Watch out for those "collector" books at estate sales - got burned last month

I went to an estate sale in Portland last month and saw this old 1920s book on bird migration with a super cool embossed cover. Lady running it said it was a rare first edition and wanted $60 for it. I bought it thinking I got a steal. Got home and looked it up - turns out it was just a regular reprint from 1952 worth maybe $15. The cover was cool but the inside was all faded and had a weird musty smell that wouldnt go away. Now I always check the copyright page and research on my phone before handing over cash. Anyone else get tricked by a smooth talker at one of these sales?

2 comments

2 Comments

morgan_lewis183d ago

The real trick isn't just about checking the copyright page. A lot of these older reprints were actually made with better materials than what you'd get today, so sometimes they have value even if they are not first editions. The trick is knowing the difference between a reprint that collectors actually want versus one that nobody cares about. A 1950s reprint of a bird migration book might still sell for $40 if the plates and illustrations were done well and the binding is tight. The musty smell though, that is a deal breaker for serious collectors. They will walk away from a $100 book if it smells like mildew because that smell never really goes away.

hannah_price792d ago

Have you ever noticed that some reprints actually have a following all their own, separate from the first edition crowd? I mean, there are collectors who specifically hunt for certain reprint series because they know the paper quality or the binding was better than anything else from that era. It is a whole different market, really. The smell thing is real, though. I have a few older books and that mildew odor just seeps into everything near it on the shelf. You end up having to toss the whole section sometimes.