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What’s It Worth?

n August 20, hated to sign books. I can think of two examples of either extreme here.
2021, I was invited For example, Jimmy Carter has written lots of books and signed lots of
Oto be on Michael books on the one hand, and say, Margaret Mitchell or Hunter S.
Ivankovitch’s radio show Thompson on the other hand, signed comparatively few books, so
What’s It Worth? to talk when you do find signed books by them, it’s noteworthy. Now, that is
about old books. It aired not to say that Jimmy Carter autographs don’t have any value, they
on WBCB 1490 AM out of certainly do, but it’s just that they aren’t too hard to find.
Philadelphia. Besides being I heard a story that Margaret Mitchell so hated autographing copies
a radio personality, Mike is of her famous Gone With The Wind, that when a fan sent her a copy to
an auctioneer, appraiser, and Mike Ivankovich of What’s It Worth? sign that she not only refused to sign it but returned it to the sender
lecturer on antiques. Mike with a long, handwritten note explaining why she would not sign it. Of
read my articles on book collecting in the Journal of Antiques and course, ironically, the letter and unsigned book would be valued at
Collectibles, and since he was kind enough to mention my columns, I’m many times what the autographed book would be worth!
mentioning his show. Each show is about a different collectible. It was Ken Callahan of Callahan and Co. Booksellers in Peterborough,
a lot of fun to do and if you missed it, you can listen to a podcast of the NH who deals in hunting, fishing, and sporting books, adds,
show at wbcb1490.com/whats-it-worth The thing that needs to be emphasized with book values, and the
During the interview, Mike asked me a number of questions relat- values of collectible steam locomo-
ing to books and book collecting that tives, for that matter, is that these
I can elaborate on here, such as: things are not “worth” a given
amount. You can’t take your
Are all old books valuable? Worthington-Simplex double
boiler 24-ton superheated steam
No, just because a book is old locomotive to the bank and cash it
does not mean it is valuable or even in, any more than you can your
collectible. There are literally tons signed copy of The Cat In The
and tons of old books around and Hat. It is worth what a dealer
many of them have run their course will pay you for it, and to him, it
and are not particularly interesting to is worth what a customer will pay
modern readers. That is not to say that for it, if one ever does. My $6,000
books can’t be worth something Walton’s Complete Angler is
because of their age, but just that that worth that much because I say
is not a sure thing. (and hope) it is, and that is only
There are many factors as to what proven if someone actually sends
makes a book valuable which could be me a check for it. On the other
who wrote it, or the subject matter, or hand, my house or your house is
who published it, or how old it is, or actually worth what each one is
who illustrated it, what the binding is, appraised for, if not more,
or even, in some cases, who owned it! The date in a truly old book. because there are eager buyers
Even a boring book that was owned by out there willing to shower vast sums of money on us to gain pos-
someone famous would have value. session of our houses. Big demand, not enough houses. Not so much
Even rarity, by itself, might not be enough. For instance, if someone for a signed copy of Dan Brown’s nineteenth book.
self-published a book of bad poetry in 1900 and the edition was limited Copies of the first Harry Potter bring vast sums because it is a
to say 25 copies, supply and demand would still dictate the price, so if, great and important book, and there are not many of them. And lots
say, only 5 people in the world wanted a copy, there would be a glut of of people clamoring for few that come up for sale. Supply and
20 unsalable copies on the market! demand, supply and demand. – Ken
Books autographed by the author can be collectible provided that it
is a known author, the more famous, the better. Again, supply and I once had someone call me to say that he had a book printed in
demand dictate the value here, too. An author who signed lots of books 1933 and wanted to know what it was worth, apparently thinking that
might, in effect, devalue the price of his or her signatures. So a prolific books were valued like coins and that people collected books based on
author who did lots of book tours and so sold and autographed lots of the year they were printed! I’ve never heard of that being done, but it
books might not be as desirable as an author who for whatever reason, would make for an interesting, and odd, collection.

James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since 1975, when he decided 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 Jim, having a shop just might be another excuse to buy more books. He has about 30,000 second hand and rare books on the shelves, and just
about all subjects are represented. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 154; Trappe, MD 21673; 410-476-3838; unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; www.unicornbookshop.com

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