Page 46 - joa-december-23

Absurd Book Prices

hile there is nothing wrong with doing your homework So, I was very disappointed as far as this was concerned … it was
before you sell old books (or really anything) to a dealer, if now impossible for me to buy the book because of the owner’s inflated
Wyou don’t have any experience and or don’t know what you expectations. Even if I convinced her to sell it to me for a lesser price
are doing, it can be counterproductive at best. This is not generally true because it was not worth what she thought it was, that could come back
when I am buying books from collectors of certain subjects who, and bite me later if she had seller’s remorse and went around
because they concentrate on a particular author or subject matter, may bad-mouthing me for it, as she might think that I had cheated her.
well know more than I do about them. And it would just have been a waste of my time telling her that the
But more often than not, when a non-book collector inherits books one for $2,000 wasn’t the exact edition that she had as it was a 1730
from a parent or someone else in the family who was a collector, and printing bound with three other books.
they know nothing about them other than they are old books, that Just easier and safer to decline it with thanks.
could go either way as to whether or not I can buy them. Now this morning, virtually the same thing happened again!
Just yesterday, someone called from a nearby town with older books Someone came in with a milk carton of books that he had inherited
to sell that were her mother’s. Most sounded like the typical older-but- that he wanted to sell. So, I said, sure I’d like to look because you never
not-very-interesting-books from when her mother was growing up, but know. Unfortunately, they were early 1900s schoolbooks of the type
one possible gem was a copy of William Cheselden’s Human Anatomy, which have little value to me even if they were in good condition, which
seventh edition printed in 1756, and illustrated with copperplates of these weren’t. And even worse, he had looked up every single one and
various views of anatomy. Now this was gen-uinely interesting and had what he thought were their values written on slips of paper stuck
certainly an unexpected find in boxes of dross. in each book.
So, sure, I expressed interest in her books, especially that one Usually when I see
and the others as well because paper slips fluttering out
you never know what of each book, this, it’s a
else might be in there. deal killer for all the
But that being said, reasons I have men-
I was certainly looking tioned. I already had
forward to seeing the several shelves of these
anatomy book which types of not-so-interest-
my preliminary research ing schoolbooks. Now
had the value in the to be fair, the prices he
$500-$750 range and had on these (mostly
maybe half that or less under ten dollars) were
if there were condition actually about right.
problems. But the most egre-
Remember that this gious example (I don’t
was a 7th edition of a think that I’ve ever
book that had about a used that word before!)
dozen printings and which was a 1901 copy of
had originally come out in The Complete Life of
the 1720s, so while it was a William McKinley by
most interesting book, it Everett in poor condition with a detached fron-
was not super scarce, even tispiece and worn binding. I’ve seen these McKinley books before and
for something printed in 1756, because of the multiple printings and a spate of them were published after McKinley was assassinated in
also the fact that it was a smaller 8 vol. size which had small plates and 1901, so I knew they weren’t scarce, plus I knew I had one or two
not the nicer, larger folio size which had larger more desirable plates. similar ones in stock already, so they weren’t exactly hot sellers, and
Anyway, later in the day, I got a follow-up email from the lady definitely not worth the $990 that he thought it was worth even if it
sending me a link to the Human Anatomy book where a dealer had it was in good shape, which it was not.
priced for over $2,000. This is the flip side of non-book people trying Well, just to be sure when I looked it up, it was just as I expected, I
to research rare books on the internet where anyone can try to sell found literally dozens of copies for sale for under $20 each. I have no
anything for any price. When selling books, owners usually go for the idea where he found the $990 price.
most expensive copy for sale online and ignore dozens of similar copies But, that’s the internet for you!
for sale at a fraction of that high price.

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

44 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles