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To Buy, or Not to Buy, That is the Question

hy do we collect books or anything the same passions in later generations of would be in keeping with the man’s philosophy
else for that matter? Not everyone is collectors who did not grow up with them. of keeping things simple and it was the infor-
Wa collector, of course, but I’d bet that And who but historians remember Sarah mation I wanted, not something rare.
there have been collectors ever since there have Bernhardt who, in the 1890s, was called the Well, that changed a few years later when I
been things to collect. Probably some cave- most famous actress the world has ever became more knowledgeable about old books
man’s kid collected shiny pebbles. known? Sarah who? Will Elizabeth Taylor and first editions. I wished that I had been
Sometimes collecting is an attempt to recap- someday be the Sarah Bernhardt and Elvis more serious about it earlier on.
ture things from your childhood or youth. I Presley the Rudie Vallee of their day? I know First I collected so that I could have the
can’t tell you how many times I heard a cus- they both still have their own websites information. I started collecting for the love of
tomer say that they were buying Hardy Boys or (including Sarah!), but I’d guess that their it and the thrill of the chase. Now, many years
Nancy Drew books or other items they had popularity has peaked and, sooner or later, later I have first editions.
because their mother threw them out. Mothers they will become a distant memory. When I started my collection in the early
seem to like to do that. Actually, when you So I guess my warning is, if you are collect- 1970s, I had no idea I would ever own a first
think of it, many items are now rare and valu- ing for investment, beware of nos- edition of Walden. I didn’t
able simply because so many mothers threw so talgic items that are over hyped by know the first or second thing
many of them away. Yet, if every childhood one generation only to be ignored about old and rare books so I
book and toy been saved, they would be every- by the next. But on the other hand would have scoffed that such a
where and not valuable. if you really love Roy Rogers stuff, thing was even possible.

And those where the days
What is Going to be Valuable? now would be the time to collect it. when you could get a nice first
You can’t go wrong if you collect
It is not always easy to tell what a collectable something because it gives you edition of Walden for maybe
will be worth years from now. One example of pleasure, just don’t collect stuff $750 or so. I can still remem-
this is that so many people saved Kennedy because other people are collecting ber turning one down in a
assassination newspapers and magazines with it or because you are expecting Big Concord, Mass. bookshop
the result that they are everywhere and usually Bucks from it when you sell. because 1. I had one already
not worth much. and 2. I thought it was too
If you are collecting as an investment, But What About Books? much money. Now, even in
somehow you’d need to figure out something Books don’t seem to be subject this economy it would be
interesting that is available now that no one to that degree of nuttiness, yet. As a worth a couple thousand!
now would think to save, but which would be rule of thumb, I would guess that And, some years later when
valuable sometime in the future. There is no more often than not the best-selling I had become a bookseller, I
formula for that, so you are on your own. The authors of two or three generations ago usually passed up another first of Walden at an anti-
only thing I can suggest for that is not to buy turn into worst sellers. In the 1920s, collectors quarian book fair even though it was reasonably
something that everyone else is buying because were paying very high prices for books by John priced at about $650 because it had been
sooner or later it will probably all go bust. Galsworthy. Now, you could say that John rebound in the ugliest, modern, orange cloth
Of course the best thing is to collect some- Galsworthy is the Roy Rogers of the book binding that I had ever seen. It was hideous.
thing purely because it gives you enjoyment world, except that he never had a restaurant The dealer still had it a year later at the next
and not as something to make money on later. chain. book fair. I mean it was that U-G-L-Y.
This way you can not go too far wrong, and if Some collectors collect for investment and So after I got home this next time I
it does turn out that it is worth more when you pay big prices for rare stuff while others collect thought—duh!—I could have bought it, had it
do decide to sell, then that’s like having your just for the fun of it and don’t care about value. rebound in full leather and easily sold it at a
cake and eating it, too. Before the economy collapsed, collecting was profit. Normally, you shouldn’t rebind rare

great. For books and virtually everything else.
Ah, the Good Old Days You could literally have your cake and eat it too books, but since it had already lost its original
There is no denying that nostalgia is a because when you or your heirs were ready to cover in this case it didn’t matter. And anything
powerful force in the collecting world and can sell, the items were probably worth much more I could have done would have been a welcomed
drive up prices for rare items to the strato- than what you paid for them. improvement. Of course when I went back the
sphere. Yet much of this is generational and Sometimes we collect for knowledge. I now following year to buy it, it had finally sold
based on first hand personal experiences of that have a serious Thoreau collection, but it started which served me right for dawdling.
particular generation of collectors which may out when I was in school, became interested in In each instance, I was guilty of too much
or may not be shared by later generations of the man, and needed more than what the local short term thinking and not enough long term
collectors who say did not go to see Liz Taylor library could supply. At first, I deliberately thinking. It’s not easy to predict the future.
in the movie Cleopatra when it first came out or collected cheap editions because I thought that Even experienced dealers and collectors who
go to an Elvis Presley concert or eagerly await should know, often don’t. March, 2013
his next record. James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since 1975, when he decided
Not to pick on Liz and Elvis, I am just using that it would be more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to get a “real” job. For a born collector like
them as examples. Of course, we will always Jim, having a shop just might be another excuse to buy more books. He has about 30,000 second hand and rare
have their films and recordings and admire books on the shelves, and just about all subjects are represented. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 154; Trappe,
their talents, but that probably won’t awaken MD 21673; 410-476-3838; unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; www.unicornbookshop.com
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