By
Stu
21 May, 2019
2019-5-21 12:56:02 AM UTC
Do we know what the prices on release of the 1969 Deluxe LoTR, 1976 Deluxe Hobbit and 1980 Poems and Stories were? (I seem to recall that P&S was £20?).
21 May, 2019
2019-5-21 1:51:28 AM UTC
From Hammond's Bibliography:
Lord of the Rings deluxe India paper edition, 13 November 1969 at 126s.
The Hobbit deluxe, 2 September 1976 at £15.00
Poems & Stories deluxe, 29 May 1980, £17.50
21 May, 2019
2019-5-21 2:11:11 AM UTC
Urulókë wrote:
From Hammond's Bibliography:
Lord of the Rings deluxe India paper edition, 13 November 1969 at 126s.
The Hobbit deluxe, 2 September 1976 at £15.00
Poems & Stories deluxe, 29 May 1980, £17.50
Ta. My suspicion that these can all be had in near fine condition used for less than they cost new (inflation adjusted) confirmed (except for LoTR which would have made a bit of a profit @ £85). Hobbit around £120. P&S £85
21 May, 2019
2019-5-21 3:18:02 AM UTC
Sounds about right, for book collecting in general. A handful can return on long term investment, some will hold their value, and the great majority turn into penny-bin filler. It will be interesting to see if the whole "hypermodern firsts" industry will return to normal levels or if they will hold their collectibility as well.
"Hypermodern firsts" came about in the mystery genre and has spread elsewhere - it made economic sense to publish many authors' first books in very small numbers, rather than investing marketing effort into a few authors they thought would be breakout hits. Then they just reprint the books that turn out to be really popular. Has the side effect of making first impressions quite scarce (usually just a few hundred) and thus their price can spike to 10x list within weeks of being issued, in some cases. Some are still holding that value long afterwards, if the author remains popular.
21 May, 2019
2019-5-21 3:50:03 AM UTC
Urulókë wrote:
...and the great majority turn into penny-bin filler...
This is the thing a lot of people seem to not understand on eBay...
22 May, 2019
2019-5-22 1:20:03 AM UTC
When you think that retailers used to get the books at a 30% discount, so the publisher was grossing - say - £84 (inflation adjusted) for a Hobbit in 1976, you can see why the modern deluxe editions are Chinese-printed garbage [in reprint form, at any rate], given the retailers now typically discount lower than they would have paid for the book in the good old days, and the inflation adjusted RRP is also lower in the first place. Basically, we aren't prepared (and probably aren't able) to pay for good stuff any more, and the publishers know that.
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