Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Old and Rare Books - Get rich or at least get dinner.
 
  • Locked thread
WAY TO GO WAMPA!!
Oct 27, 2007

:slick: :slick: :slick: :slick:

Captain Mog posted:

My grandfather has a copy of Paradise Lost from the mid-18th century which is really loving cool. He told me he'll will it to me for when he's gone. I couldn't bring myself to sell something like that, though, from the sentimental value alone.

I remember I once purchased a hardcover copy of "The Great Gatsby" from a garage sale that was fairly old, but was dismayed to discover it wasn't worth anything. Usually books have to have something valuable about them other than simply "it's old" to be worth anything- ie a first-run print or special edition of a famous work.
In a lot of cases the first printing/edition of a famous author's first book will be worth the most out of their whole bibliography because it means someone had bought and preserved it when the book first came out and before that author got super famous. Because the author is less established at the time of their first book there are also less copies being printed in that first run. But yeah, just because a book is from the 1800's or early 1900's doesn't mean it's worth a lot because it might have had a huge release and everyone had a copy or whatever. If it's from the 1700's or earlier then yeah, it might be just based on age alone.

(and if it's from before the 1600's then you're getting into some serious antique, maybe museum-level poo poo)

A good condition dust jacket on an already rare or old book can add ridiculous value, especially if it's from the earlier part of the 20th century since back when they were first introduced people would literally tear them off the book and throw them away since they were there just as packaging. This is from a year ago, but goes into the details of what can make a first edition book and a first edition dust jacket so expensive:

http://artdaily.com/news/65527/Grea...s-#.VCwMNPldXGC

* # ¿ Oct 1, 2014 15:22
  • Quote
Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 16, 2024 12:54
  • Quote
  • Locked thread
The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Old and Rare Books - Get rich or at least get dinner.