CONDITION AND EDITION
ARE VERY IMPORTANT
Please check the date on the title page carefully. If an entry herein does not have the publication date in parentheses “( )”, the date should be printed on the title page (parentheses specifically indicate there is no publication date on the title page). We have assumed, in some cases, from our sources that the date appears on the title page when it in fact may not. Be aware of this possibility. Compare your book’s condition to the conditions listed below. All prices in this volume are for books in following condition:
Books published before 1800: rebound in the 19th century unless otherwise stated. Copies in original bindings (even extensively repaired) or contemporary bindings would have a higher value.
Books published from 1800 to 1849: rebound at some early date after the date of publication unless otherwise stated. Binding is clean and intact. The original binding would greatly increase the value.
Books published after 1850 to 1924: in original leather, cloth (cloth-covered boards) boards (paper-covered boards) or paper-wraps unless otherwise stated. From 1850 to 1889 the book is good to very good condition with only minor edge wear or loss but still tight and clean. From 1890 to 1924 the book is clean and bright with no loss or tears on the edges. Fine to very fine copies would bring more.
Books published from 1925 to 1949: must be very good to fine with only minimal (if any) soiling. In an original dust jacket (unless in wraps or a limited edition in slipcase) that is clean with only minimal soiling or fading and only a few small chips and closed tears. If the dust jacket is missing the value is greatly reduced (75% or more on fiction and 20% or more on non-fiction).
Books published after 1950: a book from 1950 to 1985 must be fine in original dust jacket that shows only very minor wear, fading or soiling and may or may not be price-clipped. From 1985 until the present the book and dust jacket should look close to new and the dust jacket should not be price-clipped.
COLLECTED BOOKS
The Guide to Identification and Values
Praise for past editions:
“If any single item can be considered essential equipment for today’s book collector, it is CollectedBooks ... this richly informative reference volume offers authoritative guidance for every manner of bibliophile, from beginning bookhunters to hard-core veterans ...”
– NICHOLAS A. BASBANES, author of A Gentle Madness
and other books on books and printing
“There are a few, a very few, reference works that belong on the shelves of every book collector, serious or casual. These provide the basic information required to participate in this wonderful idiosyncratic passion. Among them are ... Allen & Patricia Ahearn’s Collected Books.”
– FIRSTS: The Book Collector’s Magazine
“A fine reference work ... one I have referred to many times over the years.”
– LARRY McMURTRY
Pulitzer Prize and Oscar-winning author and bookseller
“... the standard guide ...”
and, in his Readings column:
“Allen and Pat Ahearn’s Collected Books ... [is among] maybe the dozen titles I’d take to a desert island, perfect for daydreaming the rest of one’s life away.”
– MICHAEL DIRDA,
author and Washington Post Pulitzer Prize-winning critic
“... a valuable resource for almost all public libraries ... this is the best single-volume source ...”
– ERIC BRYANT, Library Journal
“If I had only $75 to start up a reference library, this is where I’d begin; and if I was down to my last $75, it’s where I’d end.”
– KEVIN MacDONNELL, Rare Books
Collected Books has been cited as a standard reference in American Literary Scholarship, Antique Week, Arts & Antiques, The Baltimore Sun, Barrons, Business Week, Departures, Forbes, National Enquirer, People Magazine, Southern Accent Magazine, USA Today, Washington Investor Quarterly, The Washington Post, and The Washington Times, et al
ALSO BY ALLEN AND PATRICIA AHEARN
The Book of First Books (1975, 1978, 1983 & 1986)
Book Collecting: A Comprehensive Guide (1989, 1995 & 2000)
Collected Books: The Guide to Values (1991, 1998 & 2002)
The latter two works were published by Putnam. The authors self-published The Book of First Books, the predecessor to Book Collecting: A Comprehensive Guide.
COLLECTED
BOOKS
The Guide
to Identification
and Values
4TH EDITION
ALLEN AND
PATRICIA AHEARN
With the assistance
of
Elizabeth Ahearn Fisher
Quill & Brush Press
Comus
2011
Copyright © 2011 by Allen and Patricia Ahearn
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Ahearn, Allen.
Collected Books: The Guide to Identification and Values
Allen and Patricia Ahearn
p. cm.
Rev. ed. Of: Collected Books. 2002.
Includes bibliographical references and index
ISBN: 978-1-8830-6014-5
1. Book collecting—United States. 2. English imprints—
Collectors and collecting—United States. 3. First editions—
United States. 4. Books—Prices—United States. I.
Ahearn, Patricia. II. Title.
Published in eBook format by Quill & Brush
Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com
The authors may be reached at Quill & Brush
1137 Sugarloaf Mountain Road, Comus, MD 20842
E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.QBbooks.com
FOR
Carl Hahn
who has greatly contributed to all our efforts over
the last 25 years. We couldn’t have done it without
your tireless attention to bibliographical detail.
PREFACE
This book has been prepared to provide information for book collectors as well as librarians