Books

 There are simply not enough hours between now and saturday to get everything done that I need to do for both work and the wedding. Nevertheless i am trying! 

Today I have been checking prices for our database for modern first editions. To my surprise the prices on George Orwell's books seem to have gone through the roof. When i was a student at Edinburgh University in the early 1970s little did I think when I was writing my dissertation on Orwell that his books could become so expensive. I, of course, did not have first editions but good old paperbacks, but a girl can dream. . . 

At an auction of first editions at Gorringes in Lewes back in March Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, signed by the author, sold for £86,000, having had a pre-sale estimate of £2,500 -£3,500. The Road to Wigan Pier with an estimate of under £1,000 sold for £9,000. Keep The Aspidistra Flying fetched £11,000 having an estimate of £1-2,000 and Nineteen Eighty-Four fetched £3,600 against an estimate of under £1,000.

Yesterday Mark Hill posted an article about Harry Potter first editions and you can read it HERE

 The BBC's Homes & Antiques magazine is offering a free copy of the Antiques Handbook and Price Guide when you take out a subscription. The magazine costs £16.20 for six issues on direct debit. Click HERE to take advantage of this offer.

I've just had an email about Heritage Auction Galleries the online/live auctioneers who have a rare books sale next week on 8 June. There are some fabulous lots up for sale with some very rich bids already having been placed.

This first edition in the first issue dust jacket of William Faulkner. The Sound and the Fury published in New York by Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith, 1929 is currently standing at $22,000 with the reserve not met.

Another lot is Oscar Wilde's Ravenna - Newdigate Prize Poem Recited in the Theatre, Oxford, June 26, 1878 by Oscar Wilde, Magdalen College. Oxford published by Thos. Shrimpton and Son, Broad Street, 1878. This First edition with Oscar Wilde's presentation inscription on the front wrapper. Estimate is currently at $24,000 with the reserve not yet met.

It really does show the buoyancy of the rare books market.

I am sure many of you, like me, have bought books from Abebooks.com. They have a prodigious list of associated sellers and if there are books out there it's likely that Abebooks will have them. As a regular customer I receive emails from them with all sorts of interesting titbits of information. Today I got an email saying –

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was the 26th president of the United States, and his enduring legacy as a politician and an outdoorsman ensures a strong following among collectors. A lucky (and wealthy) person spent $25,000 on a signed first printing of Roosevelt's first address to Congress in 1901. Roosevelt had entered the White House following the assassination of William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. Browse May's top 10 most expensive sales and you will also discover how Dali met Dante.

If you follow this LINK it will take you to a list of their most expensive sales during May. . .and fascinating it is too.

Two of my favourite quotes about books are from two very different people. The first is one of Groucho Marx's brilliant observations. "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." The other is from Augustine Birrell the English politician and author who said, "Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one."

Of course if we want to collect books it normally means buying them and these days, thanks to the web, it's possible to find almost any book with a few swift key strokes. I have blogged before about addall.com a site that searches all the other internet book sites and it is a terrific resource.

However I was prompted to post on this subject by an email I received from ABE books, one of the biggest internet book sites. It featured many of the classic titles with illustrations of some of the best cover art that is available. I thought I would have a look to compare prices on some classic titles. Take George Orwell's Animal Farm, a firm favourite. First editions are available on ABE books from a high of £6,000 for a 'fine' example down to a low price of £225 for a 'very good' copy. Both these collectors examples naturally come with dust jackets.

Finding a first edition in a junk shop, charity shop or at a car boot is probably a tall order, but it does happen. Books travel the world and it is equally possible to find a copy in some far off country in a remote shop. However, the likelihood of finding a copy in a second hand book shop anywhere in the world is unlikely to happen.

A friend of mine was telling me that he was staying in a beautiful Scottish Country House hotel just last week and in the book case was a leather bound book from the mid 19th century, it was among a whole random selection of titles in the bar. He was drawn to it by its binding and on taking it down to have a closer look it had wonderful engravings of London and told of London life 150 years ago. On looking around the net, after he got home, he found it for sale at around £300.

The hotel had absolutely no idea of what they had, at least they didn't until he called and told them. It just goes to prove that you just never know where things are going to show up.