Dr. Seuss. The Cat in the Hat, 1957.

Dr. Seuss. [Theodor Seuss Geisel.] THE CAT IN THE HAT New York, Random House, New York, 1957.

Current Selling Prices
$2500-$10000 /£1250-£5000


CHILDREN"S BOOK / ILLUSTRATED BOOK
Dr Seuss's breakthrough book. The story behind it is well known but bears retelling. In May 1954, Life magazine published a report by John Hersey on illiteracy among school children, which concluded that children were not learning to read because the books that were being offered them were boring. This was known as the'Johnny Can't Read' controversy. Hersey wrote:-

'...In the classroom boys and girls are confronted with books that have insipid illustrations depicting the slicked-up lives of other children. [Existing primers] feature abnormally courteous, unnaturally clean boys and girls....In bookstores, anyone can buy brighter, livelier books featuring strange and wonderful animals and children who behave naturally, i.e., sometimes misbehave. Given incentive from school boards, publishers could do as well with primers.'

Reacting to this Dr. Seuss's publisher got up a list of 400 mostly one syllable words that he felt were essential and asked him to cut the list to 250 words, and write a book using only those words. Six months later Geisel was still staring at the word list, trying to find some words that rhymed...when he was almost ready to throw in the towel, there 'emerged from his jumble of sketches a raffish cat wearing a battered stovepipe hat.' Geisel checked his list—both hat and cat were on it. Nine months later, using 220 of the words given to him, he finished 'The Cat in the Hat'. The book was a huge success. Its popularity led to the founding of the Beginner Book division of Random House in 1957 with Geisel as president. Dr Seuss was not exactly unknown already and had produced many popular children's books, he had also had a success as a graphic artist and produced the artwork for the famous 1930s 'Flit' adverts. (see below)

He had started out as an academic and ended up at Lincoln College, Oxford in the late 1920s trying to get his Ph.D in English Literature. Legend has it that in classes there he used to doodle in the margins of his notes and a young girl, noticing these drawings, said he would do better as an artist than a dusty old academic. He married her and they ended up in a fine mansion at La Jolla, California where he was a neighbour of Raymond Chandler (and Ronald Reagan.) The name Dr. Seuss was chosen ironically because of his father's hopes that he would one day be a Doctor Of Philosophy. In the family it was pronounced as in 'voice' but it is popularly spoken to rhyme with 'juice.'

Ascertaining a true first. It should have the numbers 200/200 (a price) on the front flap of the d/w and with no mention of the "Beginner Books" series on the rear panel. Watch out for facsimile jackets - unscrupulous sellers have been known to substitute the 1985 facsimile dust jacket on the first edition book.  The only difference between the 1985 facsimile DJ and the first edition DJ is the phrase "Printed in U.S.A." on the bottom back flap of the facsimile. Also the jacket's freshness and newness should be a giveaway unless some wily person has aged or distressed it--all the tricks in the book, as it were. I am indebted to the invaluable Children's Picture Book Collecting site for this tip and much other information. The book itself should be in one signature (aka gathering) 2nd issue and later printings have three signatures. Some sellers mention that true firsts have unglazed (not laminated) colour pictorial boards.

VALUE? The highest auction record was achieved in the Falktoft sale in 2001, a pleasing $9000 + the juice, this was for a copy described as having 'a few creases & tiny tears to edges.' It can be found on the web in some profusion with copies from $1000 to as high as $16000 for a very sharp example. Many sellers proclaim its rarity. Unremarkable copies sans d/w sell for only a few hundred dollars or less--the jacket is de rigueur. There are about 25 firsts for sale including the occasional signed presentation copy -almost all signatures are in the edition known as the 'third variant' -i.e with the price 195/195 on the front flap. Dealers are asking between $4000 and $5500 for these.



Auction records show it to be in a gentle and possibly temporary decline, but another high profile result might perk it up. There may be an element of overkill in the current market but it will remain as a landmark book and is still read with delight by today's children. Last word to the bewhiskered wise man of Hampstead - novelist/ ex-dealer and author of 'Children's Modern First Editions" Joseph Connolly, he wrote -'This extraordinary writer has done more to foster literacy in children than most because he manages to combine lunacy with sanity, fun with learning, and quality with exuberant readability."

Wanda Gag. Millions of Cats, 1928

Wanda Gag. MILLIONS OF CATS. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. New York, 1928.

Current Selling Prices
$250-$3000 /£120-£1500

CHILDREN'S BOOK / ILLUSTRATED BOOK
One of the great cat books - a popular and desirable item sometimes touted as the first proper illustrated children's book published in America. In England books had been seen in this style and format since Florence Upton and her golliwogs and back to Edward Lear. Wanda Gag (sometimes Gág or Ga'g-a Bohemian/ Czech name) was a highly esteemed artist and illustrator, a friend of Georgia O'Keefe and admired by Rockwell Kent with whom she has a stylistic affinity. The book became a best-seller and it is possible find 36th impressions (sometimes described as first editions by the dark denizens of ebay)--there is even an ebay shop with a 1996 reprint in indifferent condition at a surreal $2997. The story itself is simple, slightly cruel with elements of the fable, the folktale or even the parable--let the Wikiman tell it:-

'...The hand-lettered text tells the story of an elderly couple who realize that they are very lonely. The wife wants a cat to love, so her husband sets off in search of a beautiful one to bring home to her. After traveling far away from home, he finds a hillside covered in "...hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats..." This rhythmic phrase is repeated several other times throughout the story.

The man wants to bring home the most beautiful of all the cats, but he's unable to decide. Each seems lovely, so he walks back home with all of the cats following him. His wife is dismayed when he arrives, realizing immediately what her husband overlooked: they won't be able to feed and care for billions and trillions of cats. The wife suggests letting the cats decide which one should stay with them, asking "Which one of you is the prettiest?" This question incites an enormous catfight, frightening the old man and woman so that they ran back into the house. Soon, all is quiet outside. When they venture out, there is no sign of the cats: they'd apparently eaten each other up in their jealous fury. Then, the old man notices one skinny cat hiding in a patch of tall grass. It had survived because it didn't consider itself pretty, so the other cats hadn't attacked it.

The couple take the cat into their home, feed it and bathe it, watching it grow sleek and beautiful as the days pass: exactly the kind of cat they wanted.'

There are many copies around and dealers charging betewwen $100 and $2000 for what appear to be the same book. The true first should have 'PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK by COWARD-McCANN, Inc. IN THE YEAR 1928' on the title page and "Printed in USA by the Jersey City Printing Co." on the copyright page. This printing info is absent from later editions. The d/w comes in 2 states - the back of the dust jacket (yellow) is blank on the first printing and on second state copies the back has a one paragraph biography on Wanda Gag, followed by an endorsement of Millions Of Cats by Rockwell Kent. This is followed by a one paragraph review of the book by Anne Carroll Moore. Thanks to the authoritative Childrens Picturebook Collecting site for this.

VALUE? Auction records show a signed limited edition (250 copies) with an etching and in slip-case (not issued in jacket) making $1650 at Swann in New York April 1999. This would probably make twice that now. As we speak a copy of the 1928 in second state jacket awaits a bid on ebay at a highly ambitious $2899. Surrounded by superlatives it is in fact an ordinary copy lacking the fep (mentioned as if it is no big deal) and the info that 'Collector sites value this wonderful antique collectible children's book in Very Good condition at $4,000+ !!' Meanwhile a copy in a chipped jacket made $800 in Baltimore in 2006 and back in 1983 at Waverly someone paid $65 for a copy inscribed by Wanda who had thoughtfully added a drawing of a cat. A decent but not fine first/first in jacket can be found on ABE at $1750 and another possibly later state at $200. A difficult book, desirable in superior condition- a fresh copy in a sharp first state jacket might be enough to make a cat laugh.

Kenneth Grahame. The Wind in the Willows, 1908.

Kenneth Grahame. THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS. Methuen, London, 1908.

Current Selling Prices
$4000-$80,000 /£2000-£40,000

CLASSIC CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
Kenneth Grahame belongs to a distinguished group of authors who had to work in banks while writing. One thinks also of P.G. Wodehouse and T.S. Eliot (whose smart Bloomsbury friends had a whip-round so that he could leave.) The modernist poet Wallace Stevens was effectively a banker (investment and insurance) and Charles Sprague worked for 45 years for the State and Globe Banks and was often referred to as the "Banker Poet of Boston." Samuel Rogers (1763-1855), was both poet, banker and connoisseur. Grahame was shot during an unsuccessful bank robbery, which may have precipitated his retirement in 1907. It is possible that without this bungling bank robber we would not have Toad of Toad Hall, let alone Rat, Mole and Badger.

He was part of the 1890s generation of writers, though hardly a decadent, and his work was published in 'The Yellow Book.' Grahame wrote parts of "The Wind in the Willows" originally in a letter form to entertain his young son. After an American publisher rejected his manuscript, "The Wind in the Willows" was first published in England, 1908. The story of its birth is best told at SOUTH COAST REPERTORY PLAYGOER’S GUIDE site

'...the masterpiece began innocently enough as bedtime stories told to his young son, Alastair, nicknamed Mouse. These nightly creations so captivated the child that he flatly refused to go away on holiday unless his father promised to write down future installments and mail them to him, chapter by chapter. Mouse’s governess, who read the father’s letters aloud to him, evidently saw something unusual there for she saved them and returned them to the boy’s mother for safe-keeping. Mouse and his nurse might have remained the only people in the world to have ever heard the adventures of Toad and Company had not an agent for a large American publisher visited the Grahame household one day in hopes of convincing Kenneth ...to write something for them “on any subject at any price.” Grahame had nothing ready and was about to send the publisher away empty-handed, until his wife remembered the collection of bedtime stories. Although Grahame apparently didn’t relish “the sheer physical torture” of writing, he added new chapters to the letters and handed them over. The publisher grabbed them up greedily and returned to America, but was disappointed to discover that the realistic human characters in the author’s previous works had been replaced by animals—and wild animals at that!

The stories were rejected and returned to Grahame, who published them in England in 1908 under the title The Wind in the Willows. The book met with an initially mild reception but after finding an unlikely champion in President Theodore Roosevelt*, Grahame’s fanciful novel soon began winning the hearts of readers both young and old. The American publisher saw the error of his ways and followed suit, making The Wind in the Willows a solid hit on both sides of the Atlantic...'

* This is not the only time a US president has made a book into a bestseller. President Reagan's favourite book was John Hackett's 'The Third World War' which sold boatloads of copies on the back of his recommendation. Would be president Milt Romney has just got into trouble for saying that his favorite novel is Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard, the science-fiction writer and Scientology founder. At least he is assured of Tom Cruise's vote. Famously John F. Kennedy is said to have helped Ian Fleming's fortunes in America by proclaiming that the Bond novels were his preferred reading. For a witty examination of these matters check out a SLATE article from May 2007.

VALUE? The following amazing auction result occured in the late 1990s:-

Grahame, Kenneth, 1859-1932 - The Wind in the Willows. L, 1908 - 1st Ed - Orig cloth, in d/j with fraying to corners - Sotheby's, Nov 10, 1998, lot 88, £39,000 ($64,740) - BM

With the buyer's commission and inflation this is the equivalent now of over £50K or $100,000 +. Another record refers to the d/w being in the first state and indeed a 'second issue with 7/6 price' can be found on ABE in reasonable shape at $15000. Usually 7/6 indicates you have a first state but that is on, say, 1920s Christies--with 100 year old jackets you have to be very careful (in many ways.) The correct price on the jacket, counter intuitively, is 6 shillings. The right jacket is rather rare--only three have been seen in the last 30 years.

Sans jacket its highest record is £7200 for an 'exceptional copy' in 2006, this is possibly the one that currently resides on ABE at circa £13000. There were many limited editions including the lovely 1932 issue signed by Grahame and the illustrator E.H. Shepard (coloured image below). It was 200 copies only and can cost $5000+, a worn copy signed to A.A. Milne made $14000 in 2005. The one to have bought (with hindsight) would be the Bradley Martin copy of the 1908 first in "pristine" d/j - with a signed letter from Grahame to a family member loosely inserted. It probably seemed expensive at the time at $20,000 (Sotheby's New York, Jan 30, 1990, lot 2363.)



TOADAL TRIVIA. Contemporary reviews were lacklustre- The Times wrote 'For ourselves we lay The Wind in the Willows reverently aside and again, for the hundredth time, take up The Golden Age.' Arthur Ransome gave the book a studied review in The Bookman in which he claims the book 'is an attempt to write for children instead of about them. But Mr. Grahame's past has been too strong for him. Instead of writing about children for grown-up people, he has written about animals for children.' He went on to claim that the book, written for the nursery, is full of wistfulness and that it is a failure - for children will not understand the dual nature of the animals. Richard Middleton took a Jungian view in a 'Vanity Fair' review seeing the different layers in the book - he saw that the characters 'are neither animals nor men, but are types of that deeper humanity which sways us all. To be wise, an allegory must admit of a wide application ... and if I may venture to describe as an allegory a work which, critics who ought to have known better, have dismissed as a fairy-story, it is certain that The Wind in the Willows is a wise book.'

J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. 1998.

J.K. Rowling. HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS. Bloomsbury,London 1998. ISBN: 0747538492


Current Selling Prices
$1500-$3000 /£750-£1500


CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
I thought I would republish this entry to commemorate the £1.95 million ($3.98 million) paid yesterday for a shortish Potter manuscript -"The Tales of Beedle the Bard". One of seven copies of the Tales, bound in brown leather and decorated in silver and moonstones. Six have been given to people closely connected to the Harry Potter books. Nice presents. Obviously an absurd price but the money goes to a great charity (The Children's Voice) so one cannot knock it and the buyer will have bought many quarters of an hour of fame. (Stop Press--now known to have bought my Bezos of Amazon for publicity, kudos and out of sheer decency etc., The purchase is a pittance compared to his investment in space flight. ) A 'Mad Hatter' price - higher than that achieved for an Alice manuscript even if you adjust the price for inflation. Will do the math on this later - the Alice sold for about £35,000 in the 1930s as I recall. The money will help a very good cause so who really cares?



'Chamber of Secrets' is the second in the immortal Hogwarts series. Print line must read 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. If that is there you have a first edition. In the copy inscribed to her father and stepmother sold in NY 2003 for $9000 JK has circled the figure 1 and written 'First Edition- I got one!' We were once offered a copy by the dedicatee of the book and the owner of the Ford Anglia pictured on the cover. Deal fell through because the guy wanted to buy a house with the notional money, however we asked the all important question. Where is the Ford Anglia? Apparently it was scrapped years ago - a pity because I could see that making housebuying money.

Harry Potter seems to have brought into being a new kind of slightly naff bookseller with plenty of patter and heartfelt blandishments in their book descriptions:

'Hand signed directly onto the main title page'...'Unread with good square corners'... '100% ironclad provenance' ... 'great addition to any serious collection'....'we wish you every success with your collecting'.. 'Books laced with contemporary and long-term appeal, distinguished by fine condition and that touch of the unique'...'providing the astute collector with high quality books for pleasure and investment'...'everything is just right about this one, you have our assurance... highlights of long-term promise in all genres... A most attractive acquisition...'

It is curious how those who promise some kind of long term return on your investment are always charging twice the price of any other dealer. I guess you just have to hold on to the book that bit longer. The book is often 'A VERY FINE copy in VERY FINE dustwrapper...unusually lovely...' How fine can a book get, if you have 'very fine' and 'extra fine' can we assume that 'fine' is actually not very fine?

One thinks of Leonard Rossiter as the unctuous Mr Shadrack in 'Billy Liar' - determined to modernise his funeral service. The books are often trumpeted as investments with added stuff loosely inserted and illustrations by the artist etc., Putting the bland in blandishments...but perhaps these guys are providing a service and a new breed of punter has arisen to buy their wares, as they used to say 'wally goes to wally.'



VALUE? Hard to find a decent one fine in fine for less than £1000, but one should not have to pay more than that. The book is nowhere near as scarce as 'Philosopher's Stone' and copies can usually be found on Ebay every day. Auction records showing a slight flattening of prices with the book selling for betwen £600 and £1000 in 2006 about 6 times. It may rise, as exquisite copies are not especially easy to find anymore, even though the book is less than 10 years old it usually shows up used in some way. People have read the book, never a good idea. We sold a copy at Christmas 2000 in fine condition for £1500 and haven't bought one since. Pottermania was then at its height. De Luxe ed goes for £100, the Deluxe of Azkaban is the one you want - it can make £800+. Signatures are best avoided unless there is good provenance - usually a ticket or buying from an established firm who will take the book back if the signature doesn't pass the 'blink' test. [ W/Q **** ]

Robert McCloskey. Time of Wonder.1957

Robert McCloskey. TIME OF WONDER. The Viking Press, New York, 1957.

Current Selling Prices
$350-$500 /£170-£240

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
Author and illustrator Robert McCloskey (1915 - 2003) grew up in Hamilton, Ohio, a small town which formed the basis of his books 'Lentil '(1940) and'Homer Price' (1943), but it was New England that provided the backdrop for his most beloved children's books. These were 'Make Way for Ducklings' (1941), about a family of ducks who make their home in the Boston Public Garden, and 'Time of Wonder' (1957), set in the coastal islands of Maine, both won the Caldecott Medal. He was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress in April 2000.

'Make Way for Ducklings' is his big book - it has sold well over two million copies. There is a bronze statue in the Boston Public Garden of the mother duck and her eight ducklings. The book is also the official children's book of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and there is an annual parade of children in Boston to honour the book.

In 1991 -- in an act symbolic of the end of the 40-year Cold War -- Barbara Bush presented a replica of the US statue (Mother duck and 8 ducklings) to Raisa Gorbachev, who had admired the story and the Boston sculptures. The plaque in Moscow's Novedevichy park reads: "This sculpture was given in love and friendship to the children of the Soviet Union on behalf of the children of the United States." Bless. Mrs. Gorbachev, who died in 1999, is buried in a cemetery near the park. Later the statues were stolen (a fairly typical Russian mafia caper - steal anything that is nailed down) and Mrs. Mallard and three of her duckling were replaced in ceremonies including former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and the sculptor Nancy Schon.[ W/Q ** ]

'A Time of Wonder' is probably his most attractive book. A small thin quarto Illustrated throughout in colour. A sort of American Arthur Ransome adventure, but aimed at 4 to 8 year olds. The book grew directly our of the experiences of his family at their island home in Penobscot Bay Maine. The tale of two girls on vacation in Maine - written in a slightly dreamy prose poem style, a story full of happiness and excitement, it captures the daily drama of the change of weather, from sun to fog to a dramatic hurricane. It is usually found with the Caldecott medal on the front of the wrapper but to be totally correct it shouldn't have it as the medal was awarded in 1958. It is listed on a site Good Media Good Kids Project as having all the virtues of a harmless and uplifting childrens book, ticking all the right boxes without being bland or mawkish. Many current children's books (like, say, 'Junk' by Melvin Burgess) would fail to pass. Here is the summary:-

No Violence
No Cruelty
No Rudeness
The religion/spirituality in the story is Judeo-Christian and respect for the religion is shown .
No Stereotypes

Key Virtues
Ecological Citizenship/Preserving nature
Gratitude
Hope
Planfulness
Citizenship
Cooperation
Helpfulness
Prudence
Respect
Thoughtfulness.

VALUE? There are 3 copies of RM's 1948 classic 'Blueberries for Sal' at $2000+ over at ABE. There are several copies of his first book 'Lentil' and 'Make Way For Ducklings' at over $1000. You can find a decent jacketed first of 'Time of Wonder' for less than $500 although one might pay over that for a fine copy. Children's books of this period are hard to find in great shape. Kind of book that might show up in the collection of someone now pushing 60 who spent their summer hols in Maine.

Rupert Annual 1973

(Alfred Bestall.) THE RUPERT ANNUAL.The Daily Express, London 1973.

Current Selling Prices
$20,000+/£10000+

Rupert annuals are a popular series published by the 'Daily Express'. I am not sure whether today's children read them much but I remember them as magical books and alot of kids read them into their teens. Grown ups now pay serious money for the right ones. Some people found them slightly scary, but they would probably now find some of Harry Potter's encounters frightening. They still appear every day in the Express. Certainly they are highly collectable in England and possibly by British expats all over the globe. At the excellent World Collector's net they have a good guide to all Rupert collectables -not just books but records, 'plush' bears, various games, jigsaws and Lledo diecast vans, string puppets, and the Bendy Toys' rubber Rupert which could be posed in various ways. There are also many badges and brooches and 'pins.' Of the books they say:

A lady called Mary Tourtel was the creator of Rupert, and her first cartoon strip appeared in the Daily Express on the 8th November 1920. The little bear, in many ways similar to today's character though a bit more 'bear-like', and with baggier trousers, was shown setting out to the shops in the village of Nutwood. The caption was in verse.

Mary designed many of Rupert's chums, too, including Bill Badger, Podgy Pig and Edward Trunk and dreamt up the strange, almost surreal world of Nutwood which featured people in medieval dress wandering amongst a mix of incongruities such as clothed animals (who often kept unclothed animals as pets), 'normal' humans, and weird scientific inventions. Mary was fond of using magic to whisk her bear hero away from trouble; her successor, the much-respected Alfred Bestall who took over in 1935, relied on proper twists in the plot. He also introduced a host of new characters, such as Pong-Ping, Bingo Pup, the Professor, Merboy and Tigerlily.

Alfred drew the stories up till 1965, and his last adventure was 'Rupert and the Winkybickies', though he continued to work on the annuals. In 1973, he was upset when a white Rupert was featured on the cover, rather than the traditional brown. Alfred had planned his beautiful painting around a brown bear, and felt there was no contrast between the white Rupert and the pale sky behind him. He was also aware that, artistically, there should have been a shadow on Rupert's face. To appease the artist, a handful of annuals from that year were printed with a brown Rupert, and today, to discover a 1973 annual with a brown-faced Rupert is a collector's dream.

VALUE? A fine copy is appearing in auction at Duke's of Dorchester this week. It is estimated at £5000 to £7000. Another copy in a lot is estimated at £5000 to £8000. The fact that that there are two might give a hardened dealer pause for thought as there are only supposed to be about 15 in existence. Duke's, in a slightly different version of the tale, say: 'Alfred Bestall was asked to provide the cover illustration for the 1973 annual and as per his earlier designs, gave Rupert his usual brown face whilst the illustrations within the annual show Rupert with a white face. After printing a small run of the annual, the Express decided to alter Bestall's original colourings of Rupert, changing him from brown to white at the request of many young readers who could not understand why Rupert was brown on the cover but white inside. Bestall was incensed at this decision and never illustrated another cover for the Express. The remaining run of the 1973 annual with a white faced Rupert on the cover continued to use Bestall's signature but the publishers altered the colour of the signature to disguise it in an attempt to appease Bestall. The limited number of brown faced 1973 annuals printed makes this annual particularly rare and only 12 others are believed to exist.'

I shall watch this auction and report back. Early Rupert annuals can fetch good money and the 1936 annual can currently be found on the web in a jacket at the noli tangere price of £6500. The words 'one for the pension fund' are something of a red flag + Duke's have a jacketed one (under)estimated at £200 to £300. Most guide books price it at £2000 to £3000. Bonhams achieved a £1000 for one in 2004 and Bloomsbury £1500 in 2005. Whether anyone will care about Rupert in 2020 is unknowable-- I expect they will--but not as much as they do now. By then it might have become a bear market. Annuals from the 1960s and 1970s generally go for a fiver, they also have brown faced Ruperts on the cover--remember the annus mirabilis is 1973!

TRIVIA Paul McCartney gave Rupert a fresh lease of life when he wrote the song 'We All Stand Together' for an animated cartoon based on the froggy design of the end papers in a 1958 Rupert annual. This song was a hit in 1984 and the video 'Rupert and the Frog Song' won a BAFTA award. It is generally considered a low point in Paul's oeuvre.

A French low alcohol beer is available called Tourtel --it is sometimes known to its waggish consumers as 'Rupert Beer' and is actually the only palatable 'near beer' I have ever consumed. Below is the 1973 annual in the version that you don't want. THE BROWN FACE IS ONLY GOOD ON THE 1973 ANNUAL. [ W/Q *** ]



STOP PRESS Result of the auction of the Chaplain collection is reported thus in today's 'Sunday Express' and seem marvellous, not to say freakish--the publicity could bring other copies out and if so the price may not be sustainable - watch this space:

'Yesterday one of the rare 1973 annuals went for £23,000 and the other for £22,000 at Dukes Auction House in Dorchester, Dorset. The previous record for a 1973 brown-face annual was £16,000. There were gasps of surprise as the bidding for the annuals rocketed past the pre-sale estimates.They formed part of a stunning collection of Rupert memorabilia put together by a later writer of the cartoon, Freddie Chaplain. The items went for more than £100,000. Auctioneer Amy Brenan, said afterwards: “It proves the enduring affection people have for Rupert Bear. Bidders came from all over the country and around the world.”The daughter of Freddie Chaplain, Deborah Taylor, was at the sale. She said: “My father died in 1981 and the collection has been in mum’s bungalow until this summer when she moved into a nursing home. She decided to sell it for her nursing fees and for peace of mind.”

Ms Taylor added: “When I was a young girl, my father told me Rupert stories off the cuff and he would write down the ones I liked.” Rupert Bear is set to make a Christmas comeback as one of this year’s best-selling toys...'

Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense..."





J. K. Rowling. HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE. Bloomsbury, London 1997. ISBN 0747532699

Current Selling Prices
$20000+ / £10000+


SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM (Blue bit) for how to value a copy.

CHILDREN'S BOOK.
A publishing wonder and a book that made reading books OK again amongst kids. For that reason alone JK is a Goddess. Hallowed be her name. It also made her about ten times richer than Madonna. Madonna retaliated by writing her own forgettable children's books. The whole Potter collecting euphoria took off around one trendy Brit dealer on ebay who had sagaciously stockpiled a few boxes of Rowling and a fat packet of genuine Rowling signed Bloomsbury bookplates and started achieving startling results just post millennium. When a Philosopher's Stone hit $15K+, everybody piled in to buy, sell and bid. Issued in illustrated laminated boards and it has no d/w, states first edition and must have 10987654321 on verso of title. Publisher has stated that only 500 were printed and many of those went to libraries, so it is always going to be a difficult book to find and will be collected until Kingdom Come.

I was offered a signed copy of this a few years ago and negotiated a fattish sum for it; however the deal fell through when the sellers father bought the book - to keep it in the family. Kind of frustrating. The chap selling used the money for a deposit on a flat. He had worked in a new bookshop. It turned out many copies of this book came from bookshop workers who had kept copies seeing the incipient phenomenom at first hand. One wily dealer even started advertising for the book in 'The Bookseller' - the organ of the new book trade. Another tiresome one was a jolly chap with a host of signed copies presented to him. He wanted to buy a house with the money. Have you seen house prices recently in this benighted island?


VALUE? Once the book started to get established 5 figure sterling results up market dealers began dealing the book and it appeared at book fairs on the same shelf as firsts of Utopia and Moby Dick. A dealer in LA bought a copy for £18000 in auction 2003, possibly for some star's offspring and in 2004 a copy made nearly £19000 at Bloomsbury Auctions. It hasn't really gone on at all since then and may have flatlined, or even dropped a few percentage points. However every time a new HP appears prices tend to perk up. The US edition ('Sorcerer's Stone') can fetch about $1500 or more (correct number line on copyright page of "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 8 9/9 0/0 01 02," followed by "Printed in the U.S.A.23" and "First American edition, October 1998", the cloth binding has purple diamond embossed boards and a red spine, "Harry Potter" appears in raised gold lettering on the front panel of jacket; jacket has price of $16.95 on upper corner of the front flap; the numbers "51695" are found above the smaller barcode to the right side.) The first UK paperback is a nice thing to find - with dealers asking £2K+. It is exactly the same as the first hardback just bound up with paper covers. I need hardly add the caveat, don't buy signed Rowlings without provenance (a badly printed certificate of authentication is no good) fakes abound. (Jan/07) [ W/Q *** ]

STOP PRESS. Bloomsbury, the great book auction house in Mayfair just had a bit of a result with a classy signed Rowling -- I quote their publicity release:-

Bloomsbury Auctions set another world record

At the sale on the 24 May 2007, Bloomsbury Auctions set another record with a signed first edition of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Intense bidding in the room and on the telephone pushed the final price to a staggering £27,370 (inc. premium).

The lucky recipient was a private overseas buyer who has obtained a unique presentation copy inscribed 'To David - with best wishes JK Rowling' with the 1 on the number line circled with an additional identification indicating 1st Edition. This was a fantastic result for Bloomsbury and shows that the popularity of the young wizard continues.

More 2007 Results. I can find 3 copies in this sad year of the last Rowling/ Potter- in chronological order at Bloomsbury in April a copy described thus- "... first edition , very light minor browning to the extreme margins, no inscriptions, original boards, very slightly cocked, slightly bumped at upper corners and spine ends, small abrasions to corners near head of spine, light abrading to the thin surface laminate at fore-edge of lower cover, otherwise a very good copy..." made £12495

At Dominic Winter a copy described thus "...a few leaves faintly creased to top outer corner, ms. ownership name to front free endpaper, orig. pictorial boards, sl. rubbed at corners and spine ends..." made £8460

At Bonham's a copy described thus -"... first edition, ownership label inside upper cover, publisher's pictorial boards, slightly rubbed at extremities..." made £9000.

Go figure, but bear in mind these are not books many people are sitting on -every major Children's sale has one. On the other hand there are a finite number out there, condition is king and hope spring's eternal. As for finding one remember the words of Cadillac Jack 'anything can be anywhere' - one turned up at a little bookshop attached to a stately home. Because it was a hardback it was a £1.



.

Caveat Emptor! AUSTRALIAN FIRST EDITIONS ARE OF MODEST VALUE AND QUITE COMMON. If Australia is mentioned on back of title page as place of printing do not book a holiday in the Bahamas! Canada is also bad news.American editions are worth significantly less than UK ones.CHECK ABEBOOKS.COM

Last thing--you have to have 10987654321 to get lift off with this book and the date 1997 and no later date, a dust jacket is impossible because it didn't have one and don't neglect first edition 10987654321 paperbacks from 1997 - they too are valuable.

For Current Values - CHECK ABEBOOKS.COM All questions are answered there -type Rowling in the author field, type Stone in the title field, type Bloomsbury in publisher field, then choose highest price, hit search and from the results work down from there. The prices at the very top are generally excessive, over the top and way too much.

Generally speaking anything after a fourth edition is very mediocre, fourth and third are modestly worthwhile and occasionally some punter on ebay pays too much for one but you need 10987654321 or at least 1098765432 and it must be 1997 and not Australian or Canadian. See also all the comments below which answer every edition question in the known universe.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. 1900

"...a century after this book’s first publication, few Americans are unfamiliar with the image of Dorothy being carried by a Kansas cyclone into the magical land of Oz, where she meets the scarecrow, the tin woodman, and the cowardly lion. Their adventures looking for the Emerald City and the wizard have become a permanent part of American popular culture... its popularity now is largely based on the 1939 film, starring Judy Garland as Dorothy. In his introduction to the book, Baum argued that ‘the old-time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as ‘historical’ the time has come for a series of newer ‘wonder tales.’ Modern education includes morality, therefore the modern child needs only entertainment in its wonder-tales.' " (The New York Public Library’s Books of the Century/ Utopias & Dystopias)

Frank L. Baum. THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ. Geo. M. Hill, Chicago and New York, 1900.

Current Selling Prices
$12500-$40,000 /£6000-£20,000

CLASSIC CHILDREN'S LITERATURE / FANTASY
Wnen I first started to visit American used bookstores 20 years ago, if they had a glass cabinet it was usually stuffed with Baum--you don't see these books much over here and I occasionally bought them as a curiosity. About 2005 we went to a house in an unpretentious part of East London filled to the rafters with SF, fantasy and Baumiana. Sadly the Baum books had been left to a university library along with boxes of Oz ephemera CDS, figures, games, DVDs & Videos. The nearest I got was 2 boxes of Judy Garland records that took an age to sell. The SF kept our customers happy for a few months.

An inscribed copy at Christies New York in 2005 made $120K. It was described thus:

"4to (212 x 162 mm). Pictorial title-page; 24 color plates, numerous text illustrations by W.W. Denslow. Original pictorial green cloth, blocked in dark green and vermillion, pictorial endpapers (very slight wear to spine ends, some very minor discoloration, otherwise fine).
A FINE PRESENTATION COPY OF BAUM'S MASTERPIECE. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, in Hanff & Greene's binding C, with publisher's name in serifed type in red at foot of spine. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR on the front free endpaper: "To my 'old' friend Mrs. W.C. Foster with kindest regards. L. Frank Baum. Chicago 1901."

Comments: Lyman Frank Baum began writing 25 years before The Wizard of Oz was published, when he founded a newspaper in Bradford, Pennsylvania. After leaving the paper, "he went on to manage opera houses, act in the theater, and establish a magazine for window dressers" but the success of The Wizard of Oz "kept him writing Oz books for the rest of his life: and even beyond his life, for after he died in 1919 others were commissioned to write more books about the Wizard" (introduction, Maurice Hungiville, The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was, Gardner and Nye, eds., East Lansing, 1984).

Along with his writing, Baum dabbled in related creative enterprises, such as a never realized Oz amusement park, on Pedloe Island off the coast of California, which he had purchased for this purpose; and a film company, founded in 1914, which produced the first two Oz film versions. (The 1939 landmark film adaptation starring Judy Garland was actually the third cinematic portrayal of Oz.) PRESENTATION COPIES OF 'THE WIZARD OF OZ' ARE VERY SCARCE.

Blanck, Peter Parley to Penrod, pp. 111-113; Hanff & Greene (1988) I.1; Morgan/Early Children's Books 214."

VALUE? Signed presentations are not especially scarce but they are certainly valuable. 10,000 copies of the first edition were printed. It is a book with a multitude of points on it and to establish which edition you have you need Bibliograpia Oziana.To have the publisher's name at the foot of the spine in plain unserifed type and stamped in green is an excellent start (Variant A.) If the publishers ads are enclosed in a box on page 2 and it is a clean copy it is time to up the house insurance. Variant B with Geo Hill's name in red is still a very valuable book in decent condition. Variant A is exceedingly difficult and was mainly handed out to friends and family. Variant C which has Geo Hill serifed and stamped in red with C of Co encircling the O is also serious money. 'Serifed' means with a few fancy twirls, as opposed to plain no nonsense typography.

There is currently a decent but not fine Variant B for sale at $36,000. The book can turn up in horrendous condition and even unsightly repaired, refurbished copies from 1900 are much treasured. Mixed states of the first are often found --even Bibliograpia Oziana doesn't cover the full panoply of variations-- for that you need Blanck and his Baum entry in Peter Parley to Penrod.[ W/Q **** ]

TRIVIA. There are theories and interpretations all over the infobahn -- the Wizard of Oz is meant to symbolize the President of the U.S. When finally revealed, he is nothing but a man who, like all politicians, exists through smoke and mirrors. There is a theory that it is an an allegory for the political battle over the Gold Standard (the Yellow Brick Road) and the little people of the United States are the Munchkins. They have been held in bondage for years by the Wicked Witch of the East who in turn, is supposed to be the thieving industrialists and large corporations of the East, all of whom support the Gold Standard. Dorothy frees them from their bondage. Here's the clincher - the standard abbreviation for the measurement of an ounce, which is how Gold is most often measured, is "oz." It is known that Baum was a believer in 'Free Silver' and anti the Gold Standard - so theories that Oz was some form of political tract are rife.

Lastly, a fan of the Wizard of Oz decided to watch the film with the sound off and the CD version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon as the soundtrack. One assumes he was stoned. Apparently it is perfectly matched to the film. ("You've got to start them both together, man.") Scholars have done detailed studies of this myth. Another school asserts that if you start to play the CD when the lion roars for the third time in the credits, everything will then be perfectly matched. Details to note are A) When Elvira Gulch appears on her bike, the famous chimes on the CD kick in; B) When the Wizard tells Dorothy to go home, the Floyd start singing "Home, home again", and C) as the tornadoes starts, the Floyd begin the amazing track "The Great Gig in the Sky."

Pics above 1. Front Cover. 2. An early poster for the book. 3 (below) Early Baum poster. Nota Bene. Baum's 1904 sequel 'The Marvellous land of Oz' did not feature Dorothy and she was only re-instated after many children wrote to Baum to express their disappointment...the pattern of children writing to Baum about characters was a major impetus for the creation and continuation of the Oz series. It persists in this age with the young wizard Harry Potter. 'Munchkins' have become 'muggles.'

Stephen W. Meader. Bulldozer, 1951.

Stephen W. Meader. BULLDOZER. Harcourt Brace, NY, 1951.

Current Selling Prices
$80-$200 /£45-£100


CHILDREN"S LITERATURE
This is the third of a trio of Ebay nostalgia/ children's books (Young Adult) that are highly sought after. The other two, covered earlier by us were Jellybeans for Breakfast and Lazy Liza Lizard -- all much wanted by Boomers who grew up on them. The other two were for girls -this one is for boys and tomboys and budding business tycoons. A fairly simple plot - Bill Crane and his friend Ducky Davis discover a Caterpillar Tractor sunk and abandoned in a lake and use their ingenuity to restore it and build a profitable business. Among their adventures, a successful battle against a forest fire. All with cool b/w illustrations by Edwin Schmidt.

Most copies out there are paperbacks or rather sad ex library copies--here is a description of a paperback that with most other titles would be immediately tossed, trashed or vapourized. It is described in what I call the Alain Robbe Grillet style --i.e. so much detail that it is hard to envision what the thing actually looks like. The cost for this paperback is $70 - take it away Alain:

'...Fair binding cracking at page 100; heavy spine crease; moderate crease along spine edge of front cover; slight crease along spine edge of back cover; ½" trinangular chunk missing from front fore-edge; ½" closed tear to top back spine edge; 1" closed tear to top and bottom front spine edges; small, slight crease to back corners; two heavy creases to bottom front corner; heavy crease to upper front corner; rubbing and chipping to upper edge of front cover; rubbing to other edges; rubbing, slight soil to covers; several indentations to front and back covers, two penetrate to next two pages; crease to bottom corner of about a dozen pages; age tanning to pages and inside of covers, pages are not brittle; moisture stain to margin of bottom corner of first 18 pages, does not affect the text; rectangular piece cut out of top corner of front endpaper; ¼" closed tear and crease to fore-edge of last three blank pages...'

If the book was stabbed through the middle with a greasy kebab skewer and then dropped in a puddle it could hardly be worse but after all this we are assured '...pages are clean, no marks to text, no owner signatures, inscriptions, store stamps, remainder marks.' I would avoid buying the library of the collector who buys this.

VALUE? Hard to find a decent non Ex Library first in jacket for less than $100, a simple reader can be picked up for under $30. There are several firsts on ABE at between $200 and $300, the most expensive, as always, being the nastiest. [ W/Q ** ]

Miriam Young. Jellybeans for Breakfast (1968)

Miriam Young. JELLYBEANS FOR BREAKFAST.Parents’ Magazine Press, New York [1968]

Current Selling Prices
$150-$300 /£80-£160

CHILDREN'S BOOK
Probably more famous in the world of ebay book trading than 'The Da Vinci Code.' A copy revealed for a second at a library sale would probably cause a life threatening stampede. Miriam Young (1913- 1974) wrote other stuff but this is the one everybody wants. Not impossible to find for slightly less that $100 but most copies are poorish ex library reprints at that level, often with many faults. Hardly anyone mentions the plot but deep excavation found this summary in a blog and I can't quite remember where:

'It's the story of a couple of cute tykes who fantasize about all the fun stuff they'd do if they were free from their parents and their teachers and all the usual everyday constraints. They'd ride their bikes to the moon. They'd go barefoot all the time. They'd live in a treehouse in the woods. And they'd eat jellybeans for breakfast. '

Miriam Young hailed from San Francisco and her books were aimed at little girls. These girls (and a few males) have now grown up and want the book - the excellent ebay bookseller blog has identified these buyers as a niche market:

THE CHILDREN’S NOSTALGIA BOOK BUYER
Fond memories are what drive this buyer. A man, now in his 50’s, is looking for a book from his youth. Maybe it made a big impact on him and influenced a career decision, or maybe it was an adventure story that captivated him. A woman in her 60’s is remembering cuddling up with a parent or grandparent reading a favorite book. She wants to share this experience and this particular book with a child in her life.
The nostalgia buyer is not concerned with finding a book in excellent condition, especially if the book is to share with a child. While doing research, I came across this question to a seller of a $150 eBay book auction:
“I had no idea this was a rare book. I read this book over & over when I was a child & only want it to read to my granddaughter. Is there an old beat-up copy that’s still readable available for an affordable price?”
Yes, even "old beat-up" copies sell. Sometimes the buyer is looking for a particular binding. In many cases this is an ex-library book. Here’s another quote I came across online:
“I’ve recently been reunited with my favorite childhood book . . . We never had a copy, but got it out of the library every week. When I grew up, no one could remember what the book was and it took a year to find the name, then another 10 years to track down a copy.”

Do you think money was a big issue for him after waiting ten years to find that special book?
Selling to this market can be very profitable. Many of these buyers are baby boomers or grandparents with high disposable incomes. Selling to this market can also be rewarding. It is not unusual to receive a grateful letter from someone who has been reunited with a fondly remembered book after a long search. Selling to this market is easy. He is not usually a serious collector and does not expect proper terminology and a certain level of expertise.
Knowing which books the nostalgia market is looking for is the problem. Research is the solution. You can do your own research in closed auctions on eBay, or you can buy research from others. Books sought by the nostalgia market tend to fall into two groups: picture books for the younger child and fiction (chapter books) for the young adult. Three examples of books sought by this market - •Lazy Liza Lizard by Marie Curtis Rains • Bulldozer by Stephen Meader • Jellybeans for Breakfast by Miriam Young.

Will probably do 'Bulldozer' tomorrow - it sounds like a boy's book; we have already done Lazy Liza Lizard. Our ebay book colleague above has identified a market that doesn't need bookseller's 'expertise' or their detailed descriptions and in fact would probably be put off by them. Forget octavos, foxing and endpapers with this crowd, 'retired from the library' and 'much cherished' are what works for them.

VALUE? I have seen people asking $500 for this book but so many copies have surfaced that is now a $100 book and twice that for a nice one. However, as noted above, it is not really a collector's book but a boomer nostalgia book. Because boomers must have eveything they want and, 'like, yesterday' it can sell on a Buy it Now at around $100 - often a reprint in regrettable condition ('with expected imperfections.'). One guy at ABE has a copy at $400+ but seems to think it was published in 1905. Outside of books I think the title "Jellybeans for Breakfast' means, or has come to mean, something - possibly mad, hyped up or delusional. Not sure. [ W/Q **** ]

Ellis Credle. Andy and the Circus

Ellis Credle. ANDY AND THE CIRCUS. Thomas Nelson, NY 1971

Current Selling Prices
$90-$200 / £50-£110


CHILDREN"S BOOK
Ellis Credle (1902-1998) was an author and illustrator of books for children and young adults. Born in North Carolina, she attended Louisburg College and the New York School of Interior Decoration. Her first children's book 'Down, Down the Mountain' became a Junior Literary Guild selection. The running-away- to-the-circus theme has always been wanted. A book that is seldom seen without library markings and often lots of them. Ex lib copies seem to be available at less than $80, but there are dealers, not part of the usual coterie of overpricers asking over $200 for ex lib lite copies. One dealer describing his copy as 'retired' from a library then promotes the book as being sturdy because such books are often reinforced at the spine.

Ex Lib is nasty and to be avoided, imho they are only OK if v cheap or you merely need the text or the book is otherwise unobtainable. Ex library books have usually been purchased for a dollar or at a dollar a pound weight so theoretically the seller has room to negotiate ('wiggle room') so it is worth making an offer if you really need the book. It is unwise to do this on massively overpriced books. In my experience price = character and a gross overpricer is likely to be a difficult and intransigent person, possibly disturbed, and is best left in their misery. Caveat emptor.

VALUE? An ebay favourite -the customers there can probably swallow an ex lib book more readily. Do you really want to spend $150 on a second edition described thus- "Book has tape on the cover from dust jacket being taped to the book, library pocket and markings, scattered light smudging on some pages, not affecting text; otherwise, pages mostly clean. A 1/4" closed tear at bottom of one page. Dust Jacket is price-clipped. Protected by a clear Gaylord cover taped to the book. A 1/2" closed tear at bottom of back flap..."

A few months ago there were 15 copies priced from $60 to $280 on the web, all ex library except one which was a reprint. Now there are only 10 priced from $70 to $350, seven are ex libs. The $350 copy is a 1973 reprint, all the first editions offered are, sadly, compromised ex library books. Given the fact that 60 people are registered as wanting the book it is not inconceivable that a sharp shopbought jacketed first could fetch $400+. [ W/Q *** ]

Nancy Nutall and the Mongrel. Catherine Cookson, 1982.

Further to my piece yesterday I thought I would do a children's story dog book by the reasonably saleable but prolific Catherine Cookson. By the way - Other slow selling books and writers unmentioned yesterday include Anthony Adverse by Hervey Allen, Antony by his Son the Earl of Lytton, Philip Gibbs, Richard Gordon, Doris Leslie, Walter H. Page, Marguerite Steen, Thornton Wilder and Van Loon. As for Anna O. Buchan's 'Unforgettable, Unforgotten' - forget it.



Catherine Cookson. NANCY NUTALL AND THE MONGREL. Macdonald, London, 1982.

Current Selling Prices
$300-$600 / £150-£300

CHILDREN'S BOOK
Illustrated by Carolyn Dinan, more admired and collected in USA than UK. Glossy illustrated boards, could show up in a jacket but possibly never had one. Anyway, a real find if you see one at a jumble, boot or library sale. Dame Catherine wrote over 100 books but this is possibly one of the most valuable, it was her last book for children.

VALUE? On net 2006/2007 people were asking between $180 and $500 for the US 1990 Simon and Schuster paperback and one reasonable UK ed was listed at £300, another a little compromised in condition at £200. They have been around now for many months and I suspect this book is not saleable at such stroppy prices, especially with a magazine appearing for Catherine Cookson members that contains this story and seems to sell for less than $20 on ebay. The UK is the one you want and $500 for the paperback is barmy. Our pic shows the US ed.

Althea Joins the Chalet School. Elinor Brent Dyer, 1969.

Elinor Brent Dyer. ALTHEA JOINS THE CHALET SCHOOL. Chambers, London, 1969.

Current Selling Prices
$220-$400 /£100-£200 Want level 25-50 Highish

CHILDREN'S BOOK / GIRL'S SCHOOL FICTION
EBD's Chalet School novels have a very large world wide following with collectors willing to pay high 3 figure sums for difficult o/p titles. They are beautifully written multi layered stories with much period detail and a Swiss setting. There are conferences, quizzes, newsletters and websites.

Elinor Brent Dyer wrote 101 girls' stories many with school settings. A holiday spent in the Austrian Tyrol at Pertisau-am-Achensee gave her the inspiration for the first location in the Chalet School series. Her teaching career spanned 36 years with her final post as Headmistress of a school in Hereford. She also wrote plays and numerous unpublished poems and was a keen musician.

Her market has been a little dented by reprints and even this book is about to be reprinted by 'Girls Gone By' at £11. The story of Althea Glenyon a new girl who is involved in a midnight caper where a burglar is unmasked and inspires jealousy through her close friendship with some plucky girl. Exciting adventures afloat and ashore break into school routine, involving Althea in some embarrassing situations. At the end of her first term, however, Althea has proved herself and looks like settling in to become a real Chaletian. Odd stuff for 1969 with Manson on the prowl, Woodstock, Vietnam and the first flight of Monty Python.

VALUE? Hardbacks in jacket £100+ for nice copies. Jonkers of Henley ask £220 for a faultless copy. If God collected EBD (and he/she probably does) this would be the copy he would choose. Dyer titles esp from the 1920s and early 1930s in bright jackets can get over £500. Signed copies are almost unheard of. This title, although comparatively modest in value is much wanted. Also much desired is The Chalet Girl's Cook Book from 1953 worth about the same as this book in nice jacket. It can make about a £100 without it - higher than this novel sans jacket.

Lazy Liza Lizard. Marie Curtis Rains, 1938.

For a while I thought this book was called Lady Liza Lizard and could find out nothing about it. It appears to be one of those books that gets traded, famous for being famous, and sold on by traders who hardly bother to open it, but are aware it has value. Many collectable books are like that - e.g who actually reads 'Brave New World'? The lizard itself is a fascinating creature ('...one of the Lords of Life' as D H Lawrence put it.) In ancient Egypt and Greek symbolism the lizard represented divine wisdom and good fortune. Early Christianity associated the lizard with the devil and with evil. While on the Pacific islands of Polynesia and Maoris lizards are revered as a "heaven god." Then you have those urban Lotharios known as lounge lizards and there is more than one bar called 'The Lazy Lizard'; Jim Morrison called himself 'The Lizard King'. Must do one of Jim's rare little L.A. books sometime, I sold our last one ('An American Prayer') for a king's ransom...

Marie Curtis Rains. LAZY LIZA LIZARD. The John Winston Company, Philadelphia, 1938.

Current Selling Prices
$300-$750 / £160-£400 Want level 50 - 75 High

CHILDREN'S BOOK
Much wanted. Also noted as simultaneously first published by the Junior Literary Guild in New York and E.M. Hale and Co., Eau Claire, WI all in 1938. The Winston one is the one that shows up and no one seems to have established which came first, or possibly no one cares. There are several Lazy Lizards in the world of children's literature but Ms Rains' book is the one you want.

No idea what Lazy Liza gets up to but imagine that she gets up late and leads an idle life basking on a sunny wall. The book's reputation seems to be based on its dollar value, Google reveals not one reference to its contents. Library sale special + an ebay special.

VALUE? A not nice ex library 1953 reprint at $450 is the lowest priced one currently available and probably a poor investment. Avoid ex library wherever possible is the mantra. A decentish jacketed 1938 first looks a better bet. As often happens on the net as the price gets higher the condition gets worse at $800 you get a sad copy with one page 'torn in half ...and stained from where the page was tape repaired.' Sometimes you get a perfect gradation where there are, say, 6 copies each more expensive than the other and the most expensive is in the worse condition and as they get cheaper they improve in condition with the cheapest being the best. This is perfectly logical because the more greedy a seller is the more he will ignore the effect of condition on price - so the worst copy is often the most expensive. This phenomenom deserves a name - reversed condition paradox?

In 2005 on ebay an exlib copy sold at $328 with the buyer providing no picture. Talk about lazy.

'Lazy Liza Lizard's Tricks' from 1953 is more common but still seems to go for a couple of $100 bills if decent. STOP PRESS. A poorish but not exlib 1938 copy sold last week on ebay at $210. Apart from suggesting that the book is going flat it revealed that Lazy Liza is a pretty young girl (with no obvious lizard discernible) in a gingham bonnet and there are other anthropomorphic characters including a Mr. Snake and Old Lady Field Mouse - a sweet looking story for the very young.

A Wind is Blowing. Monica Edwards, 1969.

Monica Edwards. A WIND IS BLOWING. Collins, London 1969.

Current Selling Prices
$500+ /£250+ Want level 50 - 75 High



CHILDREN'S BOOK
Probably the most difficult Monica Edwards book and, as often happens, her last book. Slightly more adult than most of her Romney Marsh (East Sussex) pony books, it features only Tamzin and Meryon as characters and not Rissa and Roger. Her children, unlike Enid Blyton, do not stay the same age but grow almost to adulthood.

She was alarmed by the erosion of her much loved East Sussex countryside that came in the 1960s with Harold Wilson and the 'white heat' of the technocratic revolution. "A Wind Is Blowing" begins with a crime and has little to do with most of its predecessors, being instead "an encapsulation of loss of innocence, the end of childhood and the end of the 1960s (unlike all her previous books, it is not illustrated). Monica Edwards, effectively, destroyed her own mythos." (Quote from Wikipedia)

The German edition 'Solange der Wind weht' (1973) shows a very cool couple of late teenagers in trendy 60s fashions and seems odd against the usual Punchbowl Farm and Romney Marsh books. It can be seen on the definitive Monica Edwards site.


VALUE? Values of popular children's books like this are something of a minefield. The true first is always going to be scarce but the book could easily be reprinted by 'Girls Gone By' or the Edwards estate and most people just want to read the books. A reprint would deflate the price by quite a bit, this has happened with other Edwards titles and notably the Elinor Brent-Dyer Chalet School books.

There are no copies of this book currently available on the web and it is much sought after - there are 57 wants for it at Abebooks.com alone. In July 2004 a reasonable jacketed copy sold on ebay at £235. I am told it has made hefty sums there a few times. Another late Romney Marsh title 'The Wild One' (1967) sometimes regarded as the second rarest of her books is listed at £250 to £300, so logically 'Wind' should be more. When in doubt extrapolate!

A Pair of Red Clogs. Masako Matsuno, 1960.

I feel it's time I did another children's book. For some collectors there is no other kind of book, you can forget 'Wealth of Nations' 'Paradise Lost' and 'Thunderball.' There was a time when I knew very little about it and then we bought huge tranches of books from the Frederick Warne archives and I learned quite a bit. Thrown in at the deep end. They kept all the Potter stuff ,by the way, except late Potters in funny languages (quite saleable.) I learned that the more childish the better, that people like shape books and moveables and alphabet teaching and cats and elephants, Red Indians and little Japanese girls in clogs...

Masako Matsuno. A PAIR OF RED CLOGS. World Publishing, Cleveland, 1960.

Current Selling Price
$180-$300 /£100-150 Want level 50 - 75 High

CHILDREN'S BOOK
Illustrated by Kazue Mizumura. Poignant children's story of a little Japanese girl whose new clogs get cracked. These clogs known as 'geta' in Japan are in fact 'high risiing red lacquer sandals.' In trying to find another pair little Mako (for that is her name) 'almost does a dishonest thing.' This appears to be evaded when her grandmother tells her a story. Much sought after. I suspect 'boomers'. Ebay special.

VALUE? Not uncommon but often ex library. Children's books are especially undesirable in ex lib mode. With a book of useful or valuable info you can put up with a few stamps, labels, perforations and white numbers on the spine. Hard to find a decent non library first in jacket for much less than $170 and super ones up to $300. I will get round to Jellybeans for Breakfast and Lazy Liza Lizard when I can, watch this space!

The Lion's Paw. Robb White. 1946

After yesterday's highspot of highspots something more modest. I had an email from someone who seemed to know his (or her) onions suggesting other works of 19th Century literature of greater or comparative value to Emily Bronte's masterpiece - they suggested another Poe from 1843 'The Prose Romances' which apparently made $230K in 2000. Must look out for that one. Also Yeats's Mosada (1886) which made twice as much as Wuthering Heights when they were in auction together in the late 1990. Autres temps, autres moeurs. Looking back at that sale it appears that the playing field was not even - Mosada was pretty nice, 'Heights' was a bit crap. Also the Communist Manifesto which can make £100K but to my mind isn't a work of literature. A good read however.

On the subject of Russia it is conceivable that with the oligarchs on the prowl Tolstoy or Dostoevsky ('the supreme novelist') could make massive sums. However a runner who sells to their buyers says that they favour blingy books that are beautifully illustrated. A first of Baudelaire's Fleurs du Mal (one of 22) was also suggested and that impossible and most likely non existent book that Joyce is said to have written when he was 9 - the bitter broadside poem against Parnell's betrayers entitled "Et tu Healy," which John Joyce said he had printed - the holy grail of rarities. Et tu Healy? A likely story.*

Robb White. THE LION 'S PAW. Doubleday, NY 1946.

Current Selling Prices
$250-$400 /£120-£200 Want level 25-50 Highish

CHILDREN"S LITERATURE
Good yarn of two children, Nick and Penny, who escape from an orphanage and help Ben, a boy who refuses to accept the status of an orphan. The three sail away on Ben's father's ship to the Gulf of Mexico, in search of an elusive shell, the lion's paw. They find Ben's missing father, who has been rescued from "the Japs"; they discover the shell they are seeking; and they are all very happy -- reminiscent of Arthur Ransome , lively children, adventures and sailing.

Robb White based it on his travels as a naval officer in the Phillipines WW2. He wrote about 20 books incIuding PRIVATEER'S BAY (1939) an autobiographical book about buying a small island in the British Virgins, reissued in 1953 as OUR VIRGIN ISLAND. Many of his books are fairly common, even in Britain.

VALUE? An ebay special. A jacketless reprint from 1992 signed by the great man is a BIN at $200 as we speak and 3 copies are on ABE at $300 - $575. one of which would appear to be a reprint. Doubleday books almost invariably state 'first edition' on the back of the title page.

*The Joyce family always insisted they sent a copy to the Vatican for their library and some keen runner actually tried to find it there but failed. The intriguing thing is that there is said to be a printer's receipt for the item. Thomas J. Wise would have run up a copy if Joyce had been valuable in his time!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Roald Dahl, 1964.

Roald Dahl. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. Knopf, NY 1964.

Current Selling Prices
$2800+ /£1500+ Want level 25-50 Highish

CHILDREN'S BOOK
An adventure of one Willy Wonka and 'four nasty children + 'his famous candy plant.' Valuable Dahl book about on a par with his earlier Gremlins. Filmed to some success in 2005 starring book collector Johnny Depp. Also in 1971 with Gene Wilder. Depp's brother Dan used to have a bookshop in Santa Cruz, CAL, the late, lamented Frugal Bookman on Mission. It was the 'frugal' that did for it. A good guy, but not quite in the same league as Johnny when they were handing out the visages. But who is? Oddly the US edition of Charlie precedes the UK by 3 years and has a point on it- you need 6 lines of printing info on the last page, later issues have five. And definitely no ISBN number on the rear panel and with the price $3.95 on the front flap. By such trivia we live and breathe.

VALUE? Confusing book-- a very decent one sold in mid 2006 on ebay for $4800. However, one acceptable copy has been on the web at $2700 for so long that the guy is trumpeting it as an investment for when the Jim Carey 2005 movie (sic) comes out. Movies, actually, don't always help and the word investment often says 'Noli Tangere' with a bargepole. A few copies at north of $5000 have been around for a while, it doesnt quite seem to be happening at much more than $5K. Some confusion as to the staining of the top edge, one world renowned dealer calls it puce, another equally stellar dealer calls it chocolate. Can puce fade to chocolate? Or vice versa? A good book inscribed, Dahl signatures are not plentiful - one made nigh on $10K at the Cosmatos sale and later in 2005 another signed made $8k. These prices have flushed out a lot of copies of this once rare book. A book that seems to do best in the white heat of an auction.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Beatrix Potter.

Beatrix Potter.THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT
Privately printed for the author by Strangeways, London, (1901 and 1902)

Current Selling Prices
$15000-$80000 /£8000-£45000 Want level 25-50 Highish

CHILDREN"S LITERATURE
In 1893, a young Beatrix Potter, on holiday with her parents in Scotland, composed a letter to cheer up the child of her former governess, ill with rheumatic fever. "My dear Noel," she began, "I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits, whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter." The Tale of Peter Rabbit was born. When the manuscript was rejected by several publishers (inc Warne), Potter published the first two private editions of Peter Rabbit at her own expense. It helped that she had money and she was soon to make a great deal more. Both editions totalled only 450 copies and sold out immediately. The first was 250 and the second 200, neither are dated. They are distinguished by the first having a flat spine and the second state a round spine + some minor textual changes. Publisher Frederick Warne agreed to print the first trade edition of Peter Rabbit and presented for the first time the now-familiar format of the book; the earlier black-and-white line drawings were replaced with full-colour illustrations, and the famous prancing image of Peter was mounted on the front cover. First state of the published text has "wept big tears" on page 51, the white dot in the "o's" on the cover and leaf patterned end papers, also the first trade edition contains four colour plates that do not appear after the fourth impression. By the way "wept big tears" was changed to "shed big tears" in the 4th printing, such minutiae can mean goodly sums of money. The real firsts are 5.25 inches x 4 inches in size. Margaret Lane noted: "The size of the book being in accordance with Potter’s own ideas of what a child’s books should be like - small enough for little hands to hold, and printed on stout paper." There is a colour frontispiece, (showing Peter in bed and Mrs Rabbit feeding him Camomile tea) and 41 b/w line drawings, each opposite a page of text. Potter first editions are notoriously difficult to recognise, often relying on recondite 'points', pictorial endpapers, publisher's addresses etc., The date on the title page is often a good start and condition is important as they can turn up pathetically worn.

VALUE? True first state firsts have made as much as $90K in auction this century (the Schiller copy in 2004) a signed one made $80K in 2000, second states about half that. A 'slightly shaken' second state copy made $22K 10 years ago with the ownership signature of Noel Moore, the little boy for whom the story was written. The most remarkable result said at the time to be the highest ever price for a 20th century first edition was in May 1994 - £63,250, achieved at Sotheby's, the copy was given by the author to Zipporah Robinson, a member of the domestic staff at her grandfather's Hertfordshire home. It carried the inscription, "For Zipporah from Beatrix Potter, Christmas 1901". Warne's trade firsts of Peter Rabbit can make over £8K and it makes good money right up to the 4th state. The movie 'Miss Potter' starring Renee Zellweger has been well received and the book seems to be holding its own financially. Some of it was filmed around Cecil Court, the bookseller's row of London. There is talk of an Oscar...