Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Question of the Day... Are Your Used Books Worth Anything?

Yesterday, I came across an interesting article from Forbes Magazine's website titled, Are Your Used Books Worth Anything? by David Seideman. In the article, David Seideman wrote the following information:
Last March, Heritage Auctions sold a signed and inscribed first edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby from 1925 for $162,500 at a rare book sale in New York City.
On Sunday, I took a break from my regular sports collectibles beat and spent two-and-a-half hours at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair’s Discovery Day. The hosts invited guests to “bring up to five treasures to be evaluated by our experts.” This is the book world’s annual version of the Antiques Roadshow.
A few of the 100 book owners on line carried small treasures, but the rest didn’t cover the fair’s $25 admission cost. I asked two dealers what the odds are of them striking pay dirt during their house calls to appraise personal collections. While one said the chances are one out of 10, another thought it’s more like one out of a 1,000.
David Seideman goes on to write in his article about which types of books are in demand and which books aren't in demand. Click on the very first link to read the entire article.

4 comments:

  1. Yeah, I sent loads of books just this week to Goodwill Store. I purged several shelves and still have books to go through. They're all contemporary. Just wish I had at least one valuable one. ;-)

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    1. I'm in the same boat as you! Too many contemporary books on hand in my collection. :-)

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  2. I am sorry but I have never looked at a book as something from which I could make money. If anyone should make money from a book, it should be the author or the author's descendants.

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    1. Like you, I do not look at my book collection as an investment to make money.... And yes, I agree with you 100% in that the author and their descendants should receive royalties from book sales that have been published/released/sold in various formats (ebook, audiobook, paperback,hardback, etc.).

      And authors/playwrights should also be compensate should there book or play be turned into a movie or performed live before and audience.

      However, I also agree that once anyone buys a book (or a rare coin, rare stamp, or other collectible item like a baseball card, etc.) and they end up selling it and make a profit at a later date, then they can keep the proceeds from that sale.

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