I am looking for, I don’t usually have as much luck on this website because they don’t give you as many search features.
- So I am going to take you through an evaluation process. The book I have here is Johnny Appleseed by Eleanor Atkinson. It was published by Grossett & Dunlap. You will note that it states that this book was published by arrangement with Harper & Brothers. The copyright is listed as 1915 by Harper & Brothers and the F-Q indicates that the publication date is June of 1916. This is very confusing to the actual publication date, however we can definitely deduce that this is not a first edition. Our book has bumped corners, water damage, a decorative cover—but no guilting and rubbing to the spine and boards of the book. It also has a previous owners name written in blue ink. I would rate this as a fair edition. It has too many condition issues to give it a good rating.
- So lets do a search on AbeBooks with the date of 1915 and hard cover with Grosset listed as the publisher
- Abe Books comes back with two hits. The first has a cost of $15.52. and has a book condition of good. Our copy is not quite that good. The second states that it has a dust jacket and a very good plus condition rating. So neither are very good matches, so let’s take a look on alibris.
- Alibris comes back with nine hits from $10 for a good copy with no jacket to $30 for an ex-library copy. Note the $29.95 copy that states it has green board with gilt and black. That is obviously a different printing or edition.
- So, with a fair condition and values online going between $5 and $10, I would give this a value of $8.00. Typically, I will price these books at 50 percent of their value in order for new collectors to start or for re-sellers, since this will leave them a profit margin.
- So the book sale is over and the book didn’t sell. So what now?
- Lower the asking price
- Show website and video. I was skeptical at first about using this, but since we were one of those libraries who were dumping our Book Sale Remainders into the landfills, it seemed like it was worth a try. So before about 2 weeks before our book sale, I order shipping boxes from Betterworld. There is no charge for this. After the sale, we pack the remainder books into the boxes and tape them shut. Then I go to the Betterworld Books website and print off pre-paid UPS shipping labels and tape those on the boxes. Then UPS comes and picks up all the boxes and ships them off. As our donated books sell, the Friends of the Library receives a check once the total amount is over $50 dollars. We typically get a $55 to