After witnessing an awe inspiring sunrise driving through the Flint Hills of southeastern Kansas early Sunday morning, I arrived in Lawrence with high hopes of selling a few rare books, and helping a few people determine whether or not their old books were valuable. The fair, the first of its kind in Kansas, would start at 10 o'clock and run until 4 o'clock that afternoon, with a variety of readings, signings, presentations, exhibits, food vendors, children's activities, with the featured event being a talk and book signing by NewsHour/PBS TV personality Jim Lehrer.
My initial task at the fair was to set up an Antiques Roadshow style area to help people identify their rare books. Typically, all this means is that I get to be the bearer of bad news. "No ma'am, your 1912 Shakespeare reprint is not worth a million dollars." "While the sentimental value of this poetry collection is priceless, the book is not worth anything in the collectible marketplace." Most of the people who came to visit the booth were more interested in selling a collection they inherited from a deceased relative, but a few had books of considerable value, albeit nothing spectacular. Here is an excerpt from the brochure I passed out that gives some basic guidelines in determining whether or not you have a collectible book or just scraps of old paper.
Is My Old Book Valuable?
-Just because a book is old does not mean the book is valuable, and that includes Bibles.
-There are many books published within the last fifty years that have considerable value (see my copy of Atlas Shrugged).
-Any good book is valuable to the mind, if not to the pocket.
-A book is not worth what you are selling it for until you find a buyer.
3 Important Points to Consider In Determining the Value of a Book
1. Collectability- Is there significant interest among collectors for the book? Ahearn's Collected Books is an invaluable reference tool. Also, just because a book is a 1st Edition does not mean it is valuable, it must also be collected. Just because a book is signed does not mean it is valuable, the signature must be significant.
2. Condition- Do the book and dustjacket remain in excellent condition? Each flaw detracts from the value of the book (i.e. loose binding, underlining/marginalia, foxing, etc.) and significant flaws may render a book uncollectable.
3. Scarcity- The simple economics of supply and demand apply especially to bookselling.
After doing appraisals for several individuals for an hour, I moved downstairs to the author signing tent, where I was allowed to set up a booth with some used and rare books for sale to help pay for gas, if nothing else. Immediately upon arrival, there was a line of about 8 people waiting to have their old books appraised. Again, there were some interesting and peculiar items, but nothing of remarkable value.
The highlight of the trip for me was getting the chance to have some of the books in my personal collection signed by their respective authors. One of my many niche collections is a Kansas Literature and History collection. My girlfriend Heidi claims that "the only thing less exciting than living in Kansas is reading a book about living in Kansas." While I find her opinion humorous and somewhat truthful, I have to disagree. There are several authors living and operating in the Sunflower state who are particularly adept and persistent in their craft, and for whom I have great respect.
The first two authors signing at the table next to me were Craig Miner, perhaps the most prolific and well-respected living writer on the history of Kansas (Wichita in particular) and Scott Phillips, author of The Ice Harvest, which was made into a successful major motion picture starring Jon Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton. Both men were extremely affable, and also turned out to be my best (and practically only) customers of the day, each purchasing a book from my both and sharing some stories regarding their passion for book collecting. I quickly learned that one of the books I had for sale, a curious collection of noir short stories entitled D-Ray's Measures of Poison, had already been signed by Scott. I quickly removed the item from sale, and thus began my Scott Phillips book collection. I am excited to read and own copies of his two subsequent novels, Cottonwood and Walkaway.
I soon realized that the crowd at the Festival did not come prepared to look at or buy rare books, and it seemed like everyone that stopped at my table opened up my 1st Printing of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged first, saw the hefty but fair $1000 price tag, and stopped looking at or touching the books immediately. Most of the authors were curious and at least stopped by the table to chat, and I continued to meet interesting and entertaining folks throughout the day.
Roderick Townley, author of an acclaimed children's fantasy trilogy, stopped by to relate the tale of one of his most prized books, a Dylan Thomas collection of poetry originally signed to James Merrill, and subsequently inscribed to his niece, another friend, and finally Roderick.
I also spotted Kansas Poet Laureate Denise Low and Thomas Fox Averill, who were both more than gracious with their time, and were happy to sign multiple copies of books and anthologies for me. I felt surprisingly starstruck to be in the presence of two humble writers who have both been full-time authors and teachers for several years. Both writers also disprove my girlfriend's theory about books about Kansas being boring, as I find Low's and Averill's works bring the understated beauty and mystery of Kansas to life.
My two favorite people of the day were Stephen Wootton, owner of Studio Books in Lawrence (http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SellerInfoPL?vci=855295 specializing in books on Film) and children's author and storyteller Lise Lunge-Larsen. When I arrived home, I had to confess to my girlfriend that I had developed a small crush for Lise, a beautiful wife and mother of three children, who told me about growing up in Norway with her father Asbjorn, one of Europe's most noted antiquarian book dealers. I was fascinated by her stories about growing up around 13th century illuminated manuscripts, First Edition Jungle Books, and signed Napoleon Bonaparte documents (http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/aifolder/aipages/ai_l/larsen.html). We got a few laughs looking through my copy of Bizarre Books, and I regret not purchasing copies of her lavishly illustrated books with an important message for my young niece and nephew.
All in all, sales totals for the day might have covered the cost of a tank of gas, which is all I had hoped for. I received valuable training in setting up a booth should I ever decide to exhibit at an Antiquarian fair. I met some interesting and amazing people, and look forward to attending next year's festival. My only regret is that I forgot to get a picture with Jim Lehrer to put on MySpace, but then I realized that most people under 40 wouldn't even recognize him. He was signing books directly behind me for at least an hour (Studio Books sold out all 80 copies they brought), and I had a master plan to convince him to purchase my copy of Why England Slept, John F. Kennedy's first book in a rare dustjacket, for $500. I'm sure he would've probably given me a look just like everyone else who walked by my booth that day did, a look that said, "Have you got anything less expensive?"
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