Collectable books

[Jcwjosh]

Good Morning,

I am considering buying a 1st edition 1st print Harry potter book for my sons first christmas, with a view that it would be worth a bit more in 10-20 years time aswell as being one of my favourties. I wondered if anyone else dabbles in collecting books ? Or invested in books, it feels odd to me spending over £1000 on a book.

Ive also considered some of Ian Flemings bond books but not sure if these would have a smiliar value.

[ChrisPackit]

Hi

I collect Ian Fleming 1st editions and started around 15 years ago when the prices weren't quite as high as they are now. I have the full set of 14 novels, all in 1st / 1st state except CR and LALD which are 2nd impressions. I would hope my set would fetch a 5 figure sum if sold (and I didn't pay anywhere near that over the years) but you can pay £50,000+ for the 1st / 1st of Casino Royale in mint condition (less than 5000 printed worldwide)

So in answer to your question, I would imagine it's a pretty safe bet buying a HP 1st, but which one would it be? Ive seen the 1st / 1st of Philosophers Stone go for £25-£30,000 so it can't be that one. I have a couple of 1st Harry Potter paperbacks but nowhere near as collectible as the HB. Remember to buy on condition too, the dust jacket is more important than the book itself believe it or not so pay attention to this. Also, ex-library books are worth a lot less than shop sold books too.

HTH

Chris

[droopsnoot]

ChrisPackit said:

Also, ex-library books are worth a lot less than shop sold books too.

Oh, that's a pity. I've got three John Francome first editions, one signed, which came from the library that I was hoping would be worth more than I paid for them. Well, I guess they probably are given the library prices, but as he's not a massive-selling author, that probably limits it too.

[Jcwjosh]

ChrisPackit said:

Hi

I collect Ian Fleming 1st editions and started around 15 years ago when the prices weren't quite as high as they are now. I have the full set of 14 novels, all in 1st / 1st state except CR and LALD which are 2nd impressions. I would hope my set would fetch a 5 figure sum if sold (and I didn't pay anywhere near that over the years) but you can pay £50,000+ for the 1st / 1st of Casino Royale in mint condition (less than 5000 printed worldwide)

So in answer to your question, I would imagine it's a pretty safe bet buying a HP 1st, but which one would it be? Ive seen the 1st / 1st of Philosophers Stone go for £25-£30,000 so it can't be that one. I have a couple of 1st Harry Potter paperbacks but nowhere near as collectible as the HB. Remember to buy on condition too, the dust jacket is more important than the book itself believe it or not so pay attention to this. Also, ex-library books are worth a lot less than shop sold books too.

HTH

Chris

Hi Chris, thanks for sharing your collecting history and thoughts.

It was a 1st editiion 1st print hardback Philosophers stone on ebay, up for £1750.. The seller made me a reduced offer still over £1000.

It had a good condition dust jacket, . I have just checked and it has now sold so i guess it was a good deal. I will still keep an eye out i think. I did notice that it was a ted smart and not a bloomsbury so i guess this is why its value is less am i correct in saying that ?

[Richard-390a0]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-5455...

Ex-Library books not worth very much you say!?...

[ChrisPackit]

Jcwjosh said:

Hi Chris, thanks for sharing your collecting history and thoughts.

It was a 1st editiion 1st print hardback Philosophers stone on ebay, up for £1750.. The seller made me a reduced offer still over £1000.

It had a good condition dust jacket, . I have just checked and it has now sold so i guess it was a good deal. I will still keep an eye out i think. I did notice that it was a ted smart and not a bloomsbury so i guess this is why its value is less am i correct in saying that ?

I don't know an awful lot about the HP books but I believe the Bloomsbury variants are the ones to collect. With the Ian Fleming novels, the Book Club used to produce a version years after it's first release but the Book Club versions are worth a small fraction of the Jonathon Cape versions.

Maybe check out Adrian Harrington or West Hull Rare Books for a feel of what they are going for. I have bought a few off Dave at West Hull.

Thanks

[ben5575]

I read and loved the Bourne Trilogy through university.

It was obvious to me that when the films went out it would become a big thing so I picked the 1st's up for peanuts back in c.2001.

They're still worth peanuts

[plasticpig]

Condition is incredibly important with first editions. I have a 1st edition of Peter And Wendy (Peter Pan) by JM Barrie which would maybe be worth £300 to £500 due to condition and missing dust jacket. In fine condition with dust jacket it would fetch 10 times that.

[matchmaker]

I have two first edition hardback Harry Potters - from later in the series. Both in excellent condition and not even read.

Unfortunately they aren't actually worth very much

[generationx]

I've collected as many of the Autocourse annuals as I can afford, the early ones getting more and more pricy. I'm quite pleased with a continuous run from 1967 to present day (lots of heavy shelf space!), some of the early ones in better nick than the others. They're a great source of reference and joy. I also have every Rallycourse.

[bigandclever]

Jcwjosh said:

Hi Chris, thanks for sharing your collecting history and thoughts.

It was a 1st editiion 1st print hardback Philosophers stone on ebay, up for £1750.. The seller made me a reduced offer still over £1000.

It had a good condition dust jacket, . I have just checked and it has now sold so i guess it was a good deal. I will still keep an eye out i think. I did notice that it was a ted smart and not a bloomsbury so i guess this is why its value is less am i correct in saying that ?

I know it’s expired/sold but do you have the link? There are 4 things that need to be present for it to be a proper first edition: Bloomsbury; print line runs down to 1; a typo on page 53 (kit list has “1 wand”, twice); and the latest year on the copyright page is 1997. Without all of those things (for instance, the extra wand wasn’t in the 2nd edition, but did appear in subsequent editions, but then they have later print runs/copyright years) it wasn’t a first edition. And since they go for waaaaaay more than a grand anyway... my guess would be it was a first edition of the 1999 deluxe edition, which you can get retail for less than a grand.

ETA and now I’ve read your post and seen ‘ted smart’. First editions were printed in 1998 for The Book People. There’s one for sale on abe books asking £3k. I doubt it’s worth half that.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?b...

Edited by bigandclever on Wednesday 28th October 13:37

[droopsnoot]

generationx said:

I've collected as many of the Autocourse annuals as I can afford, the early ones getting more and more pricy. I'm quite pleased with a continuous run from 1967 to present day (lots of heavy shelf space!), some of the early ones in better nick than the others. They're a great source of reference and joy. I also have every Rallycourse.

I collected Rallycourse too, but I stopped around 2000 I think. I only started because I was in Chester one day and saw the cheap bookshop had a couple in, and another cheap bookshop up the road had a third, still in the cardboard cover, for about a fiver each. Once I'd got those, I kept picking them up when I could, but not at massive prices. Recently remembered to turn them around on the bookshelf, so the spines don't fade as some have.

I've only got a couple of Autocourse, but they're similarly nice to look at.

[dandarez]

bigandclever said:

Jcwjosh said:

Hi Chris, thanks for sharing your collecting history and thoughts.

It was a 1st editiion 1st print hardback Philosophers stone on ebay, up for £1750.. The seller made me a reduced offer still over £1000.

It had a good condition dust jacket, . I have just checked and it has now sold so i guess it was a good deal. I will still keep an eye out i think. I did notice that it was a ted smart and not a bloomsbury so i guess this is why its value is less am i correct in saying that ?

I know it’s expired/sold but do you have the link? There are 4 things that need to be present for it to be a proper first edition: Bloomsbury; print line runs down to 1; a typo on page 53 (kit list has “1 wand”, twice); and the latest year on the copyright page is 1997. Without all of those things (for instance, the extra wand wasn’t in the 2nd edition, but did appear in subsequent editions, but then they have later print runs/copyright years) it wasn’t a first edition. And since they go for waaaaaay more than a grand anyway... my guess would be it was a first edition of the 1999 deluxe edition, which you can get retail for less than a grand.

ETA and now I’ve read your post and seen ‘ted smart’. First editions were printed in 1998 for The Book People. There’s one for sale on abe books asking £3k. I doubt it’s worth half that.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?b...

I have little or no knowledge about HP books except grandkids have some. However, I'd never ever be parting with good money for something like a first edition that has had so many variations, print runs and different publishers and now mass market. I'm saying that as a (specialist) book publisher of many years. I would have thought HP editions by the 'Book People' would fetch little? As for a grand, that seems way over the top to me. £3k sounds absolutely and utterly mad!

Bit like having a nice almost mint copy of Le Carre's The Spy who Came in from the Cold (orig pub in 1963) but a 1964 edition by The Reprint Society. In fact, I have one - found by sheer luck when spotted in amongst a box of books I paid a couple quid for in a charity shop some yrs ago. It still looks like it just came off the shelf in 1964 but it's worth a fiver at most, but I only bought it to read and because the layout and typography is far superior to the modern crap Penguin reprints usually about 15 quid ea. I just wanted a hard copy - I loathe kindle versions of any book, I just happened to be lucky with what I found. There are masses of Le Carre's first edition out there, way in excess of the print run of the most recent book I've published.

Lots of the copies you see for sale will invariably be 'signed by Le Carre' - yeah, a 1963 copy - signed in 2018, not when published!
Nice to own and keep if it had been yours for a long time, and signed in recent years. Not to sell nor buy.
A very and highly risky business is buying so-called collectable books, especially those titles of which there are hundreds, if not thousands, available.
If not knowledgeable in an area don't pay silly money. You can easily get your fingers burnt. Don't say you haven't been warned. As for buying off ebay, a book printed in many thousands thinking you have a collectable one, good luck! I would want to view it, not only see pics. And via the post? Will it be covered if damaged or lost?

Edited by dandarez on Wednesday 28th October 19:50

[ChrisPackit]

dandarez said:

I have little or no knowledge about HP books except grandkids have some. However, I'd never ever be parting with good money for something like a first edition that has had so many variations, print runs and different publishers and now mass market. I'm saying that as a (specialist) book publisher of many years. I would have thought HP editions by the 'Book People' would fetch little? As for a grand, that seems way over the top to me. £3k sounds absolutely and utterly mad!

Bit like having a nice almost mint copy of Le Carre's The Spy who Came in from the Cold (orig pub in 1963) but a 1964 edition by The Reprint Society. In fact, I have one - found by sheer luck when spotted in amongst a box of books I paid a couple quid for in a charity shop some yrs ago. It still looks like it just came off the shelf in 1964 but it's worth a fiver at most, but I only bought it to read and because the layout and typography is far superior to the modern crap Penguin reprints usually about 15 quid ea. I just wanted a hard copy - I loathe kindle versions of any book, I just happened to be lucky with what I found. There are masses of Le Carre's first edition out there, way in excess of the print run of the most recent book I've published.

Lots of the copies you see for sale will invariably be 'signed by Le Carre' - yeah, a 1963 copy - signed in 2018, not when published!
Nice to own and keep if it had been yours for a long time, and signed in recent years. Not to sell nor buy.
A very and highly risky business is buying so-called collectable books, especially those titles of which there are hundreds, if not thousands, available.
If not knowledgeable in an area don't pay silly money. You can easily get your fingers burnt. Don't say you haven't been warned. As for buying off ebay, a book printed in many thousands thinking you have a collectable one, good luck! I would want to view it, not only see pics. And via the post? Will it be covered if damaged or lost?

Edited by dandarez on Wednesday 28th October 19:50

If you know what you are looking for, then collectible books can be a great investment and much better than cash in the bank. They key here is 'knowing what you're looking for' - I collect old Ian Fleming books and yes you can get caught out thinking you've got a rare one when it's some reasonably undesirable variant, just because it was printed in the 50's or 60's.

In respect to print runs, most books will be in the 1000's, but yet a 1st edition, 1st print of less than 5000 Casino Royale could set you back £75,000.... for a single book!

So a case of Cavaet Emptor applies when buying books.... do your research.

C

[andy_s]

Probably (& necessarily) rough examples but I like them, first for being the book(s), second their age (1889) and for being in the cusp of the British public coming round to straight edges for their book paper (left rough here but not for much longer).