Value of UK first of "The Last Coyote" and other Connellys

Thank you for the 2 thoughtful answers to my previous post re values
of firsts, eBay, dealers. Now I have a specific example to discuss. I
have a VF UK first copy of Michael Connelly's "The Last Coyote".
I asked a local in town dealer about its possible worth and he said he
wouldn't go out of his way to acquire one, and, if he did have one, he
would list it for $60 or so. This seems to contradict the listed
current prices of some of the earlier Connelly books and in fact Black
Ice and BlackEcho do seem to command a good price. BUT, I couldn't for
months find a listing on any book search for the UK Last Coyote first.
When I finally did find one, it was listed at over $2500!! and not
even VF with a couple of minor flaws stated. So I guess my questions
are; why do two apparently knowledgeable dealers have such wildly
different estimates of this books value and,secondly, what is its
likely value? Again I ask for indulgence if this is OT!

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Booked" wrote in message
news
Thank you for the 2 thoughtful answers to my previous post re values
of firsts, eBay, dealers. Now I have a specific example to discuss. I
have a VF UK first copy of Michael Connelly's "The Last Coyote".
I asked a local in town dealer about its possible worth and he said he
wouldn't go out of his way to acquire one, and, if he did have one, he
would list it for $60 or so. This seems to contradict the listed
current prices of some of the earlier Connelly books and in fact Black
Ice and BlackEcho do seem to command a good price. BUT, I couldn't for
months find a listing on any book search for the UK Last Coyote first.
When I finally did find one, it was listed at over $2500!! and not
even VF with a couple of minor flaws stated. So I guess my questions
are; why do two apparently knowledgeable dealers have such wildly
different estimates of this books value and,secondly, what is its
likely value? Again I ask for indulgence if this is OT!

--

It's not off topic. This is a collector's group, and prices paid by dealers
and to dealers are always interesting.

I'll just tell you as a some-time dealer that I LOVE to find books where I
can find no corresponding entry on line. When I went to the Antiquarian Book
Market seminar last year one of the seasoned dealers said he tried to have
the only copy, or at least the only one of two or three copies, available
for everything he sold.

And your instincts are exactly right as far as looking for other works by
the same author as a guide to pricing your title. However, you should be
aware that sometimes an author's the first book or two are much scarcer, and
therefore priced higher than subsequent works because publishers invest in
fewer copies from an "unknown quantity."

As to why the first dealer estimated the value so much lower than the copy
you found on line, there could be any number of reasons. Without doing any
reasearch on the title, he may have recognized it as coming fourth in the
series (the two books you cited were the first and second in the series). As
fourth in the series, it would be a good bet that there were lots of copies
printed, since the author would have become recognized as a good seller by
that time. Also, it was a UK edition, and the author is American. That's a
clue that it's probably not the "true first", and in fact, the UK edition
was preceded by the US LIttle, Brown edition.

If I had that book and were trying to price it, I would be very, very
suspicious of the $2,500 price. The listing dealer probably forgot to put in
his decimal, and it should have been $25.00. I found two UK firsts (1995,
Orion), one in Germany "as new" priced at $15.45 and one in the UK, VG, at
$30.99. Meanwhile, ABE shows 50+ US firsts (the "true first"), ranging in
price from $25.00 (VG/VG) to $95.00 for the highest price book available in
the US.

Since you are interested in pricing, you might find ABE useful and
interesting. Here's the link: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchEntry


Alice



Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

my-wings wrote:
"Booked" wrote in message
news
Thank you for the 2 thoughtful answers to my previous post re values
of firsts, eBay, dealers. Now I have a specific example to discuss. I
have a VF UK first copy of Michael Connelly's "The Last Coyote".
I asked a local in town dealer about its possible worth and he said he
wouldn't go out of his way to acquire one, and, if he did have one, he
would list it for $60 or so. This seems to contradict the listed
current prices of some of the earlier Connelly books and in fact Black
Ice and BlackEcho do seem to command a good price. BUT, I couldn't for
months find a listing on any book search for the UK Last Coyote first.
When I finally did find one, it was listed at over $2500!! and not
even VF with a couple of minor flaws stated. So I guess my questions
are; why do two apparently knowledgeable dealers have such wildly
different estimates of this books value and,secondly, what is its
likely value? Again I ask for indulgence if this is OT!

--


It's not off topic. This is a collector's group, and prices paid by dealers
and to dealers are always interesting.

I'll just tell you as a some-time dealer that I LOVE to find books where I
can find no corresponding entry on line. When I went to the Antiquarian Book
Market seminar last year one of the seasoned dealers said he tried to have
the only copy, or at least the only one of two or three copies, available
for everything he sold.

And your instincts are exactly right as far as looking for other works by
the same author as a guide to pricing your title. However, you should be
aware that sometimes an author's the first book or two are much scarcer, and
therefore priced higher than subsequent works because publishers invest in
fewer copies from an "unknown quantity."

As to why the first dealer estimated the value so much lower than the copy
you found on line, there could be any number of reasons. Without doing any
reasearch on the title, he may have recognized it as coming fourth in the
series (the two books you cited were the first and second in the series). As
fourth in the series, it would be a good bet that there were lots of copies
printed, since the author would have become recognized as a good seller by
that time. Also, it was a UK edition, and the author is American. That's a
clue that it's probably not the "true first", and in fact, the UK edition
was preceded by the US LIttle, Brown edition.

If I had that book and were trying to price it, I would be very, very
suspicious of the $2,500 price. The listing dealer probably forgot to put in
his decimal, and it should have been $25.00. I found two UK firsts (1995,
Orion), one in Germany "as new" priced at $15.45 and one in the UK, VG, at
$30.99. Meanwhile, ABE shows 50+ US firsts (the "true first"), ranging in
price from $25.00 (VG/VG) to $95.00 for the highest price book available in
the US.

Since you are interested in pricing, you might find ABE useful and
interesting. Here's the link: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchEntry


Alice




Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com




In addition, the copy that lists for $2,500 says it is signed. But US signed
firsts of this book go for a lot less - below $100, so I doubt that the
signature makes it worth anywhere near that much.


Francis A. Miniter