Rare books as investment vehicles.

[on-ramp]

Any rare books i can buy today, hold for a couple years, and then sell for a profit?

Anyone specialize in this area? advice needed , thanks.

[azasadny]

Do an eBay search for "incunabula"...

[bryanthompson]

Count of Monte Cristo. Best story of all time. My girlfriend found an original printing for my birthday, but I don't know what it's worth or anything.

[billwagnon]

Count of Monte Cristo. Best story of all time.

Is this the cover on it?

[84porsche]

That's the movie cover, you need to find an original. The best place to look for classic books are antique shops.

[84porsche]

Another book if you can find is an original print is "Catcher in the Rye", said to be held by several assassinators.

[bryanthompson]

The CoMC books I have are leather covered, with gold writing on the spines. It's over a hundred years old, but It doesn't say the date on it anywhere. There's an antique book show coming to town in a month or so... I'm thinking about taking these to get looked at.

[id10t]

What about the recent reprint of Karl Ludvigsen's "Excellence was expected" ?



(sorry about spelling, i've had a few beers)

[RickM]

I see over and over that old books are generally not as expensive as one may think. On Antiques Roadshow a person had a book from the 1600s, a "family" bible of some type. He was told that it is was not worth more than a couple of hundred dollars (if that). This wasn't the first time I've heard this as I've seen the same with very old books that were printed in large quantity.

This may not answer your question but just be careful. Old doesn't translate into valuable.

[techweenie]

Signed first editions of books by first-time authors are sometimes a reasonable investment, but you kind of have to know if the author is going to be big. The second or third book by an author will establish their significance, but it's unusual for that second book to be on the market in less than a year or two. So the notion of a 'couple year' turnaround is probably unlikely to pay off.

Typically books take a long time to appreciate.

OTOH, authors are like artists. When they die, the value of their signed works usually goes up.

Vintage books are subject to some market fluctuation. With the dollar constantly falling, books desired by European or Asian collectors might make a reasonable investment.

Watch eBay to get an idea of book values.

A couple years ago, I was seeing big demand for early computer magazines, so I scoured local thrift stores for early Popular Electronics, etc. and made a fair amount of money buying a handful of rare magazines for $0.75 and selling for $75 -100.

[bryanthompson]

that reminds me, tw.... I have four years of 73 Magazine for Ham Radio types... I gotta find a place to look those up. It's pretty funny... they have advertisements for the first PC's and everything

[tabs]

If U find a First Edition ...Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain...you have something.....Or a First edition Gone With the Wind......it came out in March 1935 and by November had gone through 17 printings...

Dust covers are important in collecting older books... author signed in ink are also desirable...I bought a 1st edition Last Battle by Corneliaus Ryan (Longest Day, Bridege To Far) for $0.45....it's probably worth $45.00....

Military History books can also be worth quiet a bit....Paul Carells...Hitler Moves East...1st American printings can be worth $100.00. with Dust Jacket.

Also books on collectable subjects....Suterlands book on Colts was going for $475 before it was reprinted....

If you want a book today that is going to be worth quiet a bit more in the near future go buy

Glenn Swansons...Life and Time of GA Custer...for $100.

Privately published, 2500 copies with 150 Signed Leather Bound.

The book came out in August ....the Leather Bounds are sold out and he has 2000 copies of the regular edition left.

Once the editon is sold out...that it...and the subject matter and presentation is excellent .....the guy collected Battle of the Little Big Horn memoribila for the last 25 years and anything connected with Custer SELLS.

[}{arlequin]

Originally posted by azasadny
Do an eBay search for "incunabula"...

just looked it up, damn. Pretty cool if it's authentic.

[Owain]

Another good place to get an idea of book value (at least what the sellers think the value is) is abebooks. It's a website where you can browse or search used book sellers' inventories ("12,500 booksellers selling 60 million new, used, rare & out-of-print books" according to their website).

The only rare book I have is what I think is a first edition (1976) "Race Car Engineering and Mechanics" by Paul Van Valkenburgh (designer of the Chaparral "sucker car"). I bought it at a used book store for $5 because I wanted to read it but looking at that website I see that it might be worth up to $147.95.

[Bailey]

My father is a rare book dealer and is considered one of the nation's americana experts. Has appraised copies of the declaration of independence, as well as William Bradford's journal, the first governor of the plymouth colony. He does a lot of buying and selling and tells me of some great profits he's made, although it has not made him a wealthy man. He knows what to look for. I would guess it is difficult to make a lot of money at it. Rather than finding books that will appreciate a lot over the next few years, I think you should look for books that are being mispriced by the seller (barn finds).

[tabs]

I have found there is more money to be made in art than anyother collectable. It comes down to someone not liking it, can't read the signature, it's dirty...or just don't know what they have. For example take this Norman McLeish done in 1938...Treadways has apraised it at $2500 to $4500, not bad for $330 out the door at a weekly auction in LA.

[tabs]

Oh BTW...I came across a 1st edition set of Thomas Jeffersons Works in 4 volumes...published in 1829, edited by Randolph Jefferson and owned by a historical personage by the name of Edwin Gow...what I have found fascinating is that in the back of volume 1 is an engraving of the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence...all for $75. I found them in an antique store on Orca Island, WA....

[azasadny]

I'd love to have a 1st Edition of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, but I don't think I could afford it!

[DannoXYZ]

"Any rare books i can buy today, hold for a couple years, and then sell for a profit?"

Hmmm, personally I don't think investments should be seen in such black and white qualitative terms. You need to quantify your investments with actual numbers:

- what is desired rate of return?
- holding time?
- how much liquidity desired?
- risk to rewards ratio?
- tax implications?
- personal risk-tolerance and risk-capital

When you have these numbers defined, as in figuring the goals first, then you can work backwards and find the specific investment instruments that will meet those goals.