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An Unopened and Undated Book

Good morning James, Dear Jim,
I came across an article you wrote and thought you may be able to Thank you for taking the time to respond. There isn’t a date on these
answer a question for me. books, but they are all published by Merrill & Baker, green hardcover with
I came across nine George Eliot books from the late 1800s to list for sale, gilt on the spine & cover. They are all in excellent condition, illustrated,
and noticed that on our copy of Middlemarch (Cabinet Edition), the Table and inscribed with a local prominent family name and Christmas of 1898.
of Contents & Illustrations List pages were never cut apart. I’ve been trying figure out a date other than that, but no luck. – L.L.
I know that some errors can change the value of an Antique book - Anyways, thank you again for your information. Be well.
whether it be higher or lower - so I was hoping you may have insight on that
for this book. – L.L. Dear L.L.,
Virtually all first editions, early editions and authorized editions are
Dear L.L., dated. So when you see old books that aren’t dated, it is a virtual
The “Cabinet Edition” sounds like a circa 1900 collected works guarantee that they are later, usually much later editions that were
which would not be first editions and is not a complete set anyway as printed after the copyright had expired and the book became public
other sets have 10 or more volumes. domain. Or, in this case, the book may well just be a cheap knockoff or
Most of the errors that collectors love are printing errors that usually even a pirated copy which was common then when laws enforcing
raise the value, but your book has a binding error and binding errors copyrighted books by foreign authors like
usually lower the value of books. Binding errors occur Eliot with no royalties paid to the author.
more frequently and are erratic unlike This was common around the turn of
printing errors which can occur in com- the last century which fits the owner
plete print runs of books and are used for inscription in your book dated 1898.
identification purposes. – Jim
But believe it or not, with collecting,
just about anything is possible – and books And speaking of unopened books in
are no exception. Around 1900 some another sense:
publishers issued what is called untrimmed Hi, Jim –
editions which left the outer long edge of I have a 1946 copyrighted 1768
the book raggedy on purpose and because of Encyclopedia Britannica full 24-volume
that many pages were not trimmed and set. I also have a full 10-volume set of
separated and so many pages could not be Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
opened. How’s that for exclusivity! An published in NY. Not sure the year of the
expensive collector book that you can’t read! Century set but I know they’re 1900s.
Those should not be tampered with so if you Would you be interested in purchasing
want to read it, just buy a cheaper copy. This these or know of a buyer. I’d love to see
state of a book is called unopened and those them go to someone who collects things
that were made like that on purpose and like that. I am helping clean out a family home that has books from
unopened collector books should be left alone. great-great-grandparents, so I will have lots of books that I’m looking to sell
However, your copy was not made like that on purpose because just if interested. Lots of old textbooks as well.
one or two pages can’t be opened because the book was poorly trimmed A.B.
when it was made. If you don’t want to read the book, just leave it
alone. But if it bothers you, that you can carefully open the pages. I Dear A.B.
sometimes use a letter opener or a sharp knife. Sorry, but I don’t buy old encyclopedias and textbooks, nor do I
Decades ago when I was young I bought a 24 volume set of Mark know anyone who does. Frankly, you’d be lucky if you could give them
Twain’s works at a local auction not to collect them but because I wanted away. Thanks – Jim D.
to read them and since every single volume was untrimmed, and thus
unopened I had to separate dozens of pages in each volume. which took And if you don’t believe me. Just now, the very next day, someone
some time. came in about a 1960s encyclopedia set that he just wanted to give away
As I said, with your copy it is a production flaw and not something and he hoped that I would want them or know someone who would
done on purpose, so I don’t think separating the pages would affect the and I had to give him the bad news, too.
value at all, as long as it is done neatly. And a two days later, I had to give yet someone else the bad news
Hope this helps, – Jim D. about the set of encyclopedias that they wanted to give away.

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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