Reading Copy

Ten most expensive AbeBooks sales for April 2008 across all sites

1) Autographed Letter by Edward Lear - $11,491.31
A two-page illustrated autograph letter by the nonsense poet Edward Lear, most renowned for writing The Owl and the Pussycat, dated 9th September 1867. The letter contains detailed self-caricature sketch showing Lear with outstretched limbs, as well as a comedic request to visit the recipient.

2) Biblia Latina Printed by Johannes Herbort de Seligenstadt - $11,491.31
Printed in 1484, these bibles were the first to use the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts to improve the common Latin Vulgate bible text. The first “Fontibus Ex Graecis” Biblia Latina was published 1479 by Amerbach and was named after the first line of three distichs (couplets) that were included in the texts. Johannes Herbort de Seligenstadt used Amerbach’s revised second edition for this Biblia Latina.

3) Historia Plantarum Universalis by Johann Bauhin - $10,255.66
Botanist Johann Bauhin’s great work, Printed at Yverdun in 1650-1651. These famous volumes contain botanical data for thousands of species with considerable attention paid to different varieties of the same plant.

4) Primo Tentativo di un Catalogo Generale delle Monete Medievali e Moderne Coniate in Italia o da Italiani in Altri Paesi by Corpus Nummorum Italicorum - $7500
Twenty volumes, 1910-1943. The standard reference on Italian coins from the middle Ages down to the early 20th century, an outstanding set.

5) Viaggio Negle Stati Uniti Dell`America Settentrio by Luigi Castiglioni - $7500
Account of the travels of the young count Castiglioni (1757-1832); who was the first Italian to travel the American South. His narrative is an important overview of the United States for the time, especially for agricultural and botanical information. Two volumes.

6) AMBIX by Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry - $5688.57
53 Volumes of the official journal for the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry 1937/38-2006

7) Comedias Verdaderas by Tirso de Molina - $5300
Three volumes printed from 1734-1736. A beautiful third edition of the Truth Comedies by the Spanish Baroque poet and playwright who gave the world Don Juan.

8) The Works of Samuel Beckett by Samuel Beckett – $5182.85
Complete set of this very rare limited edition of the works of Samuel Beckett, published in 1970 to celebrate the award of the Nobel Prize to him. This is No. 195 of only 200 sets. “Waiting for Godot” is signed by Beckett under the limitation notice.

9) Mémoire pour le Sieur de de Boishebert by Charles Deschamps of Boishebert - $4719.88
Charles Deschamps of Boishebert born in Quebec in 1727, as a Marine officer he played an important role in various command posts, between 1746 and 1760. This book gives detailed descriptions of several historical events in this period and the role played by Boishebert.

10) Histoire de l’oeil by Lord Auch - $4566.15
The Story of the Eye, written by Georges Bataille (1897–1962), details the sexual experimentation of two teenage lovers, and their increasing perversion. The book is widely considered not only the best surrealist work of fiction but also the most important erotic novel written since 1900

Popularity: 21% [?]

This month’s Avid Reader is all about ephemera, which on AbeBooks includes all manner of paper collectables that are not specifically books.

One thing we don’t talk about in this Avid Reader is newspapers, which can also end up being collectable, though some people are a little more passionate about it then others.

Popularity: 14% [?]

AbeBooks wants to know which of the past 41 Man Booker prize winners was the most deserving winner. Tell us which Booker is your favorite and why.

We will post the results on our website and on the blog.

Popularity: 15% [?]

We analyzed sales data from 2007 and compiled an ‘author collectability index’ based on sales of books priced more than $500.

JK Rowling toped the index due to a rush on signed copies of the Deathly Hallows, and Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams placed second with their debut The Highfield Mole, reached its zenith last summer when it was republished with a new title, Tunnels.

The collectibility index turned out to be a who’s who of literature, including Austen, Cervantes, Dante, Darwin, Dickens, Joyce, Orwell and Verne. Khaled Hosseini finds himself between Harper Lee and Ernest Hemingway because signed first editions of The Kite Runner now change hands for more than $1,000 on the Internet.

Popularity: 24% [?]

I say that each person’s idea of the perfect library would differ greatly, however the Daily Telegraph reports all you need are these 110 books…

Though I do have to admit they seem to have covered their bases.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Once again we have our 10 most expensive sales on AbeBooks for the past month. I always find it so interesting putting together this list and this month is no exception.

1. The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid by Elucid - $11,750
Charles Wittingham of the Chiswick Press published this edition of Euclid’s works on Euclidean geometry in 1847. Written and designed to simplify Euclid’s propositions, this remarkable example of Victorian printing has been described as one of the oddest and most beautiful books of the century.

2. Poems (1909-1925) by T.S. Eliot - $8,500
Containing many of Eliot’s canonical works including “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “The Hollow Men,” and “The Waste Land,” this is a first edition, one of 85 numbered copies signed by Eliot.

3. Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis - $7,950
First edition of Lewis’s earliest and rarest works from 1938.

4. An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Suspension Bridge Constructed over the Menai Straight in North Wales With A brief Notice of Conway Bridge from Designs by and Under the Direction of Thomas Telford by Thomas Telford - $7,614
Account of one of the world’s first modern suspension bridges linking mainland Wales with the island of Anglesey. A 1828 first edition elephant folio printed in London with 17 engraved plates.

5. Merely Connect by Tom Philips and Salman Rushdie - $7,325
A first edition of the collaboration between artist Tom Philips and author Salman Rushdie, this 1994 Harvard publication had an extraordinarily small print run. Signed by both authors

6. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell - $6,780
First edition, first printing, of Orwell’s 1949 dystopian classic featuring the red dustjacket

7. Anthropos. Revue Internationale d’Ethnographie et de Linguistique - $5,458
A collection of 60 volumes of the International Journal of Anthropology and Linguistics. Articles are in French, German, and English covering all topics of the discipline.

8. Gmelins Handbuch der Anorganischen Chemie by Leopold Gmelin - $5,284
Gmelins Handbook of Inorganic Chemistry, a virtually complete set of 372 volumes published between 1926-1984.

9. Five Go to Smugglers Top by Enid Blyton - $5,038
First edition from 1945 of the fourth book in Blyton’s Famous Five series

10. The Ascent of Everest by John Hunt - $5,000
First edition from 1953 about the first ascent of Everest. Signed by 40 famous climbers including Edmund Hilary, who wrote the 16th chapter of the book

Popularity: 36% [?]

The New York Times reports that on Monday a large number of 18th and 19th century cookbooks will be heading to auction.

Personally I see cookbooks as a functional tome and less as a collectable item, but that’s just my personal taste (no pun intended). About a year ago AbeBooks looked at its most expensive cookbook sales, so it will be interesting to see what kind of prices these books fetch on Monday.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Over the past few weeks, we have been analysing sales data to discover the most collectible authors on AbeBooks. We looked at sales in 2007 and compiled an ‘author collectibility index’ based on sales of books priced more than $500. Two self-published authors - Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, who co-wrote a fantasy novel called The Highfield Mole - currently rank alongside JK Rowling and Stephen King as the writers most in demand from rare book collectors on the Internet.

After being tipped as the next Harry Potter, demand for The Highfield Mole reached its zenith last summer when it was republished with a new title, Tunnels. Collectors snapped up scarce copies of the self-published edition and prices quickly rose until a copy sold for $1,900 on AbeBooks.com.

Khaled Hosseini finds himself between Ernest Hemingway and Harper Lee for probably the only time in his brief career. I don’t expect to see Hosseini on this list in 12 months time - he’ll go the way of Dan Brown.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Talking of baseball, our friends at Fine Books & Collections magazine have provided a fascinating article on rare baseball books. Now I can grasp the concepts behind many rare cricket books but baseball is not my strong point so this article was an education for me.

While the historians hit for accuracy in their books, the autobiographies of players often swing and miss by miles. Many early players were barely literate, and if the books weren’t ghostwritten, then their stories were as whitewashed as Tom Sawyer’s fence.

Popularity: 26% [?]

A book restorer, Karen Tolley, in Oregon is profiled.

Popularity: 30% [?]

A Northamptonshire resident got lucky after purchasing a Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone first edition from a local library sale. The book was sold at Christies today for 4,000 pounds, but not without some amount of drama.

It turns out Christies had not checked the barcode on the book to see if the copy was really ex-library or if it was stolen. In the end a local just knew what to look at the library sale and netted a whack of dough for their efforts!

Popularity: 32% [?]

A signed, first edition, copy of The Hobbit was just sold at an auction house in London for £60,000, twice what the projected value of the book was. The Hobbit is considered one of the most collectable modern firsts because of its small initial print run and is the most expensive book ever sold on AbeBooks.

Also on the block was a first edition of The Hobbit in Swedish (the first foreign translation of the title) as well as the last known photo of J.R.R. Tolkein.

from AFP

Popularity: 31% [?]

Here is what the high rollers are reading this month…

10 most expensive sales on AbeBooks in February of 2008

1. Sefarad: Revista del Instituto Arias Montano de Estudios Hebraicos y Oriente Próximo by Consejo Superior de Investigaciones - $7265
This journal deals with theology and textual criticism of the bible and its ancient versions, with the history and culture of the Jews in Spain. Vols. 1-63. Madrid, 1941-2003. With gene. Index Vols. 1-15 (1941-1955).

2. Eloise by Hilary Knight and Kay Thompson - $5852
Five volumes of the Eloise series. Limited editions, signed on limitation page by Hilary Knight (writer) and Kay Thompson (illustrator)

3. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell - $5500
Signed 1936 first edition.

4. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper - $4800
First American edition from 1966. The first novel in the Dark is Rising series, inscribed by the author on the title page.

5. Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy - $4750
True first edition of this 1875 tome, the initial work by the founder of Christian Science

6. Le Centaure by Maurice de Guerin - $4200
Prose poem by French Romantic poet Maurice de Guérin. Limited to 133 copies, this book was the first published by Le Cercle Gryphe and includes 73 wood engravings by Art Deco metal worker Claudius Linossier.

7. Lepidoptera, Rhopaloceres and Heteroceres, Indigenous and Exotic, with Descriptions by Herman Strecker - $4125
The first work on lepidoptery (butterflies and moths) by the leading entomologist in North America from 1872-1877. Includes plus 15 hand-colored lithographic plates.

8. The Selected Writings by Dylan Thomas - $4118
First edition inscribed “Larry / Dylan / Santa Barbara / 1950”

9. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper - $4000
First British edition of the first book in The Dark is Rising series. This copy inscribed by Cooper “love from Susan/November 1965″ on front free endpaper. The British edition preceded the American by about a year.

10. Sketches in Architecture by John Soane - $3934
Written by the Bank of England’s architect and Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy in 1798. Second edition copy with plates from the first.

Popularity: 19% [?]

The Guardian has an obituary for the French author, Alain Robbe-Grillet.

A Harry Potter nutter is hoping to get a £40,000 pay day by flogging off his collection of 553 first editions reports the Ediniburgh Evening News.

Book recommendation of the day - Uppies and Downies: The Extraordinary Football Games of Britain by Hugh Hornby. Read this article about a real sport to find out why you should buy this book.

Ten literary suicides.

Popularity: 24% [?]

Were any of you in the Scouts when you were a child? AbeBooks is celebrating 100 years of scouting and we have taken a look at the books associated with the organisation.

Popularity: 21% [?]