Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1895-02-07
VALUE OF OLD BOOKS.
It Is Hard to Fix on Account of the
Fads of Collectors.

Fads of Collectors.
One of the events in Boston last week
was the dispersion by sale by auction OF
the library of the late George Liver
more of Cambridge, library which It's
owner had spent years in collecting,
aL&l which was we'll known in book
loving circles for it's specially fine col
lection Of bibles. new testaments.
psalms, hymns and catechisms. says the
Boston Advertiser. 1t contained also
works on photography, early topogra-
ply, with specimens from the earliest
and most celebrated presses, vellum
manuscripts, privately printed DOCKS
and rare Americana. Such sale, one
Of the most important in Boston IN re-
cent years, naturally brought together
librarians, collectors, dealers IN rare
books from different sections OF the
country, and competition was the order
for the sale of the best lots, the compe-
ton of experts, who knew that the pres
ent were hard times financially and
that they were purchasing the luxurles,
not the necessities 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 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. 10
take an illustration from last weeks
sale: 1.-THE Soldiers Pocket Bible" a
little pamphlet of sixteen pages, print
ed in 1913, and containing passages of
scripture appropriate for soldiers, and
issued for the use of CromwelPs army
soon after the beginning of the civil
war in England, brought $1,000.
mucha handsomer copy, an exact re
print, and one Of ten copies printed on
yellum with a PREDATORY note by Mr..
Livermore, was sold for $40. Another
vellum copy reproduced in fac-simile,
with an Introduction by Francis Fry,
in 1862, brought $32, while twenty-three
copies of an edition Of the same pub
lished by the American Tract Society
were sold for seven cents each. Of
course, for all practical purposes, the
accuracy of the reprint being guaran-
teed, the seven-cent pamphlet had just
as much value, aside from binding, as
the 81 900 volume. In what did the diff
ference consist?
In the first place the element Of scar
city entered into the value. The $1,000
volume was one of the two known to be
eXtant, and as it bears the imprint Of
1G43 it is safe to infer that aside from
the copy in the British museum there
is no other in existence Of this work.
There were twenty three of the undated
American Tract Society reprints 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 i'm
portant factor in determining the price
which it may bring when offered for
sale. There are historic manuscripts
which are priceless. When it was sup
posed that there were not more than
dozen or so of the first edition Eliot
Indian Bibles extant, a copy in fair
condition brought from $1,000 to $4,000
Oh such rare occasions as one was Of
fered for sale, but Boston dealer Sc
cured the Livermore copy last week
a good copy, too-for $3.50. There are
more Eliot Bibles extant than was sup
posed a dozen or twenty years ago, and
then there are fads and fashions in old
books. An Eliot is not so much fad
among collectors as a few years since.
It is valuable book, and will continue
to be, but the fad Of collectors must be
reckoned one of the elements in deter
mining the value Of a rare book.
To the element Of scarcity must be
added that of historical interest when
the question of value is considered. It
is this element which enters into the
prices paid for books which are classed
under the head Of early Americana The
foundations of our American institu-
tons were laid in the seventeenth cen
tury. The battles Of civil and religious
liberty were fought out here on New
England soil then. The sermons on
tracts which were printed on the rude
press at Cambridge tell this story. Our
New England, indeed our American his
tory, would be unintelligible without
the works of the Cotton Mather, Shep-
ard, 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 ele-
ment of historical Importance in fixing
their value.
The SUMS Motions.
The sun has known three notions: I