Kemo Sabi, which way did they go?
- By Bruce McKinney
These are a few of the catalogues issued by Ken Leach.
By Bruce McKinney
Ken Leach, the New Hampshire book dealer, has been in the trade for more than a quarter century. He is an independent sort as would be expected of a book dealer and doubly expected of one plying the trade in New England. A while ago he lent us a complete run of his catalogues to add to the AED and we have been working by fits and starts this year to complete them. Recently we added 1,390 of his catalogue entries from 1982, 1983 and 1985 and they are searchable as a group as part of this article. They are all searchable in a search box provided on page 4 of this article.
These catalogues afford an opportunity to see how his prices then compare to prices asked today. The material falls into the following categories: 18th & 19th century American printings, author collections, autographs and manuscripts, juveniles, American books of the 20th century and English imprints. There is of course a dose of miscellaneous material as well. In a few cases where multiple copies of the same title were offered in one catalogue we have selected only the best of several copies. A link is provided at the end of this article to a database of these catalogue descriptions.
First we'll do a test search. Select the AUTHOR field and search for Smith. We find 8 records that match. One is printed in 1776. It is "An Oration in Memory of General Montgomery". Using information contained in this record I now construct a search in the advanced search field on ABE. I put "Smith" in the author field, "Oration" in the title field and 1776 in the date range and find one match. This is a well described copy from Helen Kahn and Associates of Montreal. The price is $900. When Mr. Leach offered his copy in 1983 he priced it at $75. This gives you a direct comparison of then and now and it's very interesting.
To look at all the material in these catalogues I suggest you now select the default "Show me all records" option in the search screen. This will take a few seconds to load because we are going to bring up all the records in these five catalogues. Now you can quickly view brief lot descriptions with the option to open any records of interest. In a short time you will see how the pricing has changed. Every person will look up different things. If there are eight million stories in the naked city there are also millions of unique perspectives in book collecting.
|
Kemo Sabi, which way did they go?
- By Bruce McKinney
This item, $75 twenty years ago, was on the net recently for $57.
Remember that no single comparison is the whole story. Condition, completeness and provenance must be considered as well. Now you should begin to go through the Leach listings, identify those of interest, select "Click for Detailed Record" and enter some of the details in the Abe [or other] search field. The search results tend to show that there are multiple copies on the web. Of course no book dealer of the pre-internet age anticipated their pricing could or would be carefully analyzed twenty years later. That Mr. Leach's valuations have stood up so well is a testament to his skill. It's a little like handicapping, at a high school graduation, who will be rich by the time they are 40. The "then" and the "now" are in plain sight and very easily compared. Sometimes you know and sometimes you guess.
Every person will obtain somewhat different results because we will search different items in different databases and use different terms in the searches. Mr. Leach's titles are not always reliable while the printer, place and date printed are. In the era before computers there were mimeograph masters that required Jesus' typing skills, Mary's judgment about what would fit on a line and Josephine's help in correcting errors. This simply means we need to be flexible in how we search these records. They are truly PC as in pre-computer.
Here are some random examples of comparisons between these Leach and ABE listings.
Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room. He offered Vols. 2-5 for $200.00. Single complete volumes now command $300+.
No. 140. Thayendanegea, The Terrible; or, The War-Eagle of The Mohawks. A Romance of Early New York by Ned Buntline. His price was $20. If you wanted it you should have bought it. ABE has fifty million books for sale today but no copies of this one. Mr. Buntline's other volumes seem to be worth about $60. A manuscript of one of his many works is available on ABE for $800.
CHART OF DOMESTIC COOKERY, AND KITCHEN RECEIPT CALENDAR. Particularly Adapted To The Wants Of The Common People. Domestic Economy. [1844] This one was $75.00. I didn't find any copies of this one but I did an additional search for Skinner & Blanchard, the printer and the year 1844. One of their other books was listed and I mention it here in case this is in your specialty:
Every Man His Own Cattle Doctor; containing the causes, symptoms, and treatment of all the diseases incident to oxen, sheep, and swine; and a sketch of the anatomy and physiology of neat cattle. This rarity is $165 but of course it is not the same book.
|
Kemo Sabi, which way did they go?
- By Bruce McKinney
none
CANADA'S PATRIOT STATESMAN. The Life & Career of The Right Honorable Sir John A. Macdonald. Based on The Work Of Edmund Collins, Revised With Additions To Date, by G. Mercer Adam. This one has had a haircut. It was $25. There are 25 copies for sale and they range in priced from a resigned $4.50 to a hopeful $105.45.
[Defoe, Daniel, after] The Little Robinson Crusoe, 1856. In 1982 the price was $25. Today there is one copy available for $60.
Proceedings Of The NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION OF YOUNG MEN, Which Assembled In The City Of Washington, May 7, 1832. The price was $20. Today there are 4 copies for sale and they range from $90 to $250.
PATHFINDER RAILWAY GUIDE FOR THE New England States. No. 4. From Sept. 3 to Oct. 1, 1849. There are no exact duplicates but it seems to sell for $200 to $300 today. Mr. Leach's copy was $15.
The TRUE HISTORY OF THE UNFORTUNATE Loves Of Mary Caroline Austin & Edgar Worthington; With the Full Particulars Of Their Awful Suicide (Supposed To Be Murder) the Trial of Worthington For That Crime, His Condemnation & Delivery From Prison by the People; His Escape, After Being Twice Shot Down by the Officers, His Recapture, Dying Speech & Execution For Murder; His Wonderful Preservation From Death On the Gallows, by an Ingenious Surgical Operation, & His Final Death by The Hands Of Richard Austin, In California. [1855]. Not a single copy is available on ABE. It was $125 then. I'm going to add this to my automated "wants list." When it shows up I'll be interested.
SPEECHES & OTHER PROCEEDINGS AT THE Public Dinner In Honor Of The Centennial Anniversary Of Washington [1832]. This was $20 then. There is a dis-bound copy on ABE for $12.
REACH OFFICIAL AMERICAN LEAGUE BASE BALL GUIDE FOR 1921. The price in 1982 was $25.00. There is a precise duplicate available for 262.50.
The AMERICAN COMIC ALMANAC, FOR 1832, With Whims, Scraps, And Oddities. [1832] There are five copies one of which is a direct match for 1832. The others are for nearby years. The Leach copy was $75. You can replace it for $200.
Document signed by Abraham Lincoln. Appointment commission for William H.H. Allen as 'Additional Paymaster'. Document signed; 26th of Oct. 1864. Folio, printed on vellum, with engravings, completed in manuscript. Also signed by Stanton as Secretary Of War. Framed, in fine condition. On ABE the prices for similar but not identical items are $10,000+ while at auction they have sold in the recent past for $4,500. The price in 1982 was $1,200. President Lincoln signed his name often.
|
Kemo Sabi, which way did they go?
- By Bruce McKinney
none
Finally there is:
The GENERAL STUD BOOK, Containing Pedigrees Of English Race Horses, &C, &C., From The Earliest Accounts To The Year 1831, Inclusive, With An Appendix, Giving Extended Pedigrees Of Stallions Imported Into The U.S., And Their Most Noted Progeny. [1834]. The price then was $125. Today it will cost you exactly 20 times that: $2,500
So what I have I found? In a nut shell it looks like this. American non-fiction imprints, early fiction and American manuscripts have done well. They now orbit the earth at significant multiples to what they sold for twenty years ago. Later unsigned fiction and random other books that have been exposed as common now languish on the net, sometimes at only 20% of the asking price of the 1980s. And then there are the zingers. These are the items that Mr. Leach appreciated that the market has since lost sight. Such items occasionally reappear at illogically low prices and are great fun to identify and acquire. In doing this assignment I ran across two copies on ABE of the "Confession of Michael Martin or Captain Lightfoot who was hung at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the year 1821, for the robbery of Captain [with] An Account of Dr. John Wilson, who recently died at Brattleboro', Vt., believed by many to be the notorious Captain Thunderbolt." This is a 6.5" x 9.75" 44 page pamphlet paginated as 1-30, 2 and 1-12 and sewn together. This copy cost $56.15 including shipping. A small portion of the cover is torn away. There is one more copy on line priced at $125. Mr. Leach's price in 1983 was $75.
Make your study and reach your own conclusions. It's a fascinating field.
|