Rare Book Appraisals

A Common Misconception

A mistaken belief is that all old books are valuable. Unfortunately, just because a book is well along in years does not necessarily mean it is worth thousands of dollars. The rarity of a book has a lot to do with its value. For instance, some of the earliest books were Bibles, and since there are many old gilt-edged, leather-bound Bibles around today, they are not as valuable as scarcer titles.

An Appraiser’s Job

A book appraiser studies reference books to find asking prices and sales prices for rare books. Whether the appraiser is able to find the book listed, he or she must still make a judgement on the book's value, taking into consideration many aspects including:

• Author
• Publisher
• Date published
• Subject maater
• Condition

An appraiser will also recognize a first edition copy if the printing is relevant to its value.

Finding a Qualified Book Appraiser

Some book stores advertise the capability of conducting rare book appraisals, but other book stores need to be asked. Contact local auction houses as well, to see if certain days of the week are reserved for appraisals. Some book dealers who appraise books do not charge a fee while others expect payment. For this reason, one should not automatically assume a book store will give a free estimate.

Frequently, an experienced book dealer already has a good idea of the value of a book without doing any research, especially if the title is common or a particularly valuable book, which book dealers are always on the look out for. Of course there are many scarce titles that even knowledgeable rare book dealers have to research by consulting auction prices, catalogues and other references.

Rare Book Appraisals by Phone

A book dealer might be able to estimate over the telephone if a book is of value without inspecting it, perhaps estimating it will sell for $300 as opposed to $50. Most of the time, though, the dealer will want the book brought in for a physical inspection in order to ascertain its condition.

Appraising Books on the Internet

The internet is a good resource for rare book appraisals. BookFinder.com and AddALL are two websites that search multiple databases of dealer stock. Internet listings will at least be able to provide a rough estimate for books which are available for sale online, but these books used for price comparison still have to be exact or very similar in condition to the one you are valuing. A book's condition is always taken into consideration.

Appraisal Price

Another common misconception concerns the price quoted by a rare book appraisal service. This price is not what you are likely to receive if you sell the book; instead it is the amount a customer pay pay for the book. A dealer will only pay a percentage of this price.

Rare book appraisals can be a tricky business because aspects that the appraiser looks at in a book, such as publisher, edition, illustrator, and material the book is bound in, all influence the book's value. Additionally, further evaluation needs to be made if the title is not an exact copy. An appraiser has to process a great deal of information, making the profession a very specialized job indeed.

External Book Search Links

• BookFinder.com
• AddALL

Booksellers by state:

• ABAA, Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America
• IOBA, The Independent Online Booksellers Association