GRRM's Song of Ice and Fire Limited/Lettered Editions

BTW, I can't find edit button, so I am specifying my correction here:

I understand that pricing (the books' ability to hold value) should be the least of my concern for these rare books, but I am sure anyone who is thinking of spending more than $10k will at least glimpse over the same concern!

The_Antiquarian wrote:
BTW, I can't find edit button, so I am specifying my correction here:

I understand that pricing (the books' ability to hold value) should be the least of my concern for these rare books, but I am sure anyone who is thinking of spending more than $10k will at least glimpse over the same concern!

I'd share your concern about future pricing on these, tbh. We saw with Tolkien that prices spiked for quite some time due to the movies and then moderated. I would guess the same effect would be likely with ASoIaF, but anybody's guess, and I'm often wrong

Thank you for your input!

Well I also wanted to add that Tolkien's works have proven track records from major auction houses and bookfairs (sold by established rare book sellers) so we won't be seeing Tolkien's valuable works plummeting in value to mere fraction.

However, I believe there hasn't been a single sale of GRRM's work on major auction houses and if you think Tolkien collectors are a niche group of rare book collectors, collector of these limited/lettered edition makes up an even more niche of a group.

I have been collecting GRRM's first edition/first impressions as they come out, signed in person from his book tours. Man, it's been a while since he's put a book out hasn't it?

For any item to "hold value", based on straight-forward economic principals, the demand must exceed supply. Tolkien in particular is a special case (I am not at all biased here ) where an entire category of literature was invigorated/molded/reformed/created around his works of fiction.

Do I think GRRM books will continue increasing in price (sold, not asking) at or above inflation? Not really, no. I think that once the show is over this season and fades from memory, and as the generation of TV viewers moves on to other stimuli, that the book market will soften. It may never collapse, and it could stay in demand for the foreseeable future, but I don't think it will track like The Lord of the Rings has over a long period of time. (I could be wrong). They could start a new spinoff TV series, prequels, whatever. The last book could be absolutely amazing and win awards, and GRRM could crank out a few sequels and keep the series in vogue for another decade. After all that (potential) passes, though, I don't see it as a series that will have graduate theses still being written about it in fifty years.

Take for example the Cyberpunk movement. Gibson's Neuromancer was and is a genre-defining classic. Won the Nebula and Hugo when it came out in 1984, still hugely influential, and still can be bought for a few thousand dollars, just like in the 1990s. If they re-make a movie for it, it could spike again briefly, but I am pretty confident it would taper off again afterwards.

Antiquarian,

I received an e-mail from the Folio Society with this subject: Winter is coming to Folio...

Inside it reads:

A spectacular Folio collector’s edition of A Game of Thrones is coming later this year.

We’ll be revealing more details as the release date approaches. Click the button below to register your interest and you’ll be the first to find out further information.

Here's the link to the site, where you can register for info regarding the upcoming release. The design at the top of the page is pretty sweet. :)

https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/winte ... _source=The+Folio+Society

PS - I hope it's OK to provide a link such as the one I just posted.

I have been heavily focused on collecting GRRM's works and it's been quite a journey!

I have acquired a complete matching set of the ASOIAF saga, in addition to matching number peripheral books.

Now I am trying to focus on completing a signed mint condition 1sts!