Are you a book lover?
Do you have a teetering tower of tomes on your bedside table?
Maybe your grandfather’s library was the envy of every bibliophile in Tasmania, and in your childhood you spent countless hours poring over the pages of classic Dickens or educating yourself with the entire collection of Encyclopedia Britannica.
Or, maybe, as a starry-eyed teenager, you discovered what you believe is a first edition print of a book that went on to become one of the most popular English language tales ever told.
Such is the case of Renee Woodleigh, a Tasmanian woman who thinks she happened across one of the first copies of J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy The Hobbit at a southern Tasmanian op shop 31 years ago when she was 19.
Renee Woodleigh says she bought the book at the St Vincent de Paul op shop in Huonville. (Facebook: Collect O’Maniac)
Ms Woodleigh told ABC Radio Hobart she had decided to sell the book, and had already attracted a potential buyer after advertising it online for $44,000.
But there are many variables when it comes to what makes a book worth tens of thousands of dollars.
A Tasmanian expert says it comes down to the story of the copy of the book itself.
A lesson in never giving away a book
Toby Wools-Cobb owns Launceston’s Quixotic Books, which he describes as a “curious, niche” shop specialising in “hard-to-find” books.
He once had his own brush with a classic children’s book worth tens of thousands of dollars, when a customer came in seeking a copy of a Roald Dahl first edition.
“It was a very limited, 100-print run that were given only to [Dahl’s] friends,” Mr Wools-Cobb said.
Toby Wools-Cobb describes himself as a “detective for books”. (ABC News: Morgan Timms)
“And I was there going ‘Oh, gosh, good luck ever finding it.'”
But Mr Wools-Cobb said he was able to track down a copy that was for sale for about $60,000.
“And this gentleman laughs because he then tells me he actually had that copy, but he had given it to a friend when moving house 20 or 30 years ago,” he said.
“He was kicking himself that he just gave it away.”
An inscribed copy of The Gremlins by Roald Dahl. (Supplied: www.raptisrarebooks.com)
First editions, misprints and censorship
Mr Wools-Cobb said although the book was a case of a first-edition run being highly valuable, other print editions and variations could also be highly prized.
Many of the things that may make a book attractive or appear valuable have little to do with its actual value.
“A lot of people equate being old and looking nice to being valuable, and that is not necessarily the case,” Mr Wools-Cobb said.
“You have got to go with scarcity of copy runs, or the attachment of a particular print run with a sort of personality.”
Toby Wools-Cobb says it is difficult to judge a book by its cover. (ABC News: Morgan Timms)
In the case of The Hobbit and other famous books, the first edition became valuable in retrospect because it, The Lord of the Rings, and Tolkien himself became beloved.
Op shop purchase of The Hobbit could be worth thousands
“It’s not like a rare mineral that just by being a book with some paper in it, that suddenly makes it astronomically valuable,” Mr Wools-Cobb said.
“It’s always about, ‘does that first printing, first edition, have a story.'”
Mr Wools-Cobb said “the famous case” was people believing they had a first edition print run of the first book in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series — Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone — not knowing there were multiple print runs of the first edition.
“Or there might be other kinds of first editions of The Philosopher’s Stone,” he said.
“You’ve got the American first edition and you’ve got the UK first edition, which will have different spellings.”
The UK first edition, first printing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. (Supplied: www.raptisrarebooks.com)
Mr Wools-Cobb said there were famous cases where books were valuable because they were initially printed with typing errors — known as “errata” in the industry.
The forced cancellation of a print run for cultural reasons may have also made first editions particularly valuable in retrospect.
The first edition of Stephen King’s 1977 novel Rage, a story about school shootings, which he published under his Richard Bachman pseudonym, is valuable because King pulled it from publication as such tragedies became more common the United States.
Mr Wools-Cobb said some copies of Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 published after 1980 were more valuable than those published in the decade before because the publisher had been censoring the author’s original work.
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 was subject to censorship by publishers. (Facebook: Fantasy-Faction — Fantasy and Science Fiction Book Discussion / Miles St)
The things you can control
Ms Woodleigh said she threw out the dust jacket of her copy of The Hobbit, which Mr Wools-Cobb said would have drastically reduced the value.
“If you don’t have a dust jacket you are basically throwing three quarters of the value away,” he said.
He said the condition of the book — which is specifically defined in the rare book world from essentially perfect to the low grade “reading copy” — is something potential sellers need to keep in mind.
But, as is the case for The Hobbit, there may still be buyers lining up to pay large sums even if the dust jacket is missing, or someone attempted to glue it back together 50 years ago.
Diane Charles is a former primary school librarian and owner of Crave Book Restorations in Stanley, in Tasmania’s north-west.
Diane Charles specialises in repairing books. (Facebook: Crave Book Restorations)
She said any book “with sticky tape holding the pages together makes me shudder”, and other home repairs were likely to make a book worthless — at least monetarily.
She said the most important thing to keep a book in good condition was to ensure it was kept dry and free from foreign bodies such as food crumbs and bugs, as they would continue to degrade the pages from the inside.
“Don’t let them get stored away in a box in the back shed and then get all damp and full of mould and expect them to be still OK,” she said.
Diane Charles says the most common problem she encounters with books is damage to the spine. (Facebook: Crave Book Restorations)
To keep a book in a good condition, Ms Charles advised storing it in a cotton bag, in a dry place out of direct sunlight.
Rare books are valuable because they are, well, rare
Ultimately, however, Ms Charles and Mr Wools-Cobb said much of their work involved the sentimental value of books.
Ms Charles said she largely worked on preserving books that were important to family members, such as bibles with personal messages from a loved one inscribed in them.
And, really, most books are not worth very much money at all.
“You wouldn’t collect books just for the value of them,” Ms Charles said.
“If you go to a second-hand shop, you’d know there’s lot of them around.”
Diane Charles says she has been a keen reader and lover of books since childhood. (Facebook: Crave Book Restorations)
Australia has thousands of op shops. They started with one woman’s idea
Mr Wools-Cobb said he also worked on finding books with personal meaning to his clients, such as children’s books from their home countries.
And, like many authors before him, he warned of “the dangers of getting too hopeful”.
“Because, 99 per cent of the time, what you think is a rare book is of no value at all,” he said.Five valuable books
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
A hardcover, published on June 30, 1997.On page 53, in a list of necessary Hogwarts’ school supplies the item ‘1 wand’ must appear twice.A signed, softcover version is currently for sale for more than $50,000.
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
First impression published in 1937.Monochrome illustrations.A recent sale fetched more than $40,000.
Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton
First impression published in 1942.Most valuable editions have matching dust jackets.Currently listed for sale for more than $15,000.
Rage by Stephen King
First published by Signet in 1977.Later pulled from publication by the author.Currently listed for sale for almost $8,000.
Early Buildings of Southern Tasmania by E. Graeme Robertson
First published in 1970.Two volumes containing almost 400 illustrations of Tasmanian architecture.Currently for sale for $600.