NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm not trying to sell anything, so don't get the wrong impression. I was more interested if anybody has any idea on how much this collection is worth. The books themselves must be from the 1910s, or before, I'm not sure - they are all wrapped in plastic bags and I don't want to open them. That said, the spine of the books say Earl of Beaconsfield K.G., and they all have some pattern on the front, and one of the books is called Vivian Grey - the others one I'm not sure. There are at least twenty books. Anybody have any clue?

Only from 1910 and you don't want to take them out of the plastic?

I got a bunch of books at least that old, some twice that and although I'm careful I'm still not afraid to touch them. They're books, they made them to be read and handled. And they did a pretty good job of making them to last around that time.

You need to give more info, do they all have matching bindings? Same author or similar themes?

Sounds like a collection of Benjamin Disraeli's work, Vivian Grey was one of his. He is also known by his title, the Earl of Beaconsfield. If it's in good shape and a matched, complete set it could be worth something. But don't expect to get rich, I'm talking maybe a couple of grand if they're in perfect shape and you can find a buyer.

Meh, I'm always scared to do this kind of stuff. I have an eight book series of Abraham Lincoln, published 1906 - congressional edition. But, there's one book that was not in a plastic bag for this series I'm talking about; it's a double of Vivian Grey, and to tell you the truth this book's binding is in worse condition, although the binding is still redeable. The book actually has no date. But when I flip a few pages it says in a very ornamental page: "Ambarssador's Gailion. Of the Works of Benjamin Disraeli - Earl of Beaconsfield. There have been printed 999, of which this is Number 469. And...I flipped a few more pages and its 1904. It's a series of stories by Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of England. Vivian Grey is around 300 pages long, and the other books are all of similar size.

Here's another interesting I got today [from my grandfather's storage area... I also got an Iron Cross from 1914]:


http://modernwarstudies.net/Lineart/Godfather.png


It bashes the Catholic Church - or that's what I gather from the last page...I haven't had time to read it all.

Yeah I know what you mean, going through old trunks and boxes always freaks me too. You're afraid of damaging something that could mean something or be valuable. Then there's always the unexpected surprise.

Like when I went through my grandfather's chest of military memorabilia.
Underneath a couple of Nazi helmets was a potato-masher style german handgrenade. Turns out it was completely disarmed but I about crapped myself when I realized I was looking at a 60 year old explosive device.:eek:

I bought a German helmet for only 40 bucks, that cheap because the seller wasn't interested in the Spanish Civil War - the helmet was exported to Spain during the war. It also lacked a liner. For some reason he just didn't like it - so I bought it cheap. I was going to ask my other grandfather for his Falange shirt, but apparently my mom lost it, which sucks to say the least.

Here's another image:


http://modernwarstudies.net/Lineart/Baronblitzkrieg.png

You might try abebooks.com. If you find them on the site for sale, you can at least get an idea.....

I'm interested in a few, if you're interested in parting with them.

Email me at nkvd_agent@yahoo.com

I'm not trying to sell anything, so don't get the wrong impression. I was more interested if anybody has any idea on how much this collection is worth. The books themselves must be from the 1910s, or before, I'm not sure - they are all wrapped in plastic bags and I don't want to open them. That said, the spine of the books say Earl of Beaconsfield K.G., and they all have some pattern on the front, and one of the books is called Vivian Grey - the others one I'm not sure. There are at least twenty books. Anybody have any clue?

Age generally isn't as important as rarety. I've got a number of books at home from the begining of the 20th century, and some from well before that, and I picked up most of them for less than 10 Euro.
If it's a complete series of books, you might get between 50-100 Euro from a second hand book dealer. If it happens to be a rare edition, maybe more.
But don't fool youself, for a book to be really worth something, it would have to be a colour-illustrated first edition of a well-known book published at least 150 or more years ago...

Take them out of the plastic and read them. A book's purpose is to be read. If you don't read a book, it is worthless, no matter what its monetary value is.

Here's another image:


http://modernwarstudies.net/Lineart/Baronblitzkrieg.png

I've seen something similar to that before...

I have a few old books.

Here's another interesting I got today [from my grandfather's storage area... I also got an Iron Cross from 1914]:


http://modernwarstudies.net/Lineart/Godfather.png


It bashes the Catholic Church - or that's what I gather from the last page...I haven't had time to read it all.


That comic isnt as old as it appears.
I used to collect them, and assuming its an american comic, I can tell you its not gold or even siliver age material.

The price on the book is $o.69.
Thats probably mid-to late 80's.

I havent heard of the company that did it, so you may have stumbled onto a rare series that saw few printings, and has become sought for its rarity.
I'll do some looking, and see what I stumble across.

Does the comic have a UPC number on it, or a bar-code?

Ok..so "Baron Blitzkrieg" was D.C character devoped shortly after the Golden Age, and was used semi regularly in "The All-Star Squadron".

That book may have some value.
Check the cover to see the price on the front of the book.
If its around 12 cents...you may be in luck.

Finding a publishing date, and the title of the book would be useful.

Yes...somewhat.

I'm not trying to sell anything, so don't get the wrong impression. I was more interested if anybody has any idea on how much this collection is worth. The books themselves must be from the 1910s, or before, I'm not sure - they are all wrapped in plastic bags and I don't want to open them. That said, the spine of the books say Earl of Beaconsfield K.G., and they all have some pattern on the front, and one of the books is called Vivian Grey - the others one I'm not sure. There are at least twenty books. Anybody have any clue?

Let's see ... coins, rocks, weird junk, stamps, medieval pointy things. Nope, not books.

My Human has books dating from the early 1800s that he still reads/handles.

It's not the age but scarcity/rarity that matters.

Just TRY to get a complete set of Viktor Rydberg's "Teutonic Mythology" sometime. IIRC there were only 105 sets printed.

Just do an antiquarian book search on the author/title. Odds are you will find more than a few for sale.

Read them and have fun.

Having old books doesn't mean you have rare books. In 1910 print runs were high enough to make most books sell easily, even today. I have some books from British India, dated 1913 and aren't rare at all. Special features such as a difficult year, very unusual printing office or other things that make the book special - well, make it more unusual. Rare books so to say, are rare.

It's like collecting coins, only some mintmarks and years are rare. The others just aren't all that interesting. In The Netherlands if you have some King William III stamps from 1870 or so, it still isn't any special because 200 million (give or take a few million) of those were printed that year. It's a nice item to have, but for rarity you need to search in other places.

That comic isnt as old as it appears.
I used to collect them, and assuming its an american comic, I can tell you its not gold or even siliver age material.

The price on the book is $o.69.
Thats probably mid-to late 80's.

I havent heard of the company that did it, so you may have stumbled onto a rare series that saw few printings, and has become sought for its rarity.
I'll do some looking, and see what I stumble across.

Does the comic have a UPC number on it, or a bar-code?


Well, the comic is worth nothing, as I was told by someone who has run into them before. It's a Jack (?) Chick comic, and you can get them online. The only value they have are the illustrations, and I doubt that even that has any value. But meh, it has awsome illustrations so I'm keeping it. Chick also has a history of severe anti-Catholicism, and the comic shows it.

----


Book wise, as I said before, apparently they printed 900 copies of each book in the series. I have two copies of Vivian Grey, and the rest of the series. And yes, each book does have full color illustrations at intervals. It has an introduction by Edmund Gosse, Librarian to the House of Lords, and it was printed for subscribers only by M. Walter Dunne. There was only one edition, so I must have first edition. I went searching for it yesterday, I don't think I've found it. I'll keep searching today. I actually do own a bookstore [that's a lie, by dad does], but I'm just getting the hang of knowing how to sell books - we've got old books lying around everywhere, and you're right some of them sell for nothing. But something about these books tells me they're worth something.