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Okay, I've never made a thread on SA and I'm just hoping I am not doing a disservice to The Book Barn by posting this here, but I have a very specific question on a deep topic that I thought other people here might be interested in looking into for themselves as well. The topic! "The worth of a book" I one time, while diddling around in South Carolina, stumbled on my favorite book, "A Fable" by Faulkner. But the edition seemed really old. I thought about taking it with me, but eventually put it back on the rack and walked away. I never saw that book again, but I did research it. Apparently, an original print of that book can go into the thousands of dollars. I saw one copy, mint (as was the one I found and passed up) for about $5,000 online.  So starting then, just for the heck of it, I started just buying Faulkner books specifically that were quite old. Just as a little something to do when I visit a city, I go into some bookstores and see what they've got. I never really think they'll be worth anything, but I enjoy having them so I buy them even if they're not worth the $2.00 I spend on it. And if I get lucky, well, I've got a car and student loans who could use that money more than I could use another copy of The Sound and the Fury. So now I'm in Paris and I kind of commute an awkward way most days so I can walk past some used bookstores. And crammed into a corner of this one store, just... shining in my vision was a copy of Tandis Que J'agonise (As I Lay Dying). It's a 1934 print, the first edition of the French version. Number 586 of the first 3,100.    So the cover is very blue. The text and paper is remarkably clean, as if nobody ever opened it. So my question is, is this legit? Is this really an original print in near mint condition? What should I look for to know? Why is the cover blue? Was it rebound? Okay, I guess I had more than one specific question. Maybe some of you fine folks can help a brother out in figuring out the worth of this. I'd be interested in not just this book, but in general book-worth as well. I figured someone here has some insight. Is this how the internet works? (God, I hope those pictures aren't too big.)
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Mar 13, 2014 21:18
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It's an edition from the '60s that's worth about 10-20 euros. The 1934 just refers to the date the translation was copyrighted (dépôt légal).
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Mar 13, 2014 22:22
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Awe, it's a pity. How did you find that out? I couldn't find even a picture of the cover of this book for the life of me. Though, now that you say that, it is very much like some of my American copies of his books from the 60's except blue... not red.
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Mar 14, 2014 00:16
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Very, very few books are actually worth all that much money. I used to browse Sotheby's book auction catalogs and even stuff like handwritten poems by Wordsworth sells for surprisingly little. I remember the original manuscript for How the Grinch Stole Christmas, with Dr. Seuss's hand illustrations, some of which were never published, only sold for around $24,000, and that was about the most top-dollar book item I saw (for comparison, in the same auction a letter from Marilyn Monroe signed 'Norma Jean" sold for upwards of two million).
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Mar 14, 2014 00:31
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red_blip posted:I saw one copy, mint (as was the one I found and passed up) for about $5,000 online. A very important distinction you need to make in this situation is whether you saw a copy being offered at this price or one that sold for that price. A person can ask whatever price they want for something, but it's largely meaningless until another person actually pays that price.
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Mar 14, 2014 01:00
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red_blip posted:Awe, it's a pity. How did you find that out? I couldn't find even a picture of the cover of this book for the life of me. Though, now that you say that, it is very much like some of my American copies of his books from the 60's except blue... not red. It says it's the 190th volume in the collection Soleil. Googling faulkner tandis soleil leads you straight to it. Like Hieronymous said, it's probably best to be skeptical if you're trying to pin a value on something. By way of comparison, I've got a first English edition of Camus' The Fall, which is only worth about 10 bucks more than buying a new copy.
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Mar 14, 2014 08:21
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On the other hand, if you ever see a hardback copy of Catcher in the Rye with Salinger's photo on the back, you're gonna want to obtain that book by any means necessary. I still can't help myself from checking the copies at Half-Price Books whenever I see one.
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Mar 14, 2014 13:31
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inktvis posted:Like Hieronymous said, it's probably best to be skeptical if you're trying to pin a value on something. By way of comparison, I've got a first English edition of Camus' The Fall, which is only worth about 10 bucks more than buying a new copy. The other side of this is that it's comparatively cheap to become a collector of really cool books. Hell, when I was a teenager I bought a first American edition of the Silmarillion for $10. Hardback with a big foldout map and everything! If you keep an eye out and have reasonably esoteric tastes, you can often find early or signed editions of books by favorite authors at prices that are reasonably affordable.
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Mar 14, 2014 14:56
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I recently bought a 1973 first edition uncorrected proof of my favorite novel, Rendezvous with Rama.  It is the only paperback I own with a dust cover.  An uncorrected proof is essentially a book pre-release, before the final edit, they make a few and give them out to people in the literary trade.  I almost passed it up but I'm glad I didn't. When I got it home I compared it to my other editions and found that my uncorrected version had an additional 50 pages!
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May 2, 2014 21:37
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Wow, that is very cool. I love Rendezvous With Rama, wonder what is in those extra pages.
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May 3, 2014 04:51
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I have a first edition copy of Dune in quite good condition. Unfortunately, it's a book club version from the same year. Not bad for a $1 purchase from a small town used book sale. I actually ended up buying the Barnes & Noble collectible edition Dune as well. 
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Sep 24, 2014 00:29
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What's up, first-book-club-edition of Dune having buddy? Unfortunately, you paid essentially what the book is worth  .
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Sep 24, 2014 01:26
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Yeah, unfortunately "first book club editions" are generally worthless. They're actually kindof a fun entry-level into book collecting in that regard, if you aren't too concerned about dollar value and just want to own a neat book.
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Sep 24, 2014 02:50
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I love rare and old books. It's a great way for me to cap off a major research project. So far, my collection includes firsts of Strindberg's Inferno (Both the French and Swedish editions), bound copies of the first printings of his Chamber Plays, Röda Rummet, Master Olof, Dinesen's Syv Fantastike Fortællinger, Harry Martinson's Aniara (technically an uncut publisher's proof) and an early edition of Viktor Rydberg's Singoalla. There's also a first edition of Verner von Heidenstam's Hans Alienus in kinda crappy condition. It's all about the thrill of the hunt sometimes.
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Sep 24, 2014 05:23
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Yeah, unfortunately "first book club editions" are generally worthless. They're actually kindof a fun entry-level into book collecting in that regard, if you aren't too concerned about dollar value and just want to own a neat book. I never can justify the hobby to myself at all -- I know full well that I will never sell any of these books, but their market value is always of interest to me. Same with baseball cards. I guess if my son wants to sell them after I die, releasing my soul into the warp at last, that would be okay.
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Sep 24, 2014 16:57
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My boss got given a copy of the first american edition of codex seraphinianus for his birthday while back. Probably worth about a grand? he has no plans to sell it though.
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Sep 24, 2014 19:38
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Ornamented Death posted:What's up, first-book-club-edition of Dune having buddy? Unfortunately, you paid essentially what the book is worth Hieronymous Alloy posted:Yeah, unfortunately "first book club editions" are generally worthless. They're actually kindof a fun entry-level into book collecting in that regard, if you aren't too concerned about dollar value and just want to own a neat book. Cool, I didn't expect anyone else here to have one.  It's not a huge disappointment to me. When I bought the book I was only just starting a home library and wanted a copy of Dune that wasn't some tattered paperback. It's interesting to me to see the Cold War era dust jacket art and stuff like that.I have a couple of books in particular that I'll take pictures of when I have the time tonight... one is a nice but not particularly valuable copy of Crime & Punishment from the 1930s. The other is a history of the First World War from about ten years before that.
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Sep 24, 2014 20:15
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As promised, here are two older books in my library. Both are from 1928. Between the two I paid about $15 for them. They're not worth much but I like 'em. I apologize for the crappy camera phone photos. The first is a history of the First World War, entitled History of the World War. Obviously, the second one hadn't happened yet:    Thanks, Ethel and Edith. The second is a biography of Otto von Bismarck. Entitled Bismarck. It's not in the greatest condition, but it's still very readable:   
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Sep 24, 2014 23:49
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Modern literary fiction 1st/1st's of authors I love and/or books that made an significant impression are more my thing. They're relatively easy to be had, are typically found in fine shape, and for the most part cost less than a hard night out. Vollmann, Kis, Amis, Pamuk, DFW, Bolano, Marias, etc. I have no expectation that they'll appreciate much over time, but I like the idea of having something off the first run. Should I happen upon some money, I'd like to move onto first editions of Thomas Mann, ETA Hoffmann, Knut Hamsun, and so on. Thing thing is, I want to inspect a book before purchase, especially if we're talking $$$. Seems the only way to do that is at an antiquarian book fair, and in my experience there's quite a mark-up at those events. I guess that's the price of a physical inspection 
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Sep 27, 2014 08:57
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Here's a similar archived thread from a few years ago that has some nice pictures of goons' old books (including one from 1585  ) http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3431435 Here are the ones I had on hand -- no idea if they are worth anything, especially since they are far from mint condition. An illustrated edition of Robinson Crusoe from around the 1870s    Gulliver's Travels, 1876    Ivanhoe, 1901   
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Sep 28, 2014 22:29
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My grandfather has a copy of Paradise Lost from the mid-18th century which is really loving cool. He told me he'll will it to me for when he's gone. I couldn't bring myself to sell something like that, though, from the sentimental value alone. I remember I once purchased a hardcover copy of "The Great Gatsby" from a garage sale that was fairly old, but was dismayed to discover it wasn't worth anything. Usually books have to have something valuable about them other than simply "it's old" to be worth anything- ie a first-run print or special edition of a famous work.
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Sep 29, 2014 00:33
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Captain Mog posted:I remember I once purchased a hardcover copy of "The Great Gatsby" from a garage sale that was fairly old, but was dismayed to discover it wasn't worth anything. Usually books have to have something valuable about them other than simply "it's old" to be worth anything- ie a first-run print or special edition of a famous work. It also needs to be famous. You could have a fine copy of another book that came out in 1925 but unless it has some lasting appeal or historical significance, it won't be worth much of anything.
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Sep 29, 2014 03:30
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Living and not-so-critically-acclaimed authors are definitely cheaper. My friend has a bookshelf full of first edition Stephen King, and she got them all for barely more than what new editions would have cost.
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Sep 30, 2014 18:47
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I have a first edition copy of Red Harvest in not so great condition, but have made efforts to preserve. Also all of my Ellroy books are signed so may be those will be worth something sometime. But he signs everything so doubtful.
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Sep 30, 2014 19:08
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I bought a first edition in almost mint condition of Winesburg, Ohio for my friends birthday. It's her favorite book and she was absolutely floored by it. Couldn't bring myself to tell her that it cost less than a new hardcover version.
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Oct 1, 2014 01:58
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Artist's books are often good investments if you can catch them cheap. I found out something that's been hanging around my bookshelves from a local exhibition I went to when the guy was basically unheard of is now worth about £800 which is pretty sweet. My lecturer buys two of everything and he makes as much money loaning them to exhibitions as he does from selling them. It's nuts. Other than that, I have a Shakespeare book which is an index of notable quotes from his works arranged alphabetically, then by topic, that refer you to which work they're from and where they are in the text. It's from 1890-something, and worthless. But a nice reminder of pre-search engine. In terms of personal significance, I have a copy of my favourite play in hardback first edition which was used as a classroom text in the 80s by somebody who had the same name as me. It's written on the inside of the cover. I freaked out when I flipped it open and saw my own name staring back at me.
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Oct 1, 2014 09:01
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Captain Mog posted:My grandfather has a copy of Paradise Lost from the mid-18th century which is really loving cool. He told me he'll will it to me for when he's gone. I couldn't bring myself to sell something like that, though, from the sentimental value alone. (and if it's from before the 1600's then you're getting into some serious antique, maybe museum-level poo poo) A good condition dust jacket on an already rare or old book can add ridiculous value, especially if it's from the earlier part of the 20th century since back when they were first introduced people would literally tear them off the book and throw them away since they were there just as packaging. This is from a year ago, but goes into the details of what can make a first edition book and a first edition dust jacket so expensive: http://artdaily.com/news/65527/Grea...s-#.VCwMNPldXGC
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Oct 1, 2014 15:22
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 maybe
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Oct 9, 2014 22:10
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Nice horror table.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:25
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Hoping this isn't too much of a hijack - but there is a website called Distributed Proofreaders - and if you like old books, there is a SA team, that works to proof the books page by page, so they can eventually show up on Project Gutenberg for people to enjoy. Current stats - over 28,000 books have been put free, for everyone to enjoy, from Distributed Proofreaders. All out of copyright, so that means mostly pre-1923. http://www.pgdp.net/ The system is cut into different phases, so each book gets 2 proofing rounds against images of the book (scanners capture the book's text through optical character recognition scanning, which has lots of hilarious errors), then 2 rounds of very basic formatting, and then the 'advanced' work of post processing. There is a sort of side round of 'Smooth Reading' - so if you just enjoy older books you can just read them and report if there are any surprises like a page missing. Proofing each page generally takes only a minute or so to do, although if you're working on something with a tough font, or a bad scan it be longer. It's all volunteer - the books proofed are not just English, and you can sort by themes ranging from historical to military to poetry and biography. It might take a year or more for a book to be done (bottleneck is post-processing) but it's a good way to pass time, and you can sign up to be emailed when the e-book is done. The SA team is large, but not very active anymore, so someone suggested that I give a poke over here to see if any new blood might want to join up. http://www.pgdp.net/c/stats/teams/tdetail.php?tid=298 (The SA Team - I'm Thaadd there)
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Oct 15, 2014 17:21
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Some publishers specifically published limited editions/collectors editions of certain titles. For example, Bukowski collectors editions can fetch $1000-4000, with an inset painting you might get almost $10,000 and those were published in the 70s and 80s. If you can find something like that the seller doesn't know is rare then you could make a killing. Signatures also add to value. Condition is also king. You can have a rare first edition but if its in ratty condition and missing its dustjacket (or with the owner's name written in it) then its worth virtually nothing.
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Dec 23, 2014 21:24
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I have a couple of first editions of Harry Potter - Philosophers Stone in paperback and Chamber of Secrets on hardback. I've checked online and they meet all the checklist requirements for bona fide first editions. How might I go about selling them in the UK? Private buyer, dealer or *gulp* eBay?
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Feb 7, 2015 14:49
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Slimchandi posted:I have a couple of first editions of Harry Potter - Philosophers Stone in paperback and Chamber of Secrets on hardback. I've checked online and they meet all the checklist requirements for bona fide first editions. It may be worthwhile to talk to some bookstores that specialize in rare stuff and see if they do consignments. Anything but setting up a deal yourself is going to eat how much you get (and that's assuming you place no value on your own time), so the trick is to strike a good balance. Edit: And since we're talking about it, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is an interesting situation from a collecting standpoint. It is universally accepted that books identified as ex libris (a former library book) have minimal value because of all the stamps and other crap libraries glue in to the things (obviously the situation is significantly different if the books is, say, Ex Libris Thomas Jefferson, because that's a book from Jefferson's personal library). However, the original print run of Philosopher's Stone was 500 hardcover copies, 300 of which went to libraries. The non-library copies are still worth quite a bit more, but the ex libris copies still retain a substantial amount of value due to the rarity of that edition. Ornamented Death fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Feb 7, 2015 |
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Feb 7, 2015 16:22
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I have a few valuable books. One is a first edition printing of Anderson's Fairy Tales from 1875.
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Feb 8, 2015 00:03
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I don't have too many older/valuable books, but I like collecting the first editions of things anyway. The only things I have worth anything are three signed Neil Gaiman books (Anansi, Ocean, Trigger Warning). They add about $30 to what I paid for them, but just having a collector's edition of an author you like is worth a lot more than that sentimentally. I also have an ARC copy of Jane Goodall's newest "Seeds of Hope" that I won from Goodreads. It's my only win there so far, but I couldn't be happier. It has big "Advanced Uncorrected Copy" text all over the cover and interiors. I'm a huge National Geographic fan and having a cool unpublished copy from a living legend is pretty awesome. Most of the value of old books comes from how badass they look. Our local used bookshop has lots of old hardcovers of Treasure Island, LotR, and others just based on what people bring in to sell to the store. They never go more than $30 or so at the high end, but you can probably imagine how  a worn, old hardcover version of Treasure Island with it's own hard collector's case looks on a shelf.
Axel Serenity fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Feb 8, 2015 |
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Feb 8, 2015 06:33
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I don't have any old books that are worth much, but I have a lot of contemporary books that are worth a pretty penny. The most valuable is my Subterranean Press set of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books; there are ten of them (books 1-8, the short story collection, and the original printing of Backup) and I could probably get around $3000 for the whole thing if I was patient about selling them. I could add 33-50% by including my full run of signed trade hardcovers (both Dresden and Alera). Beyond that, I have some small-press horror books that have some value, though they'd most likely take a while to sell if I were so inclined. All that said, I don't collect books to make money, I collect them because I enjoy it. I go after signed books because I think it's neat that the author actually held my copy of the book, even if only for a couple of seconds. I go after limited editions because they are typically made of higher-quality materials and will last longer than mass-produced stuff. Two cool things I own:  This is Monstrocity by Jeffrey Thomas. I already owned a hardcover version of this book, but when I saw this copy pop up on eBay with that inscription, I had to have it.  The story here is that I bought a copy of Beneath the Surface on eBay for a fairly hefty amount (though well within the limits of what it was worth) like two days before a reprint was announced. Simon found out felt bad (though I repeatedly assured him it wasn't his fault and I wasn't even upset about it; I preordered a lettered copy of the reprint as soon as I could), so he sent me an inscribed TPB of the reprint, a signed chapbook, and the letter and insert seen in the picture. It was such an awesome gesture and the things he sent are among the crown jewels of my collection. Ornamented Death fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Feb 8, 2015 |
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Feb 8, 2015 07:07
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Thanks for the info. I just received a four figure offer for one of my books from a dealer ☺ Should I do a bit of negotiation?! I assume they are going to offer low to start with?
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Feb 16, 2015 08:02
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So does stuff from Easton Press and the Folio Society count for this thread?
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Feb 16, 2015 08:04
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I have a seemingly old copy of the Finnish author Aleksis Kivi's (Lived 1834-1872) "Seitsemän Veljestä" (Seven Brothers)("Widely regarded as the first significant novel written in Finnish and by a Finnish-speaking author. Indeed many regard it still today as the greatest Finnish novel ever written.") that I got from my grandpa's house after he died. It's in perfect condition but I can't find any information on what edition or when it was printed on it. I also have a book dedicated to fallen under-age Finnish "soldiers" in WW1(or 2?) but it's in a really bad shape. I think I've posted pictures of this in a similar thread years ago. Demicol fucked around with this message at 14:25 on Feb 24, 2015 |
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Feb 24, 2015 14:23
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Demicol posted:I have a seemingly old copy of the Finnish author Aleksis Kivi's (Lived 1834-1872) "Seitsemän Veljestä" (Seven Brothers)("Widely regarded as the first significant novel written in Finnish and by a Finnish-speaking author. Indeed many regard it still today as the greatest Finnish novel ever written.") that I got from my grandpa's house after he died. It's in perfect condition but I can't find any information on what edition or when it was printed on it. If you put in the data and then do an image search you might find images identical to your copy with data attached. Usually the colophon (book printing data) is on the back of the title page or on the last page of the book. This isn't always the case for older books. Many older books have the date on the title page. Alternatively you could take it to rare-book dealer. I presume you live in Finland and could get to Helsinki without a great deal of trouble. It does sound like a specialist volume. It would be worth getting it valued, even if you don't want to sell it, as you might want to get it added to your house contents insurance.
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Feb 24, 2015 14:31
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