Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-17
VALUE OF OLD BOOKS
There Are Various Elements Which Must
Be Considered -.-
Some Books Are Valuable on Account
of Age or for Historical Interest
or From Sentiment.

One Of the events in Boston last week
was the disper IN by sale by auction of
the library Of the late George Livermore
or Cambridge, library which it's owner
had spent years in collecting, and which
was well known in book-loving circles for
its specially fine collection of Bibles New
Testaments, psalms, hymns and cate
chisms. 1t contained also works on bibh-
ograpny, early topography, with specimens
from the earliest and most celebrated
presses, Vellum manuscripts, privately
printed books and rare Americana Such
sale. one of the most important In Bos-
ton in recent years, naturally brought to-
gether librarians collectors dealers in rare
books from different sections of the coun-
try, and competition was the order for the
sale of the best lots, the competition OF
experts, who knew that the present were
hard times financially and that they were
purchasing the luxuries, not the necessi-
ties of life.
The prices paid for some of the books
have been chronicled- in the daily press, and
these have raised The question, no doubt
as to wherein lay the value of these books
This is a question which is not easy to
answer, and yet some of the elements
which enter into the value Of a given book
may be stated. To take an illustration
from last weeks sale: The Souldiers
Pocket Bible" a little pamphlet of sixteen
pages, printed in 1913, and containing
passages of Scripture appropriate for SOL
dierS, and issued for the use of Crom-
wells army soon after the beginning Of
the civil war in England, brought 81 900.
much handSomer copy, an exact reprint,
and one Of ten copies printed on vellum,
with d predatory note by Mr.. Livermore,
was sold for $40 Another vellum copy
reproduced in fac-simile, with an introduce
ton by Francis Fry. in 1S62, brought $50.
while twenty-thTee copies of an edition of
the same published by the American Tract
Society were sold for &C. each. OF course
for all practical purposes the accuracy Of
the reprint being guaranteed, the &c.
pamphlet had just much value, aside
from binding, the 5000 volume. In
what did the difference consist?
The Element of Scarcity.
In the first place the element of scarcity
entered into the value. The $1,000 volume
was one of two known to be extant. and
as it bears the imprint of 1913 it is safe to
infer that aside from the copy in the Brit
ISL Museum there is no other in existence
of this work. There were twenty three Of
the undated American Tract Society re-
prints sold, and for all that may be known
to the contrary, there may be ten times
that number extant. The scarcity of a
book, If the book has value at ALL is an
important factor in determining the price
which it may bring when offered for sale.
There are historic manuscripts which are
priceless. When II Is supposed that there
were not more than dozen or so of the
first edition Eliot Indian Bibles extant a
copy in fair condition brought from 1900
to 5000 On such rare occasions as one was
offered for sale, but a Boston dealer Sc
cured the Livermore copy last week-a
good copy, too-for $3.50. There are more
Eliot Bibles extant than was supposed a
dozen or twenty years ago, and then there
are fads and fashions in old books. An
Eliot is not so much a fad among cell
lectOrs few years since. 1t Is valu-
able book. and will continue to be, but the
fad Of collectors must be reckoned one of
the elements in determining the value Of
a rare book.
To the element Of scarcity must be added
that of historical interest when the ques-
ton of value is considered 1t is this ele-
ment which enters into the prices paid for
books which are classed under the head of
early Americana. The foundations OF our
American institutions were laid in the sew
euteenth century. The battles of civil and
religious liberty were fought out here on
New England soil then. The sermons and
tracts which were printed on the rude
press at Cambridge tell this story. Our
New England, indeed our American history,
would be unntellgible without the works
of the Mathers, Cotton, Shepard, Roger
Williams. Gorton, winthrop Bradford-the
men who made America possible. The
publications Of the New England settlers
are scarce. but to their scarcity must be
added the element of historical Importance
in fixing their value. ....
There is also the element of sentiment
entering into the value of book. which is
not to be ignored. All OF the original text
of the Soldiers Bible was to be found in
one Of the &c. copies sold last week, but no
one of these copies had ever been in the
hands of one of Cromwelrs God-fearing,
Hberty-loving soldiers. That $1,000 copy
may have been at Marston Moor Senti-
ment may be derided and ridiculed by the
Gradgrinds, but sentiment has its market
value.
The Variety of Classes. -... ..-.
The class to which a given book may Re-
long has also much to do with determine
ton of it's value. A scarce book may be
valuable simply because 1t is scarce. or be-
cause it bears an early imprint one previ-
Gus to 14G0; or it may have value involved
in association, as. for instance, was seen in
$500 paid for the Coverdale Bible of 1888,
and s460 for Philip Melancthon's copy Of
the Hebrew Scriptures, last week; it may
have rare and curious Illustrations II may
be extra illustrated-that is, some one may
have despoiled a whole library to secure
cuts the plates to make, by insertion end
reminding, a book unique; IL may bear d.
rectly or indirectly upon some great event.
epoch making the world renowned; II may
belong to given age or time, il may have
to do with some great man, some revolu-
ton, some great crime, some mere scandal,
even; ii may simply deal with books.
The classes of books are almost Ike
books SelyeS-innumerable. OF making
Of books there is no end. There are books
on printing, and the early imprints Of
famous presses; there are Bibles, and Mr..
Livermore's collection of these was one Of
the most notable; there is the department
of Shakespeariana: there Is the field OF
early English poetry; there are the great
theological works of the fifteenth and six
tenth century in black letter; there are
the pamphlets, tracts and volumes of Crom-
wells and Millions time; there are the Co
lumbus, the Cortes, and the discoveries
letters, maps and books; there is the rich
field of early Americana, with Its subdi-
visions later into works relating to the set
Element of the colonies, the war of the rev.
olution, the formation OF the Union, the
Indians and their languages; the political
contests: the war of the rebellion; there Is
the field of Napoleana; indeed, when Ii
comes to classification of books there is al
most no end. To understand and apprect-
ate ii one needs to be a photographer, end
here il may be said that photography 10
field by itself. What makes a book valu-
able? IL is difficult to answer this question.
1t is not alone its scarcity or the date OF
its print or the subject with which IL deals.
or the associations attached to IL, or It's
historical or literary Importance, or senti-
mental considerations, or the class or de-
partment of literature to which II belongs,
or the fads and caprices OF dictionaries,
or the beauty of Typography or elegance OF
Illustration, or its mechanical execution; IL
is not these, and yet some one or all or
laaNa hn hNOt