In brief, in the most recent episode (recorded last June, broadcast on Monday [June 26th]), someone brought in a copy of THE HOBBIT. And not just any copy: a signed 1st edition, 1st printing, in mint condition, with an original dust jacket (with the mis-spelling of Lewis Carroll's name corrected by hand).
Their estimate? between $80,000 and $120,000 dollars. That's a pretty good return on the seven shillings and sixpence somebody paid back in 1937 or thereabouts.
The one thing that makes me a little sad is that to be in the condition it's in, this book has hardly been read at all in all those years. Books are to be read as well as preserved, enjoyed as well as treasured.
Here's the story:
--John R.
current reading: GOD'S DEFENDERS: WHAT THEY BELIEVE AND WHY THEY ARE WRONG by S. T. Joshi [2003]
2 comments:
I'd look at it the other way: this one is so valuable because all the other copies were read so much they are worn out and gone (and helped the book become so popular). It's nice when a few pristine copies remain so you see what it was like when it first appeared.
That's a good perspective to have, Zen.Arc.
Many thanks for sharing it.
I'm reminded of a parallel case: original editions of Defoe's ROBINSON CRUSOE are, I'm told, practically non-existent, because all the copies were read to pieces. And this in an era the literati considered 'The Age of Pope', when 'literature' was thought to exclude anything so lowly as a novel.
But then we have engravings of Swift and Pope, whereas the only description we have of Daniel Foe (later 'Defoe') is from a wanted poster, where the Powers That Be were out to get him over something he wrote . . .
--John R.
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