(A break today from matters political.)
Some time ago – as things are counted in internet time, which is sort of like dog years in that before the turn of this last century was pre-history, 2000 was kind of like AD 1, making the first decade analogous to the Roman Era. Anyway, along about the early Dark Ages-Internet Time, I became a partner in a Teeny Publishing Bidness, run by a woman who was the hardest-driving editor in the local literary arts community. We used to joke that Alice G. had been married three times, twice to mere mortal men, and once to the Chicago Manual of Style. She was also enduringly faithful to observing the Oxford Comma. Because of her serious night owl habit, she preferred self-employment, mainly as a freelance editor and owner/proprietor of the Teeny Publishing Bidness.
A mutual friend who saw to her basic computer needs, was also my sometime employer. In a mad stroke of business/matchmaking genius, he believed Alice and I would be an excellent professional fit … and so, it turned out to be. Among other things, our clients could contact us directly, any time of the day or night. Alice took me on as a junior partner, we shared the work, split the profits and got along very well in that partnership for five or six years. Alice had connections among the mildly well-to do and artistic in San Antonio and for almost thirty years had done quite well out of doing bespoke and high-quality books for businesses, institutions, and for local writers who had sufficient income to support an extensive print run through a lithographic press.
Digital printing and POD became a thing shortly after we became partners, and I set up an account with Lightning Source to serve clients who didn’t have the wherewithal to pay north of $15,000 for Alice’s schedule of services but still wanted to get their book out through Amazon and other on-line markets. I predicted accurately that such clients would soon become very thin on the ground, given the rise of digital printing and competition from existing POD publishers. We could not perhaps, supply such an elegant and high-end volumes as had become her standard through that subsidiary imprint – but we could work with clients who wanted the same high degree of editing, lay-out and covers, as well as distribution through Ingram.
Alice developed a cancerous node on her lung around 2013 and was not able to put much work into the business after that. With the agreement of her family, none of whom were interested in maintaining the Teeny Publishing Bidness, I bought her out: business, client list, contacts, files and all. Many of the remaining clients were touchingly grateful that someone was there to carry on with the firm. It has since developed that many of our older books, especially the ones dealing with local history are in demand … and command quite high prices on the rare book market. They were originally printed in limited quantities – perhaps a couple of thousand in one go – and while we kept a copy or two for record purposes, the rest of the print runs were turned over to the client for private distribution. I wish that we kept at least half a dozen copies of some books, as they presently command at least three-figure prices on the rare book market, if they can be found at all.
I field an occasional call from researchers and historians searching for a copy of one of our limited-run books. Our original authors (many of whom have, like Alice, passed away) did a lot of basic grunt work in researching local history, a mildly famous ancestor or an event, The late Fred McKenzie, who exhaustively researched local histories around Avinger and Hickory Hill, Cass County, Texas – at least has his books available on Amazon through second-hand dealers. I’ve fielded quite a few calls looking for copies from people researching their families, the place they live in, or a business that their family used to own in that part of Texas. I had no luck when a woman called, looking for a copy of this book for sale at any price. Best I could do was to find a nearby library which had a copy, and tell her to ask for it by interlibrary loan.
In the case of this biography, of a woman who was one of the dozen nurses evacuated by submarine from Corregidor before it surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, more copies are in existence; a naval commemorative group did several editions, which were widely distributed. Army nurse Lucy Wilson was barely a hundred pounds dripping wet at the start of the war; she lost twenty-five pounds in the few months of the American retreat. The chief nurse responsible for selecting the handful of women to be evacuated chose those who she feared would not survive captivity for very long, because of their physical or mental condition. Lucy Wilson likely was one of the first on her list. She later qualified as a flight nurse and returned to serve in the South Pacific before the war ended. I used it myself as a reference for my own WWII novel, My Dear Cousin. But no one can locate the current whereabouts of any of Lucy Wilson Jopling’s descendants, who hold the original rights – so no further editions.
Some of our authors wrote a memoir of events which later turned out to be of interest to higher-level researchers and historians. As participants or witnesses to events, they provide sources which are pure, original, unsullied gold to an academic researcher. In his youth during WWII, the author of this memoir was a transport pilot who flew transport aircraft over the hazardous “Hump”. Decades later, he wrote up a rollicking account of his adventures in that theater, and had six copies typed out by his secretary, one for each of his children. His youngest daughter came to us another decade and a half later with her copy and some other relics of his service, including his ration card for a month in late 1943, documenting that he had maxed out his beer allotment, but only used a single bar of soap. The daughter had us do a limited publication, for friends and family for Christmas gifts. Much, much later, a historian called me, looking for a copy of it – I have no idea how he even found the title, as the only place that even lists it is our website, and the Bowker, Inc. data base. Sometimes I can help by sending them in the direction of the author or client, who holds the rights to the book as well as any remaining copies. In this case, I could provide him with the name and last known address of the daughter.
This only applies for a handful of our older and rarer books, though. With the inprint to do publish on demand books, for those authors who have chosen to get their books available for distribution and available, say on Amazon, there is no such thing now as a limited quantity available, and a hard search to find them. Anyone who wants one of those later books can find it readily and easily, without going to the trouble of turning every used book store and rare book website upside down.
And that is my break and yours, from matters political this week. Comment as you wish, on rare books that you wish you had, or kept copies of, knowing now how much they might be worth.
One unusual book I have is a collection of letters written by a guy on his first trip to the Far East aboard a merchant sailing vessel in 1885. (He later became captain of the same vessel, which was owned by his father) The Foreword says that the book was printed for private distribution to family members and friends.
I have (somewhere!) a copy of a limited edition book which my grandfather wrote about the history of the Masonic Lodge to which he belonged for many years. One of the interesting tales related to the decision of the Lodge members to build their own building instead of using rented space. The proposal was to use Lodge funds to pay 50% of the cost, and borrow the other 50%. A significant number of the Lodge members quit because they could not endorse borrowing money. The past is a different country!
There was a book I saw once, during a visit to Baltimore with a friend. The book was in the home of his Baltimore relatives.
It dated from probably around 1900, and was a collection of Baltimore stories (mostly newspaper accounts) dating back to the early 1800s. IIRC they were reprinted in facsimile.
Among them was an account of election day circa 1840, which was pretty much an “after-action report” on the street battles between Whigs and Democrats. Another was about the clashes between rival fire companies over who got to put out a fire and collect the resulting payment, which included exchanges of gunfire.
The past was a very different country!
In his youth during WWII, the author of this memoir was a transport pilot who flew transport aircraft over the hazardous “Hump”.
My father’s WWII was spent in Assam, India in a meteorology assignment, helping get planes over the Hump. My father tried to get assigned to China, but the AAF said he was needed where he was. Oh well, he had enough of an adventure living in India. India fascinated him.
I read or purchase very few hard copy books these days. Adjustable fonts on e-readers are much easier for me to read. I did purchase a print copy book on the Spanish Civil War that wasn’t available in e-reader. My most recent hard copy purchase was of a novel about Venezuela that an emigrant had written. At a meet-the-author event at a local bookstore, I bought two autographed copies and sent them to hometown peers who had ties to Venezuela. A neighbor from Venezuela also got one, in return for the hallacas and pan de jamon I got on Christmas.
I hope that the hundreds of books on my bookshelves do not get shredded. Half Price Books will eventually give feedback on that issue.
Some of my books are autographed, including one from Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz.
Years ago my mother had bought leather bound copies of Harper’s Magazine from the 1860s at an antique store. A local university library didn’t want them. I wonder where they are now. I couldn’t read them, not with my eyes.
Back when I was in grad school I had dated a PhD student in history dealing in western (US history.) She and her friends would use primary sources usually in town archives.
She was a nice person, as were her friends. The problem though was when you as grad students they were never off the clock, When we would go camping or other places in AZ on the weekend, either alone or with other couples, talk as we drove through areas would revolve around town archives and other first-person research.
When we would stop, say to eat or get gas, they wanted places where locals would hang out so they could interview them or at least screen or get leads. I would listen to them and they were quite good at it, almost sociopathic. I was told later by a professor that it was mark of a good history researcher
These were some of the original settlements in northern and eastern AZ and has families who lived int he area/county for generations. One of the things my friends were interested in were diaries or old books that the family might have kept from previous generations.
This was at the dawn of the Internet age so e-mail use wasn’t yet universal, but the basic courtesy was even though my history friends might come across things that might not interest them – say like what Sgt Mom said about first-hand accounts of WW II – they made note just in case they had colleagues who might.
It was like searching for buried treasure
Speaking of memoirs, my brother-in-law’s stepfather was one of the German aerospace engineers brought over to the US in Operation Paperclip. He was at the cutting edge of aerospace R&D for 40 years. His last work was on on the SST.
He wrote a memoir which I read 30 years ago. Very interesting. I don’t believe it has been digitized yet. It had been typed, so relatively easy to digitize. What I remember from the memoir: he wrote that he was initially angry at the Allies’ bombing of Berlin and other places. Then he wrote–as I paraphrase– “but as we had done the same to London, it was tit for tat.”
I got my grandmother in front of a tape recorder in the 1980s to discuss family history, the old days, etc. Her last recording was done a year before she died at age 95. My brother digitized the recordings and also turned them into text, so we have both PDF and MP3-4. Most of the family history is of interest only to us, but there are some Civil War stories.
I used to have quite an affinity for estate sales. It kind of died out after COVID, but I still go to a few now and then. To keep my apartment from filling up, I maintained a very specific list of things I would consider buying, since the real enjoyment was finding the houses (without GPS) and walking around, appraising someone else’s life there.
At the top of that list was the juvenile-oriented novels of Matt Christopher. I had read a few in elementary school, books like “Catch that Pass!” and “The Kid who Only Hit Homers.” They had a lot of sports action and they all seemed to have a message. In these depraved days, they’re an artifact of the 60s, but not the 60s of hippies and the counterculture, but the 60s of the squares, of the Silent Majority. People like my parents, who went to college (my dad on the GI Bill), got jobs, started families, and enjoyed their lives.
I started out only intending to buy copies which were originally from elementary school libraries. They were out there. I found one at an antique store in my hometown, another at an estate sale. But reading a few of them, charming in their presentation of engaged, caring parents and kids who overcome their hesitation or lack of confidence to succeed at sports, made me relent and buy them even if they were softcover reprints. Those can be found at Goodwill infrequently.
I spent an inordinate amount of money as a college student on books and record albums. I never had anything really valuable or rare with the exception of one of the original Scribner & Sons versions of Jules Verne’s “Mysterious Island” with the beautiful full-color plates by N.C. Wyeth. My mother had bought it for me as a child from a rummage sale when I was sick, and neither of us knew at the time it was worth anything.
I lost pretty much everything I owned in a fire, including all of my photographs (slides, prints, and negatives). A few of my record albums survived (without the dust jackets) when the floor burned out from underneath the apartment since the shelving they were on was over a steel beam. But all of my books, college engineering texts as well as the others, were vaporized in the fire.
I’ve replaced that particular book with a very nice re-print done by Scribner, but I still feel guilt and sorrow to this day for the loss of a beautiful volume that should have brought joy and delight to many other people through its existence and the pleasure of reading it and looking at the artwork.
This woman is opening a bookstore that looks interesting. Hasn’t yet announced where it is, but her X handle might provide a clue.
https://x.com/Avonleebythesea/status/1882504369389949208
My parents had 2 very rare books — copies of laws passed by the 3rd and the 6th Congresses of the United States. As a kid, I only skimmed a few pages, but remember reading of authorization passed to pay the Barbary pirates. I was shocked; at the time, I didn’t realize such things led the Marines to the Shores of Tripoli. When I was older, I neglected to ask my parents what happened to those books. I imagine that the books, like my stamp collection, ended up being sold when my parents went through a tough time. I would love to peruse those books now.
I have a relative who walked the Oregon Trail as a child. He was involved with the Oregon Historical Society. My dad tells the story of an Oregon history course he took in college where the professor referenced a book that was only available in the main Portland library (and not for loan). When my dad showed up with the book in class the professor almost blew a gasket and accused him of stealing the book from the library. He explained his grandfather had it in his library and he got it from his great grandfather (of Oregon Trail fame). The professor apologized and said he recognized the name. After class, he asked my dad in their were other books in the house. I believe most of them were eventually donated to the Oregon Historic Society.
In a testament to Amazon’s POD ability, his biography is available:
https://www.amazon.com/Oxcart-Airplane-Biography-George-Himes/dp/1436699436/ref=sr_1_2?crid=Y3XDX7SBEA4W&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.vD5uX4kSIMwycEeGeED33-jVF0XJyijg0HSDQ01tRDhk1sm6aKv9X6ChiXL533Kxk7MR51XZc4h02Ok-qDspoFdsspA2cWz6PBoVwokyTck.SgVxfli1bc7WYpk5H3ebwtaQO13Gk52gK_aiWX7mWVQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=oxcarts+to+airplanes&qid=1737723181&sprefix=oxcarts+to+airplanes%2Caps%2C81&sr=8-2
I have thousands of books mostly histories. A few gems I treasure are privately published volumes. General John Sedgwick of Civil War fame was honored after death in battle by his sister who published a slim volume of childhood and youthful memories of her heroic brother. It has a beautiful embossed portrait of “Uncle John” on the cover. There were 500 copies distributed. I also have a copy of the report of the first visit of a GAR lodge to their UCV counterparts. The Jersey boys went to Richmond to visit their erstwhile foes. It’s a remarkable document. Recently, I picked up a volume ” Pilots Have 9 Lives.” It’s in typescript and was published by the author’s daughter. His hheroic flying service in WW2
is background for his avid romantic adventures all over the world. What a character! I have several other privately printed books and while not always artful they are always fascinating.
It can work the other way, too, in that once-rare books can now be found easily via the internet. As an example, I have a copy of the book “1000 Destroyed”. It was first printed after WWII as a unit history for the fighter group that topped the record for enemy aircraft destroyed in the European theater. That was a limited edition, being printed mainly for the group. In the 1970s, it was reprinted by Aero Publishing, which is the version I have. In 1995, the reprint was rare enough to be worth $100 on the used book market. That was mainly because it was difficult to find copies. Now, via Ebay and other sites, it’s nowhere near that expensive since it’s easy to find copies.
My grandfather was with the Russian Railway Service during World War I. (It was a US outfit working on the trans-Siberian railroad so they could get supplies to the Eastern front without having to go through the German army.) His being there during the Bolshevik Revolution gave quite a few stories.
My brother ended up with his papers, and the two of us did did much transcribing. Since one of my hobbies is bookmaking, I did a lot of formatting, printed it out properly, and I turned it into a book — five copies, one for each member of the family.
Of course I still have the files in my computer, and on a thumbdrive, so if anybody wants more, they can be produced, binding and all. And they are also available in electronic format, which people like these days,
I’ll see your “rare” and beat it.But that’s with an asterisk — the originals are now with this Historical Society.
Btw… The Mike who commented above concerning the relative who walked the Oregon Trail is different from me, Mike the Poster. I am not sure my family was here yet for the Oregon Trail, but if they were they weren’t nearly as respectable as the other Mike’s. My guess if our families had met, my ancestors would have tried to rob his
Folks,
I know very little about the value of books. But I do have a first edition, first printing Atlas Shrugged.
I have the connections to get it to Alan Greenspan and perhaps have it signed by him.
Would this increase or decrease the value of the book? I bought it for $600 about 20 years ago…