Market For Local History/Genealogy Books

History of Ross and Highland Counties, Ohio 1796-1880
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=22750634798&searchurl=sortby=17&tn=History+Ross+Highland+Counties%2C+Ohio&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title3

Would like your opinions on this particular title and on similar local histories in general too. I seen this particular book sell several times at estate auctions usually selling in the $140-160 range but have seen it hammer as high as $220 and as low as $80.

County history books are usually fairly dense with text and few pictures/maps and that likely hurts it. I also have seen a few atlases of Southern Ohio counties from the same era and those sell extremely well despite usually being in tatters. Unfortunately I think some profit hungry folks break apart the atlases for resale by the page.

Your
Thoughts?


Related Thread
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/recent-acquisition-history-of-hamilton-county-ohio-1881.43586/

 

We always pick up such local histories when we see them in decent condition and at reasonable prices. They were not printed in great numbers and so can be scarce. But the corollary is that the market for them is also quite small, limited to people interested in the area they pertain to. Best to try to sell online, where they can have wide exposure. But they are not fast sellers.

 

Does the fact that many academic libraries and historical societies have copies available for viewing decrease values? I also suppose many of these have also been digitized too so I am sure that limits demand for hard copies to only diehard researchers and collectors very interested in the subject matter.

I was surprised to see how many of these books are out there in university libraries including my alma mater.
https://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-ross-highland-counties-ohio/oclc/416278881

 

They are exactly the kind of thing you would hope would be preserved in academic libraries and local historical societies. And some have been digitized. But as with many books (and other things) there are still people who want to own an original. $100-300 is a typical price range for examples in good condition.

 

It depends... the libraries' print copies of those are often in special collections where they will not circulate. If somebody lives near the library or historical society they could go in. Pre-COVID, they might also have had the librarian look something up for them and send photocopies. These old books often have no indexes, though, or the indexes are inadequate. With COVID, many librarians are working from home so wouldn't easily be able to look at the book on behalf of a caller. And I imagine that many historical societies are not open to the public at present.

Many of these kinds of books are available through archive.org, Google Books, HathiTrust, or all three. So for a person who just needs to look up a limited amount of information, or to check for a name, those will do.

I think the audience for buying the print versions right now might be limited, but still viable, as @2manybooks mentioned. For example, I would be interested in buying one of these if I knew there were ancestors who lived in the area during the historical time covered by the book. Or, if somehow my ancestors were frequently mentioned in the book. (Haven't found many like that, though!) Possibly also people might be interested if they live in the area covered by the book and have long ancestral lines there, or just want to read a history of the area.

 

Thanks for the comments. Really cool to be able to be able to page though a book of this era. I am hoping to eventually be able to acquire a copy of all the books for the surrounding counties here in Southern Ohio and then perhaps one of the county in Northern, Ohio where my father's family has lived since the 1820's.

 

Many of these were printed around the time of the US centennial, through the early 1900s. In the 1880s, the Western Historical Company of Chicago did histories of counties in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, and probably others, adding a county-specific section to a general state history, and selling the resulting doorstops (I think) door-to-door. Many of them were multi-volume affairs with biographical sections with brief lives of prominent local men and their families, probably included partly to increase the chances of sales to those families. They are now of interest to genealogists for that reason.

County histories are available in libraries and historical societies, almost always on a non-circulating basis, so dedicated researchers may want their own copy. Many were reprinted around the time of the US Bicentennial, often with an index added, so the reprints are more useful to researchers. But collectors will want the originals.

Binding materials, particularly leather, were not of the highest quality, so they are often found in poor shape. The reprints, usually in library buckram - a heavy-duty cloth - and on archival paper, are sturdy, but also scarce, as they were printed in smaller numbers.

All used to sell well on eBay, but I think most 'serious' collectors have what they want, so they are slow sellers now, unless you happen to find one some collector still needs. Even the reprints are usually in that $100-300 range, depending on scarcity.

 

Went to another estate auction with a large amount of books and was able to purchase a few lots that I am pleased with.

Got another History of Hamilton County, Ohio published in 1881 in comparable condition to the one in the thread linked above. Also got another 1881 of the same title in somewhat lesser condition for a fairly modest price.

Also included were two 1970's era reprints of surrounding counties' histories and one antique copy missing the cover entirely but still readable (assuming of little value).

Got some scarce 1970's era (but apparently not quality?) histories of a small suburban city. The owner of the estate (deceased) was the son of the author/journalist and had several boxes of unsold copies of this book in the basement and dozens more scattered in box lots on the grounds - so I assume prices in the secondhand market may be going down as many copies possibly hit the market soon as resellers market the wares they purchased. Some sellers were asking $90+ for this author's books on Amazon but that seems to be more based on not having many copies easily available.

 

Yes, flooding the market for such a low demand item will cause prices to plummet. I hate it when that happens.