What is a Collectible Book?

Anything at all can be 'collectible', whether old, new, beautiful, or just plain strange. Books fall into all three of those categories as well as a few others. In the article below, we hope to give the new bibliophile a more substantial meaning of a book collection, and how it differs from the usual accumulation of titles that many of us have. We also provide suggestions on how to go further with your book collecting, and some help on taking care of the books you own.

If you have any questions or comments, please let us know at
motte [at] mottebooks [dot] com.

Table of Contents

Books for Reading, Books for Collecting
So What is a Collectible Book?
Why Condition Matters
Why First Editions are not always First Printings
Identifying Edition and Printing
State? What's the "State" of a Book?
Why Book Club editions are So-So.
First Books of Authors May Be Best...
Prize Winners, or Trusting Others
Signed Books & Limited Editions
Take Care of Your Books!!!
How to Find out More...

Books for Reading, Books for Collecting

Most of us, at homes or work, have books. We have books standing on shelves, laying on coffee tables, stored in boxes or in lockers, and lying half read on our desks and by our chairs. Perhaps some of the books have been in our families for years, while others are paperbacks bought so we would have something fun to read. Some look brand new even if old, while others are well-read, worn, and perhaps display the artistic work of young hands.

Some of those books, however, are special. By their uniqueness or by their relationship to each other, they are collectible. There are hundreds of thousands of copies of Tom Sawyer out there, and each pretty much has the same words between their covers. Each may be collectible, even the paperbacks, book club editions, reprints, and the like. But not every copy of a book is collectible. Most are simply meant to be read and shared, worn out and recycled.

So What Makes a Book Collectible?

What makes a book collectible has less to do with the book, and much more to do with the collector. A lot of green paintings may look interesting, but may not have much to say beyond "look at all the green paintings". Likewise, an accumulation of books may not have much to say on its own, if brought together haphazardly. This is not to say that buying a wide assortment of books for reading is not a worthy endeavor. Such a collection certainly has meaning to the owner, a very personal meaning.

No, I am suggesting that the most interesting, at at times valuable, book collections have meaning beyond the personal. Regardless of the type of book, a collection can tell a fascinating story. A book collection of censored books can tell us something about our changing ideas of morality and freedom. A collection of paperbacks tell us about popular reading over time. Even a collection of varied editions of the same book shows how different generations thought of that work, and its up and downs over time. It all depends on what the collector wants to learn, and what story they want their collection to tell.

That said, there are a number of issues regarding books a collector should know.

Condition - the most important quality of any book is condition. The better the condition of a book, the more valuable and desirable. Books in fine condition appear nearly new with their original dust jackets (if they had them), which should also look new. Books with torn pages, missing dust jackets, writing on the pages, damaged or missing covers, mold, or stains are much less attractive, and less preferred for reading OR collecting. In some cases, having the original dust jacket may make the book much more scarce or valuable than the book alone.

First Editions are not always First Printings - As a general rule, the earlier printings or editions of a book are more collectible. It is important to realize that edition and printing are not the same thing, though often they are used that way by some collectors, publishers, and even booksellers. This can be very confusing.

Edition refer to the content of a book. Think of a scientific book. The first edition, published some years ago, would be updated as we learned more about the subject. The author would correct mistakes, and add new information. A second edition, and a third, etc. would then be published over time. Early editions of science books, though not entirely accurate today, are sometimes collectible because they represent the first appearance of a scientific discovery in print.

Printing refers to the first print run of a book off a printing press. For collectability, it is most important when referring to works of fiction. A first printing is the first more-or-less public appearance of a book in the world. A later printing of the same book would look the same and have the same content, but just be printed after the intial print run was sold out. First printings of fiction are much more sought after by collectors.

Thus, first editions can have numerous printings, and second editions can have a first printing as well.

Identifying Edition and Printing - First printings often say "First edition" or "First Printing" on the page after the title page, called the copyright page. Sometimes they will only have a list of numbers starting with 1 and going to 5 or 10, which looks like this: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0, or 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2, or a list of letters like A B C D E. First printings will have all the numbers or all the letters. Later printings start taking the numbers and letters off,. So, a second printing will have a 2 or B, a third printing begins with 3 or C, and so on.

NOTE: Not every publisher follows this rule, and older books rarely used this way of printing identification either. There are a number of books that are excellent guides to identifying the edition and printing of books. I suggest Zempel's First Editions: a Guide to Identification (the major reference) and McBride's Pocket Guide to the Identification of First Editions (the portable reference). Together these will answer 90% of your questions about 20th century books.

State? What is the "State" of a Book? - This is another complicated issue in book collecting, which concerns collectors of 19th and 20th century fiction the most. State refers to the sequence of small changes in a book made by the printer in the middle of the first print run or by the publisher concerning the binding. These books were put on sale at approximately the same time, with small differences like corrections, additions, subtractions, etc. to the text or in the color of the binding. So, the first printing of a book may have several "states", or variations (also called "points").The number of volumes of the original state of a book is very small, and becomes a great deal more collectible due to its rarity. A good reference for such States or Points is McBride's Points of Issue: a Compendium of Points of Issue of Books by 19th and 20th Century Authors (also a portable, pocket sized reference).

Dust jackets may also have states. If a book is doing particularly well and has good reviews, the publisher may have new dust jackets makde that include blurbs from reviewers or other authors. These may be used to cover some first printings of the books, as well as later printings. In some cases, the art of the dust jacket itself is changed.

Book Club Editions - Book clubs have been with us for over a century in one form or another. Some clubs sold very expensive books, such as the Limited Editions Club. Most provided cheaper copies of classics or popular works. Originally, the popular book clubs bought extra copies from the publisher. More recently, book clubs print their own copies, and sell as many as they can. For collectors, knowing what is or is not a book club editions can save you money in buying and add to the value and quality of your collection.

Older book club books usually have a small indentation pressed into the lower right corner of the back board of the binding, near the foot of the spine. This indentation can be in several shapes: square, circle, maple leaf, or star. These older books are generally printed and bound the same as the regular or trade edition of the book, but just printed in larger numbers. The copyright page of these older book club books will not change any of the printing information, so throughout the print run the books all appear to be first printings. Also, the dust jackets would not have prices on their flaps for trade publishers like Knopf, Doubleday, Harcourt etc. University Press books rarely have prices on their dust jacket flaps in any case.

Modern book clubs can be*much* trickier. Gone are those easy to spot indentations. Though there is still no price on the dust jackets, many used books have been price clipped, which means a small corner of the dust jacket flap has been cut off where the price would appear. Some less than honest dealers do this to hide the lack of a price on the dust jacket and pass the books off as the scarcer first printings, though in most cases this is done simply to avoid the frequent customer question "Why does this book cost $20 when it says $3.95 on the dust jacket?".

There are however, ways to spot the modern book club editions. For a short while, the Book-of-the-Month Club™ added a notice on the copyright page stating that the book was printed by the club. Also, modern book club books are made of less expensive and durable materials, so are actually lighter in weight than the regular editions. In bindings, book clubs rarely use cloth. Many publishers of regular editions use at least some cloth in their bindings. Check the hardcovers at your local new bookseller to learn. Lastly, on or near the last page of the book, near the bottom right near the inside edge of the page (called the hinge), there will be a series of number printed in bold vertically, like "HB 3 V".

First Books of Authors May be the Best... - Fiction is perhaps the most active area of collecting today. Many authors, past and present, are very popular and have a large readership. Just as all books have first editions, all authors have first books. The first books in early printings or editions by popular authors are usually the most collectible or valuable, often because there were fewer of them printed. Publsihers often do not take huge chances on new fiction writers. Even the first printing of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter was less than a 1000 copies. However, the more popular an author becomes, the larger the print runs become for both their new books and later printings of their older works.

Prize Winners, or Trusting Others - There are a number of prizes awarded to authors for particular books. These prize-winning books are very collectible, and often among the best books in a given field. Better known annual prizes awarded to books include:

• Pulitzer Prize at http://www.pulitzer.org/ - American letters, including literature and non-fiction, poetry, & drama
• National Book Awards at http://www.nationalbook.org/nba.html - Exceptional books by American Authors.
• PEN/Faulkner Awards at http://www.penfaulkner.org/ - Juried peer award for best American fiction.
• Man Booker Prize at http://www.bookerprize.co.uk/ - British Commonwealth fiction.
• Randolph Caldecott Medal at http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/caldecottmedal/ - American picture books for children.
• Newberry Medal at http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/newberymedal/ - American literature for children.
• Carnegie Medal at http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/ - Children's book first published in the United Kingdom, or published in the UK within 3 mos. of its publication elsewhere.
• Kate Greenaway Medal at http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/ - Illustrated books for children first published in the United Kingdom, or published in the UK within 3 mos. of its publication elsewhere.
• Edgar Awards at http://www.mysterywriters.org/awards.html - Mystery works, fiction and non-fiction, print or screen, adult and children.
• Hugo Awards at http://dpsinfo.com/awardweb/hugos/ - Science Fiction, including novel, short story, novella, more.
• Nebula Awards at http://www.sfwa.org/awards/ - Science Fiction, including novel, short story, novella, more.

Signed Books & Limited Editions - Scarcity is a factor in collectibility and value, and books that are signed or printed in limited quantities are usually more scarce then the regular unsigned works on can buy new. Many authors travel around the country signing books and several publishers create limited editions of works by popular authors. However, the more an author signs books, the less valuable his or her signature may become, and the larger the limited edition, the less valuable as well. Signed copies are most scarce and collectible if from before the days of the national book-chain book tour, or by an author that is particularly reclusive. Limited editions are more collectible and valuable if made for a *very* select market and with better materials.

Take Care of Your Books!!! - One of the greatest disappointments for booksellers or any lover of books is seeing great books in horrible shape. Too often we are asked by a person to look at a collection, then have to tell them that the books are worthless, even though they are scarce editions of famous works. The reason is that the books have gotten wet, moldy, dirty, or been eaten by mice or insects. No one will buy a book that is that far gone, unless it is perhaps the last copy of a book left on the planet. The most valuable book can turn into trash very quickly if left in a dark, damp basement, or pest filled attic. So no attic or basement storage if you can avoid it.

To take care of your books, make sure they are in a clean, dry place away from pests. Books should be stood on a shelf normally or, if you must, short-stacked in a box, no more than 3 books high. If you are not actively using them, check on them regularly to make sure nothing has happened to them. And keep the dust jackets on the books. As I mentioned earlier, books without dust jackets can be worth a fraction of the value of those with the jacket. For leather books, you need to make sure they do not dry out. You may want to oil them occasionally to keep them in good condition. If you have any hopes of selling your books, leaving them to your family, or donating them to a library, you will have the most success if they are in good condition.

If you have leather-bound books, oiling them may or may not be a good idea. Many institutions and collectors no longer recommend such practice. Purchasing an archival box or sleeves are perhaps the best way to protect leather-bound books. However, books made well to begin with usually have the best chance of survival in the long run, leather-bound or otherwise.

How to Find Out More... - I hope waht I've written above is useful to you. However, it is just a start. The best way to find out more about book collecting is to ask your local used and rare bookseller or join a local book collecting organization. Librarians may be helpful as well. There are also a large number of book collecting books available but I will recommend three that I think are useful.

Ahearns' Collected Books: the Guide to Values - the latest edition is 2002, but the Ahearns have put together a useful work regardless of the edition. Prices may not be the same everywhere, but the information they have regarding different editions and other book collecting issues make this a must have. Best for more expensive books.

The Goldstones' Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World - this work shows how a non-book collecting couple became collectors, with all the ups and downs most collectors have.

Basbane's Among the Gently Mad: Strategies and Perspectives for the Book-Hunter in the 21st Century - Nicholas Basbanes has become the foremost popular writer about books and libraries in the United States today. This book is an anecdote filled guide to modern book collecting, with useful suggestions for just-starting book collectors collectors of any sized budget.

If you have any questions, corrections, or comments about this article, please contact us at motte [at] mottebooks [dot] com. I wish you good collecting.

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