Non-Fiction Book Trade

In all the books I have read about book collecting and the book trade
they have all dealt with fiction. I read allot of non-fiction and would
like to specialize in it but I am wondering what the market place is
like for it. I would think for many books newer editions of modern
non-fiction would be more valuable as it has more up to date knowledge
and corrections.

BookFriend wrote:
In all the books I have read about book collecting and the book trade
they have all dealt with fiction. I read allot of non-fiction and would
like to specialize in it but I am wondering what the market place is
like for it. I would think for many books newer editions of modern
non-fiction would be more valuable as it has more up to date knowledge
and corrections.

(I'm not a book trader, and not even a collector in the sense used here,
so take this as the opinion of an average person who likes books.)

Yes, newer editions have more up-to-date knowledge and corrections.
This means that people will want to buy the new editions in the store,
not the old editions in the used book market. For example, old editions
of the Physician's Desk Reference are probably not much sought after.
Even if the book doesn't change, it seems unlikely that a first edition
will be that valuable unless it is a very small run of a book that hits
big--and this happens much less with non-fiction than with fiction, I think.

The collectible books, I suspect, are those for which there are no newer
editions, or for those which are more "literary" (e.g., travel essays),
or for the more popular categories (e.g. Civil War).

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
Complaint is the largest tribute heaven receives,
and the sincerest part of our devotion. --Jonathan Swift

I would think for many books newer editions of modern non-fiction
would be more valuable as it has more up to date knowledge and
corrections.
Yes, newer editions have more up-to-date knowledge and corrections.
This means that people will want to buy the new editions in the store,
not the old editions in the used book market.

That is NOT how it works for Mrs Beeton's cookbook. Or for the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, where the 11th edition (pre-WW1) is
the most valuable, thanks to its exceptional illustrations and
in-depth articles.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:

I would think for many books newer editions of modern non-fiction
would be more valuable as it has more up to date knowledge and
corrections.

Yes, newer editions have more up-to-date knowledge and corrections.
This means that people will want to buy the new editions in the store,
not the old editions in the used book market.

That is NOT how it works for Mrs Beeton's cookbook. Or for the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, where the 11th edition (pre-WW1) is
the most valuable, thanks to its exceptional illustrations and
in-depth articles.

There are, of course, exceptions.

(And the newer editions of the Britannica have a lot *less* information
on history than the older ones.)

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
Complaint is the largest tribute heaven receives,
and the sincerest part of our devotion. --Jonathan Swift

"BookFriend" wrote in message
oups.com...
In all the books I have read about book collecting and the book trade
they have all dealt with fiction. I read allot of non-fiction and would
like to specialize in it but I am wondering what the market place is
like for it. I would think for many books newer editions of modern
non-fiction would be more valuable as it has more up to date knowledge
and corrections.


Ian Fleming the originator of James Bond popularised non-fiction
collecting and his collection was a centre piece of the "Printing and
the Mind of Man" exhibition held in London in 1963. His collection is
now in the Lilly Library Indiana University. More info on here -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming

First editions of works such as Isaac Newton's "Principia Mathematica"
and Einstein's General (or maybe Special) Theory always command good
prices. Nowadays at least. All works which first announce scientific
discoveries of any kind can fetch a premium. Newton's "Optics", Robert
Boyles "Sceptical Chymist" etc.

While on the other hand, ISTR reading some early barbed wire catalogues can
fetch extraordinary sums of money. Both from barbed wire collectors and
early technology/US history book collectors.


michael adams

Michael Adams wrote:

ISTR reading some early barbed wire catalogues can fetch
extraordinary sums of money. Both from barbed wire collectors
and early technology/US history book collectors.

Over the last couple of years I've sold books on subjects as
wide-ranging as zeppelins and carnivorous plants, from early editions
of Darwin to multi-volume encyclopedias of artwork - and all in
Japanese - a language the buyers couldn't read and didn't understand!

John
http://rarebooksinjapan.org