Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 16:10:47 -0500
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Washington Antiquarian Book Fair
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Keith Lunch sent forth these electrons:

>The most expensive things tend to be signed copies of first printings
>of first editions of low-print-run first novels by authors who later
>became famous.  Some in pristine condition were marked over
>$50,000.

For heart stopping prices of some modern books, go to www.abebooks.com,
click on "Advanced Search" , type Harry Potter in the title field, in
the lower right ask for the search to be sorted by Highest Prices.  The
hit the Search button.  You have been warned...

Of course those are asking prices... who knows what they'll really sell
for.  Nonetheless...

>
>The most overpriced things I saw were:
>
>* A signed trade paperback of Heinlein's _Number of the Beast_, with
>  the cover repaired with scotch tape, for $550.

www.abebooks.com shows three signed copies: $489.00, $435.00, &
$232.00.  The last one is a 1st edition, but a later printing.

>
>* A signed first printing of Ayn Rand's _Atlas Shrugged_ for $13,000.
>  (I might believe that for _We the Living_, her first novel, whose
>  first printing had a very small print run, but the first print run
>  of _Atlas Shrugged_ was very large.)
>
>The least expensive books cost about $5.
>
>I bought a 1912 Tom Swift hardback for $12.

The original Tom Swifts  - in dustjacket - go for a few hundred
dollars.  The very first Tom Swift (& his Motorcycle) in dustjacket is
being offered for $1950.00

I was lucky enoughto read my (now late) uncle's copies of the original
series.  It was a very different world back then.  If you weren't male &
white, life was tough.

Some online references:
http://popular-culture.families.com/tom-swift-series-sjpc ,
http://www.glitterglow.com/ , http://www.duntemann.com/tomswift.htm

Then there's this strange bit of reality and Tom Swift meeting:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53815,00.html

>
>The most intriguing title was _A Tale to be Told Fifty Years Hence_
>by
>Cameron B. Washington (1853), supposedly only one of three
>surviving
>copies.  There is no mention of it, or of the author, anywhere that I
>can find on the net.  Needless to say, it was way out of my price
>range.

Also from Abebooks, and probably the folks who were displaying the
copy:

A Tale to be Told Some Fifty Years Hence. SIGNED COPY.
Washington, Lawrence B.].

Bookseller: Blue Ridge Books, ABAA
(Orlean, VA, U.S.A.    Price: US$ 500.00

Book Description: Baltimore: John Murphy & Company, 1853., 1853. First
Edition. Hardcover 12mo 160 pages Original brown cloth over stiff paper
lettered in gilt and decorated in blind. Upper joint partially split,
brief wear at spine extremities, covers lightly soiled, sporadic foxing,
browning, a Good or better copy. This copy inscribed, signed and dated
in ink on the first blank page by the author with additional pencil
presentation on a blank leaf preceding the title page. Lawrence B.
Washington was a descendant of George Washington who, in the preface,
denies that this title was "entirely of a local nature, and that the
characters represented were drawn principally from those in real life,
and who were living at the time." Quite scarce. OCLC 25793684, locates 3
copies.

>
>The most interesting to WSFA are two signed books by Capclave '06
>Guest of Honor Kim Stanley Robinson, _Pacific Edge_ (1990) for $65
>and _Escape From Kathmandu_ (1989) for $55.

WSFAns! Think of how your books will be more valuable after Stan gets
done scribbling in them!

mjw