I was watching Cash in the Attic on BBC America this morning while getting ready for work, and they had a special bibliophile episode, where the homeowner wanted to buy a computer so he could get into online bookselling. He was willing to part with some of the 10,000 books that he had in his flat to raise the cash, so they brought in a book specialist.
He had a bunch of modern first editions (Confederacy of Dunces, Red Dragon, a lot of Agatha Christies) that went to auction, as well as the first revised editions of The Hobbit and LotR, but the big find was the first edition of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials: Northern Lights (known in the States as The Golden Compass), which went for a thousand pounds! Considering that it's only ten years old, that's a remarkable price (freaked out both the homeowner and the regular appraiser, who was unfamiliar with the book).
I have talked a bit with rare booksellers (mostly at cons, so, subject specialists) about the first editions I own. From what they tell me, a first edition probably is not worth all that much -- but a first printing of a first edition definitely is.
I own a 1/e of
Something Wicked This Way Comes,
from the 1950s. As a ninth printing, it's worth probably $20-30. If it were a first printing, it would be worth several hundred dollars.
I suspect that
Northern Lights
1/e, 1st print, sold for so high because the book was originally marketed to the children's market, which pre-Harry Potter wasn't all that big. When it sold, and continued to sell, and started making it consistently into SF/F booksellers, subsequent printings were a lot bigger, but that first printing was probably pretty small.
[edited to make sense]
I was wandering through our local Half-Price Books the other day. Sitting in the locked case was a hardback copy of Neil Gaiman's
The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish.
$85. I didn't see any note saying 'signed copy', so I'm even MORE confused by the price tag.
I own a 1/e of Something Wicked This Way Comes, from the 1950s.
Covet, covet, covet.
The new Terry Pratchett novel (Thud!) is out now!
The new Terry Pratchett novel (Thud!) is out now!
He's got a reading coming up at Booksmith (in SF) too.
I am sure Terry Pratchett's new book is not in fact titled, "Thud!" but now I deeply want somebody overly verbose yet funny and self-aware to write a book so titled.
It is called Thud! Who would have Thunk it?
[link]
Oh, it's a Vimes novel! Yay!
Whee!
Damn it.
I know what I'm spending my yard sale earnings on now.
