Book Collecting TipsBook Collecting Tips I've Learned Over the Years I've always enjoyed visiting book stores. I followed my brother-in-law around used bookstores for years. He started collecting books in the '80s when he was out on the west coast. And he had built up quite a few new and antique collectible books by the mid 90's when he moved back to Dallas. I liked browsing for books but didn't know anything about what made a book collectible. Jim taught me how to evaluate the condition of a book and how to to determine if it was a first edition. The Internet arrived in the late 1990s ... and my brother-in-law showed me how to look up the prices of books on the Internet using Advanced Book Exchange and Ebay. He gave me many other book collecting tips. Then I began to understand why he had been so interested in picking up Cormac McCarthy's "All the Pretty Horses" for a few dollars. So ... in 1998 I decided to begin book collecting. Below and throughout the site are book collecting tips I've learned over the years:
How can you tell? Well, open the book up to about the third page - usually the page after the title page - the copyright page. Look near the bottom the page. There will normally be a line with numbers from one to 10. (i.e., 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0) If you see a number line with a "1" in it then it is a first edition. If there is no number line then look for the words "First Edition" or "First Printing" or "First Published". For more details on this click on first edition identification. Also, click on
"points"
for advanced information on "points of issue".
Condition is critical to the value of a book. Just reading a book once can result in stains, tears, or rubbing that may reduce its value by 30-50% or more. The highest grades of a book are called Very Fine (essentially flawless) or Fine. These are the book collecting grades that I try to purchase. See book condition for further information.
The publisher is taking a chance on a new untested author. So only a small number of books ... possibly only a few thousand books may be printed. If the author gets favorable reviews and sells out the first printing... the publisher may call for a second printing with more books. And sign the author up for a second book. The author's next book will probably have a print run in its first printing of ... two to three times that of the author's first book. You can see due to supply and demand the first book's value will be higher ... perhaps much higher than the second book!
The Trade Edition hardcover is usually the first book sold. It will have a much greater longevity than the paperback which will turn yellow over time and the pages will become brittle. Paperbacks may come out six months to a year later. Paperbacks are made to be read. Some may choose to collect them but I don't. The same goes for book club editions. These books are shorter, thinner and don't have a price on the dust jacket. I buy paperbacks for reading ... not collecting!
What does genre (pronounced zhahn'-ruh) mean? It is a category or style that can refer to movies (for example horror films), music or books. Books in other genres such as history or biographies can be very collectible, too. But they may not reach the heighths of value that the fiction genres can.
Books that have won book awards are often very collectible and valuable. In particular ... be on the lookout for an author's first book which has won an award. Check out the book awards listed in our other pages.
A book collecting tip to consider is collecting books with good book reviews, mentioned positively in Publisher's Weekly ... or the book is being made into a movie.
Books that are signed by the author generally increase the value of a book by 20 to 100%. Authors sign more books early in their career ... and less as they become more famous. So later signed books by well-known authors may have considerable value ... even if many first editions were printed. Watch for author signings at books stores and fairs.
Often the same book is published both in the US and in the United Kingdom. If it was published first in the UK it will be called the "true first" and have more value. Books published in the UK and Canada are printed in lower numbers due to the smaller populations - this makes them more valuable.
Publishers discount books that have stopped selling well or that have been reprinted too many times. First editions of authors first or second books can sometimes be found. Occasionally they can be found without a remainder mark on the bottom or top of the text block. Click here for more book collecting tips on book care.
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