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Show Rarest Object Is 'Rare Book' Most 'Finds' Have No Actual Value NEW YORK. The most valuable book printed in America is the Bay Psalm book, published in 1640. It has brought as high as $151,000 and certainly would be worth $90,000 upon the open market today. Only 11 copies are known and it is unlikely that many more will come to' light. There's always a sporting chance, however, that another may turn up. There also is a chance that copies of other extremely scarce and valuable valu-able books will materialize out of the attic or Aunt Bertha's trunk. A lady wrote: "I recently read a news feature in our home town paper that old books are valuable. My parents have quite a few, such as . . (here followed a list of titles). "We'd like to know who to get jn touch with and all the details." Sadly, it was necessary to inform the lady that her description of the books indicated they were worthless. worth-less. Stories about rare and valuable first editions have been written for many years. Every time one sees print mail is heavy with letters from persons who are sure they possess copies of the described rarities. Authors have received hundreds of such communications and yet never once did they produce a real bibliographical find. Invariably, the correspondents had only the latest and cheapest reprints of books valuable only in first edition form. The number of persons possessing possess-ing "old family Bibles" was astounding. There seems to be a universal feeling that all old Bibles just have to be valuable. |