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How Valuable Is a First-Edition Book?
A first edition is generally more collectible than a book from a later print run. But few things are straightforward in the world of book collecting.
N o one knew who Joanne Rowling was when her publisher put out 500 copies of a young adult fantasy novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. “Publishers are taking a gamble with unknown authors,” says Fenella Theis, Cataloguer in Sotheby’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Books and Manuscripts Department. “They don’t know how the book will do, and so they only publish a smal🍒l print run.”
Three hundred of those copies were sent to libraries, where they were stamped and covered, Theis says. Two hundred of them went to bookshops and into homes where the books were read, dragged around in backpacks, 🍬regifted or dropped into the bath. Only a handful of this firs🌌t printing of J. K. Rowling’s first book still exists in collectible condition.
In June 2024, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:one of these first printings, still in pristine condition, sold for $216,000 at Sotheby’s New York. But 168开奖官🔯方开奖网站查询:assessing the value of a Harry Pott🥀er novel is more complicated than simply knowing its edition and condition. When the final Harry Potteꦜr book came out, its first printing run was in the millions; one of those books has less value regardless of its condition. There are simply too many of them out there.
First books – and 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:first printings of those first books – are highly desirable among book collectors. Rarity lead💫s to scarcity, which can increase the value for these books – but that’s not the only reason they’re prized. “It’s the closest you can get to their first iteration as a creative,” Theis says. “A first edition of a first book means seeing the author not as a big celebrity but as an unknown person who’s just gotten a break.” These books let us stand in the author’s shoes at the beginning of their career, before they knew they’d become famous.
“A first edition means seeing the author not as a big celebrity but as an unknown person who’s just gotten a break.”
- Fenella Theis, Cataloguer, Books and Manuscripts
Of course, not just any author’s first book has more value. The a♉uthor has to be well𓆉 known.
There are only two copies of Edgar Allen Poe’s first book Tamerlane in private hands. When 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:one of them went for auction at Sotheby’s New York in June 2024, the fame of the author and extreme rarity of the book combine💜d to push the value to $420,000.
Ernest Hemingway’s first publication Three Stories and Ten Poems is so rare and valuable that even Hemingway himself complained he couldn’t get a copy of it, Theis says. It was published in small numbers in cheap publisher’s wrapping that wasn’t chosen with longevity in mind. A copy sold at Sotheby’s New York in Oct꧅ober 2024 for $50,400.
Except for this book, few of Hemingway’s early writings exist. In 1922, his wife, Hadley, lost a suitcase full of his m꧑anuscripts while traveling to see Hemingway in Paris. “All of h🐼is writings up until 1922 were completely lost, apart from a couple of poems left in a drawer and a story he’d brought to a magazine editor in Paris,” Theis says. “One reason his first book is so valuable is because it’s our only record of his earliest writings. But if we were to find the suitcase or any of its contents… well, that would cause a storm.”
One reason why Harry Potter is such a valuable first book is because it’s also the author’s most famous work. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first book, however, is not as valuable as a first edition of The Great Gatsby. Like most things in book collecting, the value of💞 a b🧔ook is highly individual – based on a number of factors and how they play off of each other. Yet, for a collector interested in one author that means a lot to them or that they have an academic interest in collecting, having the author’s first book is a prize.
“Completeness is often a big factor for collectors,” Theis says. If 𒀰a collector wants a complete collection and has the resources to make that happen, adding an autho𒁃r’s first book to their shelves is meaningful.
