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." 

Very Expensive Used Books

 

  In early October AbeBooks released its list of "Most Expensive Sales From July to September, 2022." Third on the list was Gone With the Wind. Here is their notice:

Gone with the Wind,  by Margaret Mitchell - $25,000
A first edition, first printing of Margaret Mitchell’s landmark novel about the American South during the American Civil War and its aftermath. The book is signed by the author on the front free endpaper. Gone With the Wind was published in May 1936 by Macmillan and this copy still has its original dust jacket. An immediate bestseller, a movie adaption of the novel followed in 1939. Mitchell won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937 thanks to this book.

  If you search on AbeBooks for another copy of Gone With the Wind, you will find that there are still many expensive ones available.

 

   The poor author does not benefit from any of this. She was struck by a drunk driver and killed in 1949. For a full accounting of this accident see my: "Martha Mitchell (1900 - 1949.)

   Although printed books have been devalued by many, others are willing to pay a lot for them. 

   Recently both Turner Classic Movies and HBO Max issued warnings for viewers about the content of the film version of Gone With the Wind. It doesn't look like booksellers are providing such alerts, but perhaps readers don't require them. 

The Bonus:

   Even business books can be very expensive. See: "Valuable Business Books."