One thing you will hear when talking with an antiquarian book dealer quite often is the importance of the condition of the book.

When trying to determine the price of a book, condition is everything. Small stains, rips or missing parts can quickly bring the value of a book down pretty quickly.

Someone who is not familiar with antiquarian books may feel that their book, though full of flaws may be excluded because it is old in their opinion. Or because it was handed down in their family or other sentimental feelings.

Ones personal feeling towards a book does not change the rules or guidelines.

Generally for a book to have some flaws and not lose any or very little value, and I do stress the word “some”, a book would have to be printed before 1890. This is not set in stone but just a general guideline.

With more recent printings, price clipped dust jackets, remainder marks and more will hurt the value of a book.

Children’s books are given more lenience in condition more than any other genre but condition still is key. So if your first edition of Charlotte’s web has some wear etc on it, you’re doing ok. If you decided as a child to write on crayon on every page your out of luck.

As always if you have any questions about books feel free to write or email us.

Though there a numerous ways to identify a first edition and each publisher may have their own rules the following is a brief outline to help you get started.

Usually on the title page it will say “First Edition” or “First Published”

There may also be a number line like as follows. 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1

With the last number 1 showing the first edition.

Now if your number line reads something like

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2 this denotes a 1st edition 2nd printing.

A book club first edition is not a true first edition. There are a few exceptions but none that will be noted here.

When identifying a book club edition there are a few things that will show you immediately that the book is a book club.

There is no price on the dust jacket.

There are the words Book Club Edition on the dust jacket usually located on the lower inside flap.

Generally book club editions are smaller and weigh less than other books.

I would like to emphasize again that there are exceptions to the above rules and that they are only a general guideline.

Trying to determine first editions can be an exhaustive process. A reference set and bibliographies are used quite often.

The following article is a brief summary to help when you first start a book collection. There are numerous details and more in depth knowledge involved in building a book collection, but the following will help you get started in the right direction.

So you love to read and want to start a collection. The first question is what do you want to collect? Let’s assume you love Military books.

Great, then let’s narrow it down to a particular branch of the military for example the United States Army.

Now before you buy every book that even mentions the word Army lets narrow down a time frame. We will use 1930-1950.

Now that we have a time frame lets concentrate on Native Americans. There were approximately 44,000 Native Americans in WW2.

So from the above information, we can build a book collection on Native Americans in the U.S. Army from 1930-1950.

You will want first editions if you can locate and afford them.

Condition is everything. Event though the majority of the books you purchase will be used books, keeps trying to find the better copy.

Try to collect hardbacks with dust jackets (if they originally came with one).

Buy from reputable used bookstores or reach out and meet and talk to an experienced rare or used book dealer. They may have the knowledge of a fellow collector who is looking to sell their book.