| Show mmm home magazine H II!!' jm C i i Is There In Your Attic? by L II Kirkpatrick University of Utah Librarian t EFORE buying any kind of an assaying out- fit or a miner’s helmet and equipment-ta- ke a breath The gold I am talking about is the kind that is paid for rare books The highest book price paid for an American book was paid about seven years ago when a Bay Psalm book was auctioned off for $150000 It is true this was for a charity and there were some wealthy people bidding Yet in a sale of great interest to Utah people prices as high as $1000 were paid for some of the items in the Herbert Auerbach Collection This consisted of books dealing with Utah and the Mormons The purpose of this article is to tell people something about the factors that make a book valuable and to list aafew rare books which might turn up in any attic or book shelf in a pioneer Utah home A word or two about items that are not valuable may keep false hopes from rising First of all don’t rush to the family Bible Bibles were printed in large numbers from the beginning of printing from moveable type It is Really sad to have someone rush into a library with a Bible two or three hundred years old thinking that this book must be worth a fortune It may be worth a fortune for its content but unless it was owned by a famous man who autographed it and wrote notes in it it is likely to sell for only $10 or $15 beware of reprints These are often exact of the originals possibly on dif- ferent paper or with different type but with no warning that they aren’t the real thing One example which has sent people by the hundreds rushing into book stores and libraries in vain hopes of a fortune is the Ulster County Gazette This was the paper printed in the eastern states announcing the death of George Washington It has been reprinted more than twenty times One of the reprints was made about 75 years ago at the St Louis World Fair and given away by the thousands The St Louis reprint is old enough now that it is turning up in Grandfather’s books Even if it were an original it would not be worth a fortune and certainly a copy printed with modem typography and modern newsprint paper is worth- - at the moment a dollar Date alone is not important unless the book was printed before 1500 Scarcity is what makes a book rare or valuable Usually the scarce books are either the first editions of a roan who later became famous as a writer or periodicals published by groups which preserved other things but failed to save their periodicals NEXT Upton Sinclair ran for governor of for instance he published an Epic News This was thrown Sway free to the tune of several hundred thousand copies and not even the publisher saved a complete file The result is that a complete file of Epic News is worth $2000 Here in — April 3 1935 WHEN Utah one of the most famous periodical sets known to collectors is the Journal of Discourses This consists of 26 volumes It was published in Liverpool England and sold by1 subscription to people abroad as well as in Utah It contains talks given in the all Utah although most were over conferences early It is a gold mine of ingiven in Salt Lake City formation about early thought on dress Indians and a thousand other topics Single volumes range in price from $25 and up Complete sets are worth at least $1000 published outside state is Times and Seasans Still anis the LDS Messenger and Advocate The old Evening and Morning Star is quite an item and of course the Book of Commandment was scattered in the mud by a mob in Missouri Twelve copies were supposed to have been preserved These are worth hundreds of dollars The Route From Liverpool to Great Salt Lake Is a book published in the 1850's to show emigrants the way to get to Salt Lake City It is full of beautiful engravings of such scenes as the mouth of the Mississippi camping in Iowa --Devil’s Rock and the like There is also a picture of Salt Lake City at the time Many people may have preserved this as an interesting picture book of pioneer days They may get quite a shock to learn that the last copy of this on sale at an auction brought more than NOTH EH church periodical A otherthe oY $100 There are many books printed in the early days of Utah which have been preserved in large enough numbers that they sell at retail for not more than This means book dealers have to 10 or 12 dollars than the retail price in order to be pay a little less In case a reader has early them handle to able Utah books and wonders about their value the University Library has catalogs listing yetail and auction prices of many of these items and can also recommend local dealers who may be interested Wherever possible the Library will help keepithe For this reason local inbooks within the state dividuals who arc collecting libraries and local dealers will be recommended wherever possible families might also own some other PIONEER of value Those whose greatcame from eastern seaboard the grandfathers see if the fkmlly to chance wild check any by might had bought any of the first writings of such famous writers as: than $100) PoeThe Raven 1845 (value-mor- e A1 Aaraaf 1829 (value more than $ld00) Talcs of the Grotesque (value more than $50 Whitman— Leaves of Grass 1855 (about $500) Cooper— Last of Mohicans 1826 (more than $100) Ilarte Bret— Luck of Roaring Camp 1870 ($25 Hawthorne— Scarlet Letter 1850 ($50) Stowe — Uncle Tom’s x These Cabin 1852 ($25) are auction sales prices and might not he duplicated by bookstores or libraries but indicate old books should be checked carefully before being discardedx Pioneers from New England might have at one time owned thexBay Psalm Book or more likely some of' the booksx of Increase Mather and Cotton Mather Such items would be more than 250 years old if first editions and accordingly of real value Generally those who collected books around a central theme or subject are more likely to have acquired some scarce and now expensive Items Those who start collecting might keep this in mind who have built considerable libraries are THOSE to make provisions for their collections a in their wills Failure to list disposal effort of library in a wiil can result in a collecting going for nothing If a fortune is spentX on a personal library and the books were meant for some institution but not willed to it the heirs in may have tqseirthe books at auction instead to pay the' taxes At least two great personal libraries assembled here in Utah were not mentioned in the will of the owners Regardless of how often the owners mentioned their hopes of keeping the books in the state not stating so in the will cost the state great historical treasures Diaries letter bpoks and journals are very precious to historical scholars It is hard to estimate the value of a letter book owned by a very famous person I have heard that the scrapbook compiled by John Taylor once President of the LDS Church has been withheld from sale in spite of an offer of have this Most libraries in Utah do-n- ot $2500 individuals but sometimes of kind money wealthy are glad to pay a reasonable price for such volumes in order to give them to a Utah Institution The University of Utah tries to collect all of this material It begs more thanit buys but It does buy life-tim- e self-defens- e some We are always ready to advise as to the value of old books Obviously few fortunes are to be found in rare books or such dealers would be as numerous as service stations WOULD be impossible to list all the old books value or even the ones which are rare The important thing is to remember to check ITofno ’ before discarding Rugged individualists who like to check for themselves'will find these tools helpful: 1 Heard— Bookman’s Guide to Americana 2 American Book Prices Current 3 US Cumulative Book Auction Records the University One and three are available-- at Anyone may use them In the building Library Number two Is on file at the Salt Lake Public LiX brary ' In case of doubt call a library’ or a bookstore H35 k ' X i t y |
