One Box (25 Books) to save from your collection: What are they?

Here's a classic hypothetical book collecting question: Your house is
on fire, and you've got your family, pets, etc. out, and only have time
to pack one box of books (lets say 25 books total) to save. What are
the 25 most valuable books in your collection you pull out? (You can
also say which ones you might want to save for sentimental rather than
financial value.)

My list, with approximate values, all Fine/Fine hardback first editions
unless otherwise noted:

1. The Gollancz (first hardback) edition of William Gibson's
Neuromancer, NF/F ($2,000)
2. Philip Jose Farmer's To Your Scattered Bodies Go (F/F, with Buck and
Juanita Colson's ownership inscription) ($2,000; until price checking
this I didn't realize just how expensive this book has gotten...)
3. Frederik Pohl's Gateway, inscribed ($1,500)
4. The Gollancz (first hardback) edition of Samuel R. Delany's The
Einstein Intersection, NF/NF ($1,500 and up; hard to estimate, since
copies rarely come up for sale these days)
5. Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, inscribed ($1,400)
6. A. A. Attanasio's Radix ($1,250)
7. Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, a fairly clean Ex-Library copy in a
Fine dj, signed by Zelazny. ($1,200+)
8. Frank Herbert's Dune, a fairly worn Ex-Library copy, with the dj 98%
present and glued to the boards ($1,200)
9. Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger ($1,100)
10. Greg Egan's Axiomatic, inscribed to his editor David Pringle, NF/F
(approx. $1,000; hard to estimate, as Egan is notoriously reclusive,
and books inscribed by him (much less associational copies) are
exceedingly rare)
11. Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (Ex-Lib copy with a very
nice, NF+ dj) ($1,000)
12. Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End (EX-Lib copy, with a VG only,
spine-faded dj) ($1,000; hard to estimate. None-Ex-Lib copies start in
the $3,000 range...)
13. Octavia Butler's Survivor ($1,000; hard to estimate, as it is her
rarest and only Ex-Lib copies are online)
14. The Gollancz (first hardback) edition of Samuel R. Delany's
Babel-17, F in a NF, price-clipped dj. ($800)
15. Greg Egan's Quarantine ($800)
16. Gardner Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual
Collection (inscribed) ($750; the last one I saw was unsigned, and
there are none listed for sale right now)
17. Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man, with Bester's business card
laid in ($750)
18. Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon (F/VG, price-clipped) ($650)
19. Ernest Bramah's Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat (true UK first, in 99%
complete, un-price-clipped dust jacket) ($650)
20. Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Ex-Lib copy
with one clipped page (not affecting text)) ($700)
21. Stephen King's Insomnia (Ziesing signed/limited) ($600)
22. Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House (NF/VG) ($500)
23. Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (BBC signed/limited edition) ($500)
24. Cordwainer Smith (AKA Paul M. A. Linebarger) as Felix C. Forrest,
Carola ($500)
25. Howard Waldrop's The Soul-Catcher (one of only 25 self-published,
mimeographed copies,VG- copy with construction paper covers falling
apart) ($100; I have a lot more valuable books than this off the list
(like my Ex-Lib of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game), but this would be
all but impossible to replace)

Lawrence Person
Lame Excuse Books
Stock available online at www.tomfolio.com (searched by
www.bookfinder.com), or at:
http://home.austin.rr.com/lperson/lame.html

Lawrence, I'd burn to death trying to choose. How could I leave
behind any of the Conklins? The Ellison? The references?

Nope, I'm dead.

wrote:

7. Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, a fairly clean Ex-Library copy in a
Fine dj, signed by Zelazny. ($1,200+)
8. Frank Herbert's Dune, a fairly worn Ex-Library copy, with the dj 98%
present and glued to the boards ($1,200)
11. Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (Ex-Lib copy with a very
nice, NF+ dj) ($1,000)
12. Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End (EX-Lib copy, with a VG only,
spine-faded dj) ($1,000; hard to estimate. None-Ex-Lib copies start in
the $3,000 range...)
20. Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Ex-Lib copy
with one clipped page (not affecting text)) ($700)
(like my Ex-Lib of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game), but this would be
all but impossible to replace)

10 years ago I'm fairly certain that most collectors would have agreed
(with the reference books) that ex-lib copies of fiction books were
virtually worthless.

There does seem to have been a sea change. Often even ex-lib copies are
now a fair proportion of the cost of a clean copy.

Anyone care to suggest some guidelines?

Do certain genres lead the way?
Does a clean first edition need to reach a specific value before
ex-libs start to climb?
What's the highest proportion of a clean first edition's value that an
ex-lib might reach?

Cheers
Simon

Sam the Chainman and I have a mutual friend who was in a real-life
predicament during the California fires a few years ago. Her son was
screaming that the flames were climbing up the hill overlooking their
neighborhood. Meanwhile, she couldn't choose which books to take with
her, so she tried to put them all in her car.

Getting back to the hypothetical situation: If my house was on fire, I
wouldn't be able to choose which books to take with me either; but, I
would close the door to my library, hope for the best, and get the hell
out of there. My 25 most valuable books would be the next 25 books I
bought after the fire.

best,
Jerry Morris


Lawrence Person wrote:

Here's a classic hypothetical book collecting question: Your house is on
fire, and you've got your family, pets, etc. out, and only have time to
pack one box of books (lets say 25 books total) to save. What are the 25
most valuable books in your collection you pull out? (You can also say
which ones you might want to save for sentimental rather than financial
value.)
My list, with approximate values, all Fine/Fine hardback first editions
unless otherwise noted:
1. The Gollancz (first hardback) edition of William Gibson's
Neuromancer, NF/F ($2,000)
2. Philip Jose Farmer's To Your Scattered Bodies Go (F/F, with Buck and
Juanita Colson's ownership inscription) ($2,000; until price checking
this I didn't realize just how expensive this book has gotten...)
3. Frederik Pohl's Gateway, inscribed ($1,500)
4. The Gollancz (first hardback) edition of Samuel R. Delany's The
Einstein Intersection, NF/NF ($1,500 and up; hard to estimate, since
copies rarely come up for sale these days)
5. Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, inscribed ($1,400)
6. A. A. Attanasio's Radix ($1,250)
7. Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, a fairly clean Ex-Library copy in a
Fine dj, signed by Zelazny. ($1,200+)
8. Frank Herbert's Dune, a fairly worn Ex-Library copy, with the dj 98%
present and glued to the boards ($1,200)
9. Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger ($1,100)
10. Greg Egan's Axiomatic, inscribed to his editor David Pringle, NF/F
(approx. $1,000; hard to estimate, as Egan is notoriously reclusive, and
books inscribed by him (much less associational copies) are exceedingly
rare)
11. Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (Ex-Lib copy with a very
nice, NF+ dj) ($1,000)
12. Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End (EX-Lib copy, with a VG only,
spine-faded dj) ($1,000; hard to estimate. None-Ex-Lib copies start in
the $3,000 range...)
13. Octavia Butler's Survivor ($1,000; hard to estimate, as it is her
rarest and only Ex-Lib copies are online)
14. The Gollancz (first hardback) edition of Samuel R. Delany's
Babel-17, F in a NF, price-clipped dj. ($800)
15. Greg Egan's Quarantine ($800)
16. Gardner Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual
Collection (inscribed) ($750; the last one I saw was unsigned, and there
are none listed for sale right now)
17. Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man, with Bester's business card laid
in ($750)
18. Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon (F/VG, price-clipped) ($650)
19. Ernest Bramah's Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat (true UK first, in 99%
complete, un-price-clipped dust jacket) ($650)
20. Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Ex-Lib copy
with one clipped page (not affecting text)) ($700)
21. Stephen King's Insomnia (Ziesing signed/limited) ($600)
22. Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House (NF/VG) ($500)
23. Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (BBC signed/limited edition) ($500)
24. Cordwainer Smith (AKA Paul M. A. Linebarger) as Felix C. Forrest,
Carola ($500)
25. Howard Waldrop's The Soul-Catcher (one of only 25 self-published,
mimeographed copies,VG- copy with construction paper covers falling
apart) ($100; I have a lot more valuable books than this off the list
(like my Ex-Lib of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game), but this would be
all but impossible to replace)
Lawrence Person
Lame Excuse Books
Stock available online at www.tomfolio.com (searched by
www.bookfinder.com), or at:
http://home.austin.rr.com/lperson/lame.html

Moi's Books About Books: http://www.tinyurl.com/hib7
Moi's LIbrary http://www.moislibrary.com My Sentimental Library
http://www.picturetrail.com/mylibrary Florida Bibliophile Society
http://www.floridabibliophilesociety.org

"Jerry Morris" wrote in message
...

Sam the Chainman and I have a mutual friend who was in a real-life
predicament during the California fires a few years ago. Her son was
screaming that the flames were climbing up the hill overlooking their
neighborhood. Meanwhile, she couldn't choose which books to take with
her, so she tried to put them all in her car.

Getting back to the hypothetical situation: If my house was on fire, I
wouldn't be able to choose which books to take with me either; but, I
would close the door to my library, hope for the best, and get the hell
out of there. My 25 most valuable books would be the next 25 books I
bought after the fire.

best,
Jerry Morris

Same here. Make sure you have everything needed to file the
insurance claim, and then smile thinking of how much fun the new
search will be. Of course, it's easy for me to say that, while I've
disposed of an old collection (sappy poetry from the 19th and
early 20th centuries) and not committed to a new collection yet.

Kris

"Kris Baker" wrote in message
om...

"Jerry Morris" wrote in message
...

Sam the Chainman and I have a mutual friend who was in a real-life
predicament during the California fires a few years ago. Her son was
screaming that the flames were climbing up the hill overlooking their
neighborhood. Meanwhile, she couldn't choose which books to take with
her, so she tried to put them all in her car.

Getting back to the hypothetical situation: If my house was on fire, I
wouldn't be able to choose which books to take with me either; but, I
would close the door to my library, hope for the best, and get the hell
out of there. My 25 most valuable books would be the next 25 books I
bought after the fire.

best,
Jerry Morris

Same here. Make sure you have everything needed to file the
insurance claim, and then smile thinking of how much fun the new
search will be. Of course, it's easy for me to say that, while I've
disposed of an old collection (sappy poetry from the 19th and
early 20th centuries) and not committed to a new collection yet.

Kris


But is it really worth it ? Surely after your first house fire, most
Insurance Companies will start getting suspicious and raise your
premiums to astronomical rates ?


michael adams

....

10 years ago I'm fairly certain that most collectors would have agreed
(with the reference books) that ex-lib copies of fiction books were
virtually worthless.

There does seem to have been a sea change. Often even ex-lib copies are
now a fair proportion of the cost of a clean copy.

Anyone care to suggest some guidelines?

As the most fragile component, the dust jacket has come to represent
some 80% (and up) of the value of an unsigned books. Since the dust
jackets on many Ex-Lib are generally intact and protected, and in many
cases can be extracted from the library book without damage, Ex-Lib
copies can go for as much or more than otherwise Fine copies lacking
the dust jacket.

Or, to put it in South Park parlance:

1. Buy jacketless first.
2. Buy Ex-Lib copy with intact dust jacket.
3. Place dust jacket on jacketless copy.
4. Profit!

Do certain genres lead the way?

It seems to be that way in science fiction. And buyers of valuable OP
reference works have always been far less sensitive to condition that
the average hardback fiction collector.

Does a clean first edition need to reach a specific value before ex-libs start to climb?

Ten times more than you want to pay for a decent copy seems to be a
good rule of thumb. Aletrantely, when the prices start to have
commas...

What's the highest proportion of a clean first edition's value that an ex-lib might reach?

For books from the 1900-1930s era, when jackets seldom survive, library
copies in dust jacket might very well command 50-90% the value of a
non-Ex-Lib copy in the same general condition. Few and far between
would be the dealers to turn up their noses of an Ex-Lib copy of Tarzan
or A Princess of Mars in dust jacket.

Lawrence Person
Lame Excuse Books
Stock available online at www.tomfolio.com (searched by
www.bookfinder.com), or at:
http://home.austin.rr.com/lperson/lame.html