Can anyone tell me more about these books?

Hey guys! I am new to this forum and I'd firstly like to say I am appy to be a part of this community. I've always been fascinated with antiques, the history behind old items has always interested me, making me wonder about the previous owners and how they used to use the pieces or how they came to own them.

What promoted me to look into joining this forum was me finding some old books of my father's. He was an avid reader as was his mother, and I caught book worm fever myself at a very young age. I was helping my Mother clean out her basement and I stumbled upon a box of some books I don' ever remember seeing in our library growing up. All of these books are first editions (I believe) and through my research I haven't been able to find any similar copies out there. I am wanting to find out if there is any interesting information about the individual printings of the books themselves, any value aside from sentimental, or perhaps some of the authors (aside from Charles Dickens!) If anyone could help me out it would be very appreciated! I included a link to the photo album I have so it' a bit easier to see everything together, I hope that's ok!

https://imgur.com/gallery/xM3J0

 

What a lovely collection of books. I'm sure they gave someone many hours of pleasure. At a glance, I don't see anything that might be of resale value except perhaps the book with the N.C. Wyeth cover but I may be wrong. If you haven't already done so, you will want to go to the online book selling site abebooks.com and do an advanced search using title, names of author and publisher and publication date (if there is one.) That will give you an idea of scarcity and offering prices. Caveat: an offering price is by no means a sales price.

Debora

 

Think main value is going to be sentimental, but I would try researching the illustrators for the volumes that have one. Know there are people who are very fond of N.C. Wyeth, father of Andrew, who illustrated many story books.

 

The N. C. Wyeth copy of Treasure Island is worth the most and sells best at around £15-25.
But the spine of the Chaplin book and that copy of The Sorcerors Apprentice are beautiful, I’ll keep an eye out for that copy now I’ve seen it’s so lovely. They are all very early editions, very cool. A shame the prices don’t reflect

 

...and welcome to the forums!

 

Haha @EarthToTails happy to have you, got so obsessed with the books I forgot to even say hello.

 

Thank you so much for the suggestion. I am actually excited to find out more about the authors, the publishing company and so forth.

 

I was very surprised about the condition of the books as well! My mother had a flood on her basement that wiped out a huge portion of my Father's book collection as well as his 45's. I was so happy to find these. I take care of my books regardless, but I was actually a bit nervous to disturb anything that may need more special care. Thank you for your advice, and definitely get a copy of The Sorcerer's Apprentice if you can find one, the artwork alone is incredible!

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

I did find some information about that illustrator and apparently Treasure Island is priced between $200-$500, not that I would ever sell it, that was a personal favorite of mine as a child. Thank you for your search tips though, I will definitely look into the illustrators for the other books

 

Thank you!

 

sorry about the 45's.

 

The first edition of N. C. Wyeth illustrated Treasure Island published in 1911 by Scribner & Sons sells for around £100. There are several listed at very high prices but have not sold.
The 1927 edition you have sells for around £25-35 but I have seen them listed for up to up to £70
But again they have never sold for that price.