I happen to have a 1st American edition 2nd state Hobbit with the Chapter VII misprint as Chapter VI. No dust jacket but in very good condition.
What would you pay for this edition? I've already had offers up in the thousands. But, since it's pretty confusing pricing the Hobbit books I'd like to know your genuine opinion before selling.
Low thousands seem reasonable to me - the lack of a dustjacket is a big issue (when comparing to fine/fine of the same impression), and the fact that it is USA instead of UK. Still a nice book to have!
$1,000 - $1,500, based on sales I have recently seen (within the last few months). If anyone has already offered more than that, I'd take them up on the offer. Prices seem to be rising a little at the moment, I think, mind.
I'd agree; I'd say to warrant $1,500 it would have to be near fine or better, no markings of any sort. $1,000-$1,200 for VG. In my opinion the misprint is interesting but wouldn't add too much to the value. And you can occasionally find 1st printings without jackets for the same amount.
Berelach wrote: I'd agree; I'd say to warrant $1,500 it would have to be near fine or better, no markings of any sort. $1,000-$1,200 for VG. In my opinion the misprint is interesting but wouldn't add too much to the value. And you can occasionally find 1st printings without jackets for the same amount.
I thought the misprint was kind of a big deal with these earlier printings? I know the 1st/1st has the same misprint. And only some of the second states have them. I've looked on Ebay as well as Abebooks and the only second states I could find with the misprint were listed in the $3k-$5k (for fair conditioned) books. From what I remember they had facsimile dust jackets with those.
I've also seen 1st/1st selling for 10's of thousands with the dust jacket and without.
Just remember that Abebooks (& eBay increasingly) is a professional bookselling site where booksellers price items for profit. ABE also charges fees in the ~13.5-15% bracket; so sellers aren't pocketing all of that top-line price. If you're sitting with a book worth, say (as in this case), ~$1500; these are the books professional sellers are marking up in the $3K range. They're a business. You, I assume, are not. Also consider that people are offereing you ~$1500 now; sellers on ABE could be sitting on those books for years. There's also no evidence (certainly in respect to ABE) that they're actually selling those books that you're looking at. Even when they do, people may be offering (& having their offer accepted) considerably lower than that price.
I'm not making a judgement on people's valuations here on this site; but be wary of comparing the prices you're being offered (which seem reasonable) to those appearing elsewhere online (which may not reflect reality).
I thought the misprint was kind of a big deal with these earlier printings? I know the 1st/1st has the same misprint. And only some of the second states have them. I've looked on Ebay as well as Abebooks and the only second states I could find with the misprint were listed in the $3k-$5k (for fair conditioned) books. From what I remember they had facsimile dust jackets with those.
I've also seen 1st/1st selling for 10's of thousands with the dust jacket and without.
Hence, my confusion when fairly pricing this!
In terms of value, with these early prints, around 90% of the value is in the dust-jacket. It is a bit ridiculous, but it is the way it is.
UK 1st/1sts are worth much more than US 1st/1sts, just because the UK ones were the "true" 1st edition, and book collectors seem to like that kind of thing.
In terms of Abe-books pricing, these are asking prices (often speculative), and typically from dealers with significant dealer markup. I think the prices quoted here are pretty much on the money based on what I have observed over the last year or so (although I don't pay quite as close attention to US Hobbits as Berelach does, as I only collect UK books).
>I've also seen 1st/1st selling for 10's of thousands with the dust jacket and without.
No one, and I mean no one is paying tens of thousands of dollars for a US 1/1 without a jacket. It just isn't what they sell for. People might *ask* that much, but that is a whole different kettle of fish.
If you already have offers that exceed the amount suggested here, seems like you could just pick the highest one, or failing that try your luck listing on eBay. Listings are fickle, and sometimes things end up selling cheaply and sometimes a seller does unexpectedly well. It is all a bit random.
Just taking a quick look at current offerings on eBay for nearly the same edition - I could not find any records for actual sold copies in my records on first glance.
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