Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-12-16
OLD BOOKS.
Popular Misconceptions as to Their Money
Value

>
Union, / have often been consulted by
persons owning some old book or books
as to their value. In most cases, in fact
all that l can remember, the result has
been serious disappointment to the own
ers, who had been led by current miscon-
captions on the subject, to suppose they
had treasure. These misconceptions as
to the money value of old books are so
common that it seems worth while to
attempt to remove them by giving
the public some correct notions ON the
subject.
A recent article spoke in glowing
terms of a rare old book owned by a
lady in New York state, and went so far
as to intimate that good judges had
placed its value as high as $4,000. I was
subsequently applied to by a friend of
the owner of this book who
desired me to see how it could be dispos-
ed of SO as to yield to its owner who was
in distressed circumstances, money for
| her support. An examination of cata-
logues at once revealed the fact that al
though the book was a fine large folio
printed $50 years ago, and in good condi-
! ton, it could not be sold at all without
difficulty in finding a purchaser, and was
not likely to bring more than So instead
of the $4,000 which had been named. It
seemed nothing but cruel to dispel this IL
fusion, but after all, the cruelty was on the
part of those who, claiming to know some
thing of the subject placed such an alb
surdly high estimate or the book.
Another good instance of this popular
misconception occurs to me as I write. I
was in the Office of one our oldest news
papers one evening when the editors
n charnp in fhajr
over letter they had just received The
letter related that a young girl in the
family Of the writer had found inside an
old partition copy of the first number
lover hundred years old) of the news
paper in question. 1t was Enclosed with
the letter, and the hope expressed that
the editors would do the generous thing
and make the girl a present as partial
compensation of the treasure troVe. A
cabinet organ was limited at as a modest
suggestion of this partial equivalent.
The joke of it all was that the paper
sent was copy of the fac simiIe printed
on the hundredth anniversary of the
newspaper and scattered broadcast
through the state. But had it been a
copy of the somewhat rare original issue,
81 would probably have been high
market price for it.
To strike at the root of this popular
error, one may say distinctly that age is
no criterion of value in books. The
mere date of printing is no evidence of
such rarity as gives fancy prices. To be
} sure, any book bearing date earlier than
} 1870, if in fair condition, is worth some
thing merely for its approach to the date
) of the invention of printing. But it may
safely be said that no book printed after
j. n h,s 1ohT -
of special value merely from it's age.
| Every frequent0r Of book auctions has
seen dozens of books printed between
1910 and 1850, and in very fair binding
} condition, sell for prices ranging from
} 81 to $40, and knows that it must be q
} book of remarkable interest from some
other cause than its date to sell for more.
On the other hand, books are sold every
month for prices running up into the
hundreds and occasionally into the thous-
ands. How is it? It Is simply from the
fact that there are very many books,
! printed at dates ranging all the way from
1865 to 1886, which are rare and desired
by certain classes of buyers. These are
the elect among the books, resulting from
the careful sitting of the GER turtles Be-
J fore the war there was an occasional fiEd
of one of these books among the heir
looms IN the garrets Of our New England
houses.
J But our good friends are about as likely
to pillow up diamonds ia their gardens as
to Unearth any Of these treasures since
the fabulous prices paid for paper stock
during and soon after ths war have made
) SO much old literature the prey of the
) paper mill, and the collectors have been
so assiduously going to and fro through
the land seeking what they might de-
YOUR.
Nor would it avail anything to attempt
to give any rules for knowing the com
parative value old books. The value of a
nugget" as Henry Stevens called his
treasures, may depend on any one of so
many POINTS, in authorship, rrint edi-
ton, and condition that it is only by
years of training that one can become
qualified to Judge, and even those best
qualified place much dependence, to the
last, on catalogues and on information
derived from other experts, each of Wnom
is generally especially versed in one field
ouly.
So the best that can be done is to give
the general rule that old books or worth
nothing for their age, and those one finds
| among the heirlooms of the past are
much more likely than otherwise to have
no other element of value. Especially
valueless are those lacking some part, or
badly stained, or dog-eared, or worn.
And nearly all the old books SUB mitted to
me as an expert by hopeful owners have
been defective in one or more of these re
spects, and have been the higher priced
for these marks of antiquity.
But one caution should be added Thus
far only money value has been consider
ed. Every book and printed leaf has an
other value, and a higher, which should
save it from wanten destruction. The
true lover Of books cares little for the
| grOsser estimate Of the bookseller, and
much for the soul of books. There is a
treasure of interest, partly intrinsic and
partly arising from associations, about
every book, especially if it has come to
our hands from former generations of
our ancestors. [ have one old religious
treatise, in wretched condition, bearing
the autographs of my paternal ancestors
for four generations back They had
very few books and passed them along
reverently from father to son. I couldn't
sell this old rag of a book for 10 cents,