For example: James Joyce’s Ulysses (Paris, 1922), one of 100 copies, signed by the author, bound in blue paper wrappers as issued, could have been bought for around $1,500 in 1964. Today it would cost you anywhere from $7,500 to $10,000 (a copy sold for $8,000 at auction in February 1975) if you can locate a copy. In 1935 the Limited Editions Club reprinted the book and got Joyce to sign around 250 copies. The book was issued at $15 plus $5 for the autograph. Today the book fetches $1,500, $2,000, or more.
Hart Crane’s great poem, The Bridge (1930), was issued in Paris, with 50 copies on Japan vellum, signed, at about $50. Today it is probably a $1,500 to $2,000 book; and the American trade edition, issued the same year, is also a great rarity and may very well be in the $500 area.
On a personal note: Nine years ago my wife, Roslyn, expressed the desire to buy me a present. I suggested that a book would be very nice and proposed that we visit John Fleming’s ducal book emporium on East 57th Street in New York. As an old devotee of Doves Press books, I asked if there were any in stock. Fleming showed us a few titles, including Emerson’s Essays, one of 25 copies printed on vellum. The price was $225. My wife generously bought it for me
In 1974, a copy of the Doves Emerson on vellum was sold for $2,600, at the Parke Bernet auction gallery in New York. (Paul Getty, Jr., was the buyer.) Shortly after the sale, Fleming encountered my wife and asked her if she thought I would care to sell my copy of the book back to him. He suggested that his customer might pay $3,000 for it. Of course we wouldn’t sell the book. But we were pleased with the “appreciation” this little book enjoyed in some nine years—an appreciation unheard of in Wall Street.
Do you like Robert Lowell’s poetry? You might—he’s possibly our best living poet. Anyway, if you want to collect him you’ll be interested to know that his first book, The Land of Unlikeness, published in 1944 at around $2, might cost you $1,000 today—more if inscribed. William Faulkner’s first book, a little volume of poems entitled The Marble Faun, printed (not published) in 1924 at about $1.50 a copy, now costs between $3,000 and $5,000, depending on whether it has the original jacket and is inscribed by the author.
Samuel Beckett’s famous play Waiting for Godot was published in Paris, in 1952. It was first written and published in French, and its title is En Attendant Godot. There were 35 copies printed on a paper called Velin; it retailed for about $25 when published. Today, a copy, if available, would fetch around $5,000. Ezra Pound’s first book, A Lume Spento, printed in Venice in 1908, brings around $7,500 today. It was privately issued and first offered for a few dollars—or given away to friends.
Are there many commercial stocks with comparable histories of growth?
And what about that “sure thing,” gold! Eh?
Here’s another interesting rarity: John Hawkes, one of our finest novelists, issued a small paper-covered booklet of his poems in 1943; it was entitled Fiasco Hall. It could have been bought at that time for $1. Dealers are currently offering it for $250. A “fiasco” in reverse.
There are more collectors for such first editions than there are books available. Every collector of Stephen Spender would love to own a copy of his first, privately printed book. Spender himself printed it on a crude hand press. It was called Nine Experiments by S.H.S. and was issued in Hampstead, England, in 1928. About 18 copies were made and I’ve never seen a worse piece of book printing. A copy of this book would bring well over $5,000 today, and alas, no Spender collection can be complete without it.
As a collector, my personal preference is in the poetry area, and I’ve been watching the price climb on certain key books by Auden, Betjeman, Eliot, Plath, Marianne Moore, Robert Frost, W. C. Williams, Dylan Thomas, Allen Ginsberg, and others. A fine copy of Eliot’s Prufrock and Other Observations (London, 1917) might bring over $1,000 today; likewise Robert Frost’s A Boy’s Will (London, 1913). Certain key French books, in particular Baudelaire’s Le Fleurs du Mal (1857), with the six suppressed poems intact (a black tulip if there was ever one), might bring a few thousand dollars today. Wallace Stevens’s Harmonium, published by Knopf in 1923, with the striped boards binding in dust jacket, might justify a $200 price today if you can locate a copy. A fine but tough poet to collect, William Carlos Williams is worthy of any serious collector’s attention, provided he has the funds and patience to follow the labyrinthian paths leading to a complete collection. Of course there is no more difficult author to collect in his entirety than Samuel Beckett—but the course is worth the time, money, and energy. Poets and playwrights—a broad collection in these two fields—are highly recommended to new collectors; poetry is enjoying a renaissance today, with more works being published than ever, and many of the new poets are top-notch. Happily, they are finding favor (and pleasant loot) on university campuses.
(Speaking of poetry, the monumental Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman [Brooklyn, 1855] was cataloged by Dawson’s of London in January of 1975 at £5,500 [or around $13,500]. There aren’t too many copies of this book [in its first-issue binding] lying around.)
Does a book have to be ancient to be valuable? As you can see above, the answer is no, definitely not. Age has nothing to do with dollar value. Allen Ginsberg’s two books of poems, both issued in paper wrappers in 1956 (one was mimeographed on board a ship), Siesta in Xbalba and Howl, are rarities; the first may be worth about $500 today, and Howl might fetch $150 today. It was published at 75¢. Norman Mailer’s novel The Naked and the Dead, published in 1948, is currently offered for $150 in the paper-covered advance copy. Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel, with its dust jacket intact (1929) brings between $250 and $350 today. There are numerous titles from many areas of literature published during the past fifty years which bring premiums of 100 percent to 1,000 percent and more over their publication price. To repeat, supply and demand plus “collector’s condition” determine the price. A book without its dust jacket could be worth up to 50 percent less. It is part of the book regardless of logic; so never throw a jacket away, and when you read a first edition, remove the jacket first so that you don’t soil or tear it. And please read all first-edition copies with care. Keep the book as clean and close to the original condition as possible. No soup stains on the pages; no dog-eared pages; no glass rings on the cover or jacket. Don’t open your books carelessly so that the spine is cracked. Handle a rare book gently—as a delicate and valuable object. And—don’t lend your first editions to anyone.
The literary explosion in America, brought on in part by the so-called paperback revolution, explains the widespread interest in books. The book clubs (club editions are not first editions) have helped to heighten the possessive interest in books. The auction sale record prices have animated many newcomers. Students and young executives are learning something about the pleasure (and status) of a good home library cum collection. Some of them are listening to the siren songs emanating from the auction rooms, and they’re responding.
More and more, we see shelves with books as background decor in newspaper and magazine advertisements. A house without a library is not a home. And books are so easy to acquire. The taste for books and reading is leading more and more to collecting, and once the step is taken, the investment factor rears its beautiful bead. And when this happens, rules of the game must be studied and followed. It can take years to master the intricacies, not to mention the vocabulary, of the hobby. But it’s all great fun, and all it takes is a love of books.
How and what type of book to collect? The answer usually is: Buy the books and authors you like best. But of course if your taste runs to soap-opera fiction and nonbooks, forget it. Quality is the prime consideration in collecting—in collecting anything, for that matter. The author must be gilt-edged. Schlock literature may be fun but will get you nowhere in the investment sense. There are no hard and fast rules, and each season turns up surprises. Many of the “beat” writers, the “outsiders,” and avant gardists of not too long ago, who were suspect insofar as durability goes, have won their permanent place in th
e “market.” Among the notable ones are Jack Kerouac, Michael McClure, Gregory Corso, William Burroughs, and others. And let us not forget the perdurable Henry Miller. Michael McClure’s seminal play, The Beard, issued in pictorial wrappers, small folio size, in Berkeley, California, in 1965, may one day become a major collector’s item. Today it is worth around $40.
And then there are many exciting comparative newcomers such as Richard Brautigan, John Gardner, Thomas Pynchon, Harold Pinter, Robert Creeley, John Barth, Gary Snyder, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., LeRoi Jones (Imamu Amiri Baraka). These are all worthy of the collector’s attention, and some of their books are already way out of reach.
As for the modern solid-gold standbys, I cite at random: F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, Truman Capote, Robert Frost, Theodore Roethke, Anaïs Nin, Sean O’Casey, William Saroyan, Robinson Jeffers, Graham Greene (his first book, Babbling April [Oxford, 1925], might cost you around $400 today), Richard Wright, Katherine Mansfield, Randall Jarrell, Nelson Algren, Tom Wolfe, Richard Wilbur, James T. Farrell (his Lonigan and Danny O’Neill series are, with Dreiser’s novels, among the best novels of our century), and so many others—they will all give the reader immeasurable pleasure and satisfaction in the collector’s sense.
There are several levels of book collecting. The top plateau (where collecting is really “a sport of kings”) comprises the deepest blue of blue chips: manuscripts, incunabula (books printed prior to 1501), literary and typographic milestones of the sixteenth and seventeenth century; high spots of literature such as Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson, Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, etc. Then there are the great examples from the fine presses: the Doves, Kelmscott, Ashendene, Gregynog, Grabhorn, and other presses. First folios of Shakespeare, Caxtons, early examples from the press of Aldus, illuminated manuscripts, Elizabethan literature, colonial American and Western Americana rarities—all of these are for the serious, long-view collector, and invariably, they are surefire investments. A single leaf from the Gutenberg Bible (I bought one for $500 about twelve years ago) now brings around $4,000 or $5,000—if you can locate one.
Then there are the first editions of Dickens, Thackeray, Melville, Poe, Hawthorne, Shelley, Byron, Keats, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Whitman, Twain, Thoreau, etc., etc. These authors’ books are always in demand, particularly so when signed or inscribed. Autograph material by any such authors—and that includes all important contemporary writers—is also in our category of good investments. Good holograph letters and manuscripts by notable writers as well as celebrated public figures are spiraling upward each year. (What would you pay for a letter from Charles G. Rebozo to Richard Nixon relating to gambling casino or real estate matters? Or a love note to Jackie, signed “Ari”?)
Specialization is recommended to new collectors. Concentrate on an author or category. There are many collectors who now buy only first books of famous writers. Others want everything an author has produced, including the ephemera and juvenilia—and in the case of playwrights, theatre programs and posters. Do not confuse a rare book collection with a library.
If you have very limited funds and can only spend five or ten dollars a week, I’d suggest buying first editions of the new poets, as published. It just happens that some of the best writing today is coming from poets such as Erica Jong, Muriel Rukeyser, Adrienne Rich, Anne Sexton, Denise Levertov, Diane Wakoski, Sandra Hochman. If you want to concentrate on an established living author, I’d recommend Albee or Tennessee Williams. (Either will present plenty of challenges.) If you like critics, try collecting the first editions of Edmund Wilson. The field is wide open, and in the end, it’s fun to collect the authors you admire and enjoy reading. Your taste will prove your collecting judgment in the end. Unless you have an unlimited bank account—and even if you have—make a plan; don’t collect at random. Don’t look for bargains. If a book is truly rare, the price you pay today will probably look like a bargain five years from now. A signed copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses will not get cheaper; nor will Marianne Moore’s first book, Poem; nor Sylvia Plath’s Bell Jar, which she published under the pseudonym of Victoria Lucas in London, in 1963; nor Hemingway’s Three Stories and Ten Poems. And then there is in our midst a man who is as close to genius as one can come, Edward Gorey, writer and artist, whose little books are being bought up like the proverbial hot cakes. He may provide one of the most delightful single categories for a collector who wants to concentrate on one subject. He is immensely gifted and also prolific, and each of his books is a jewel. Some of them are very modestly priced, i.e., under $10.
Wherever possible, get an author to sign or inscribe your book for you—provided he’s an author of importance and the book is a first edition. If the author is willing to make notations or corrections in the text of the book, great—its value increases. An autographed copy can often double the value of a book, or certainly enhance its value since it becomes, ipso facto, a unique, one-of-a-kind copy, a personal or, possibly, an “association” copy. Don’t write in your book (unless you are famous yourself ) or underscore lines.
As an example of the importance of a famous author’s inscription, Dylan Thomas’s first book, 18 Poems (London, 1914), in dust jacket and inscribed by Thomas, would fetch about $1,000; a copy without a jacket, not inscribed, about $400.
Keep your books away from windows or sunlight. Damp stains are to be avoided. A collection of value should be kept in a temperature-controlled room. Fragile books or booklets might be housed in slipcases or acetate envelopes.
Reputable dealers will always guarantee their wares; they will also guide and advise you. Each has a good reference library for ready consultation. There are many reference works and collector’s guides to study; and auction records are important. Here are a few reference books to consider: A Primer of Book Collecting by Winterich and Randall; The Book Collectors Handbook of Values by Van Allen Bradley; American Book-Prices Current, published annually; Cold in Your Attic and Afore Gold in Your Attic by Van Allen Bradley.
When a dealer knows you are serious about collecting, he will help you if you level with him and don’t use him for comparative-price-shopping-around purposes. A dealer is your best bet for buying at auction. A beginner should avoid competing with the experts in the auction room. There is a lot of specialized knowledge to acquire. A careful study of dealer and auction catalogs is one good way to begin learning about books and values. A special brand of savvy is required—a savvy not comparable to stock market investing. Taste and a special kind of instinctive response and literary judgment are called for. Plus a willingness to stick your neck out—for a new Ezra Pound or T. S. Eliot or Faulkner; new ones are always coming along.
Who are the hottest authors, including those living, to bet on for the present and future in terms of lasting worth and dollar appreciation?
Here’s my personal lineup, and don’t ask for logic or literary evaluation. These authors appear frequently in rare-book catalogs and at the auction sales, and their key books are climbing in price each season, especially their first books. They are virtually all foolproof and, in opening the list with Samuel Beckett, I indicate my high regard for the Big Irish Writers, who, through season after season, prove to be the most favored of all.
My “top ten” are:
Samuel Beckett (En Attendant Godot)
James Joyce (Ulysses)
William Faulkner (The Marble Faun)
William Butler Yeats (Mosada)
Ezra Pound (A Lume Spento)
Gertrude Stein (Three Lives)
Ernest Hemingway (Three Stories and Ten Poems)
T. S. Eliot (Prufrock and Other Observations)
Tennessee Williams (Battle of Angels)
Dylan Thomas (18 Poems)
I would follow the above “top ten” with twenty superstar authors to consider next, if you are able to accommodate a broad range of authors:
Robert Frost (A Boy's Will)
Edward Albee (The Zoo Story; The Death of
Bessie Smith; The Sandbox; Three Plays)
William Carlos Williams (The Tempers)
Stephen Spender (Nine Experiments by S.H.S.)
D. H. Lawrence (The White Peacock)
W. H. Auden (Poems, 1930)
Wallace Stevens (Harmonium)
John Steinbeck (Cup of Gold)
Gwendolyn Brooks (A Street in Bronzeville)
Eugene O’Neill (Thirst)
Henry Miller (The Tropic of Cancer)
Hart Crane (The Bridge)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (This Side of Paradise)
Edward Gorey (The Unstrung Harp)
James Baldwin (Go Tell It on the Mountain)
Robert Lowell (The Land of Unlikeness)
Sylvia Plath (The Colossus and Other Poems)
Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita)
Virginia Woolf (The Voyage Out)
Marianne Moore (Poems, London, 1921)
Katherine Mansfield (In a German Pension)
(Caution: After each of the above author’s name I’ve put a book title in parenthesis; the book is one of the author’s key books, a landmark high-spot title; in its first edition each is scarce to very rare. It’s unlikely that you’ll find many of these books in New York bookshops at this time. So please don’t harass booksellers by phoning and asking for A Lume Spento or the signed limited edition on vellum of Hart Crane’s The Bridge; nor is it likely that you can find a first edition of Gertrude Stein’s first book, Three Lives, by making a few phone calls. Some of these books are priced as low as $35 and others run into the thousands of dollars.)
The following additional list of modern authors from England, France, and America is also recommended to all collectors. While this is our tertiary list we don’t mean to imply that any of them are of lesser importance in literary terms; they are all highly esteemed in the marketplace and among readers. And there are others, not included, who merit inclusion; but lack of space, in addition to a subjective selective system employed by this writer, determined the present group for present purposes.
A Passion for Books Page 29