John Dunning’s “Booked to Die,” first published in 1992, is a good example of what’s happening in the world of book collecting.
The protagonist of “Booked” and its sequel, “The Bookman’s Wake,” is Cliff Janeway, former Denver homicide detective turned rare book dealer, which used to be author Dunning’s occupation.
While solving murders, Janeway tosses out tips on collecting and prices. He observes–with more than a little dismay–that some works by horror writer Stephen King are now commanding as much as classics by Twain, Steinbeck and Hemingway.
So what’s happened to the price of a “Booked to Die” first edition? In just six years, it has skyrocketed to $850, which could also get you a Twain, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Faulkner or even a Dickens.
“When people think of collecting books, they think they must be old to be valuable,” says Dallas bookseller David Grossblatt. “That’s not true. `Cold Mountain’ (the Civil War novel by Charles Frazier) came out last July. A first printing is now valued at $150.”
At the recent Antiquarian Book Fair in New York, such first editions as Margaret Atwood’s 1996 “Alias Grace” and Cormac McCarthy’s 1994 “All the Pretty Horses” were selling for about $100 apiece, and Carol Shields’ 1993 “The Stone Diaries” carried a price tag of $200.
(The book fair moves to the Merchandise Mart this weekend. It runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and tomorrow and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $8.)
But some of the biggest, quickest jumps in book values in recent years have been among whodunits. Besides Dunning, other mystery writers whose early efforts now command staggering sums include Tony Hillerman, Sue Grafton and Patricia D. Cornwell.
“Forty percent of the books that are read and collected today are mysteries,” Grossblatt says. “Next is fiction-literary books, then history, science-fiction and, sadly, then the classics.”
But before you head to your bookshelves to pluck off your fortune, booksellers caution that the highest book prices are paid only for true first editions and they must be in mint condition.
“As the real estate mantra is location, location, location, the bookseller’s is condition, condition, condition,” says Tom Keener, an antiques and collectibles dealer who teaches a course on evaluating books.
“Dust jackets are absolutely critical to the value of a book,” he says. “But often you’ll go into a home and find the books are jacketless. `Our decorator said to take them off,’ is what you hear. I say, fire that decorator.”
The jacket should be clean, unfaded and untorn. “The price should not even be clipped,” Keener says.
As for the book itself, the No. 1 rule is, “Do not write in them!”
Unless you are someone famous, simply putting your name or a bookplate inside a book can knock as much as 60 percent off its value, Keener says. Birthday greetings or other messages are strictly taboo.
A book autographed by the author brings a premium, but don’t ask for a personal inscription.
“From an egotistical point of view, it is nice to have a book inscribed to you by the author, but it diminishes the book’s value,” Keener says.
Valuable books should be kept behind glass (in closed bookcases) to protect them from humidity, air pollution and insects, Keener says.
Also keep books away from windows (sunlight can fade the spines), and don’t tuck newspaper clippings or other objects between the pages. The clippings will yellow pages; bulky items can bend the binding.
If you actually read a first edition, you should do so very carefully, dealers say.
“Since condition is so important, it might be best to stick it on a shelf and buy a drugstore paperback to read,” says Dick Bosse, owner of Aldredge Book Store in Dallas. “Or go to the library.”
Publishers use many different ways to denote their first editions and later printings, so there is no single rule for spotting firsts. Before you spend the bonanza you’re expecting from your pristine copy of Sue Grafton’s “A Is for Alibi,” you might consult a book on collecting or ask a dealer to verify its authenticity.
To be avoided (if you’re buying as an investment) are book-club first editions. Ways to spot these include 1) no price on the book jacket and 2) a tiny indentation, called a “blind stamp,” usually on the lower right corner of the back but also sometimes found on the spine.
Identifying some firsts requires almost esoteric knowledge. Fred Holt, a Dallas-area dealer , has a first edition but second printing of Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Only the well-informed could identify it as a second printing; the lone clue is that Hemingway’s name appears under a back-cover photo (the name wasn’t included on the first printing).
The price difference is huge: A first printing might bring $400 or $500, Holt says. The price on his second printing: $39.95.
Book collecting “is not an exact science,” he says, though some clues are obvious, “such as a dust jacket blurb that mentions a book written after the supposed first edition.”
Holt says a new category of collecting is “early technology–prior to 1950–especially aircraft books.”
Children’s books also are popular. “Most people buy the books they read as a child,” Holt says. “They are mad at their parents for throwing them out.”
More authors are collected than subjects, Bosse says, though there is still high interest in Civil War and World War II books (but little in WWI or the Spanish-American War).
There are fads in the book market, and prices can become overly inflated, says “Lonesome Dove” author and book collector Larry McMurtry. “Ten or 15 years ago, photography books were heavily collected, and they got very pricey.” Interest has since waned, he says, and though the books may still command good prices, they aren’t going up as they did before.
“Buy what you like rather than because you think it will go up in value,” says McMurtry, whose own library includes about 1,500 “women traveler” books–books by women about their travel experiences. “And buy it in good condition.”
Grossblatt notes that at the height of its popularity, first editions of Robert James Waller’s “Bridges of Madison County” went for $200 to $250. Now you should be able to pick one up for $100 to $150.
“The luster has worn off,” Grossblatt says. “The true collector never really wanted it, because it’s fluff, with no substance.”
And he cautions investors in the current book market to think about the long run.
“In 50 years, which do you think will be worth more, a Stephen King or a Faulkner?” he asks. “You know the books of Faulkner will hold their value, but will King’s books still be read then?”
