Some Books Are Still Valuable

 

 I have generally failed in my mission to convince university librarians to keep a few books in the place. I hope, however, they at least examine them carefully before discarding them. There are still some readers or, perhaps investors, who are willing to pay a lot for them. 

  I mentioned this back in November in "Very Expensive Used Books", when someone paid $25,000 for a copy of Gone With the Wind. It didn't even make the "Top Ten" list of the "Most Expensive Sales in 2022", which is now available on Abe Books. Click on that link to get more information. It is where the image above is found. Here is the basic list:

“I Quattro Libri dell Architettura” [Four Books of Architecture] (first edition, 1570), by Andrea Palladio: $57,750.

“Cook’s Voyages” (first edition, nine vols., 1773-84), by John Hawkesworth: $50,000.

“How to Trade in Stocks” (first edition, 1940), signed by the author, Jesse Livermore: $40,000.

“Cantique des Cantiques de Salomon” [Song of Solomon] (printed on vellum, 1931), wood engravings by Eric Gill: $35,000

“The Time Machine” (first edition, 1895), signed by the author, H.G. Wells: $30,500

“The Tour of the World in 80 Days” (1883), a copy once owned by Stephen King’s grandmother, with a note by the author, Jules Verne: $30,000

“Hinterlassene Werke Des Generals Carl Von Clausewitz” [The Surviving Works of General Carl Von Clausewitz] (10 vols, 1832-7), by Prussian general Carl Von Clausewitz: $27,750

“The Book of Thoth: A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians” (1944), signed by the author, Aleister Crowley: $27,500.

“Hydrodynamica, sive De Viribus et Motibus Fluidorum Commentarii” [Hydrodynamics, or commentaries on the forces and motions of fluids]  (1738), by Daniel Bernoulli: $25,000.

“Les Vitraux” [Stained Glass] (1973), 24 loose color lithographs, each signed and numbered by the artist, Salvador Dalí: $25,000.

The Bonus
   The unappealing business book pictured, is not the first such book to be found among the most valuable ones. See my post from earlier in the year: "Valuable Business Books."