The information Richard Talbot quotes is from my 1998 Mark Twain article in
`Firsts Magazine', except that the figures I gave in 1998 were $5,000 and
$3,000 (not the $6,000 and $3,500 in his quote; do they appear that way
someplace online?). But either way, that info. is out-of-date.
However, I wrote a lengthy ten-year update that was published in the
September, 2008 issue of `Firsts Magazine', giving updated market
information on all Twain first editions, a review of internet trends as they
apply to Twain books, a report on prominent scholars and collectors who
passed away during the last ten years, and a [briefer than I would have
liked] book-by-book review of new scholarly books published about Twain in
the last ten years. Here's what I said about HF in that article--
"Fine first printings of this book in leather or in blue cloth were in the
market in 1998 for $5,000, and green copies could be had for $3,000. These
days, the leather and blue cloth copies can fetch $30,000 or more, and green
cloth copies will bring $8,000 and up. Copies in average (or even hideous)
condition are common, and comprise the vast majority of copies that are
being offered these days. They should (but don't always) have much lower
prices attached to them."
The most important words in my statement are the first three, "fine first
printings." If a copy is not truly fine, or not a first printing, then the
third sentence of my statement applies. Bunged up copies in green cloth of
the second printing can be found for a few hundred bucks. I've sold a doggy
copy for $200. I've sold beat-up first printings in green cloth for $800 to
$1,500. Better copies bring better prices, but it's a slow climb to "fine"
and those top-drawer prices. Those later Webster and Osgood books show up in
better shape than Twain's early American Publishing Co. editions (because
they were on better paper, better sewn, not so bulky, and bound in better
quality cloth) so "average" and even "very good" copies of HF and the other
post-1882 titles are fairly common. I know of two green cloth first printing
copies for sale in the market right now (not by me) that are priced $15,000,
and you can find a pack of doggy copies on eBay any day of the week. There
are a lot of copies in a variety of conditions (and bindings, and printings)
that fall somewhere in between $200 and $30,000.
Full disclosure: I don't get a dime from `Firsts Magazine' when they sell an
issue of their magazine. If you want to read my entire article you can
obtain that September, 2008 issue (they deliberately overprinted my 1998 and
2008 issues to meet demand) by going to www.firsts.com and clicking on the
"back issue" tab and then clicking on "2008" etc, etc. A single back issue
costs $10. If you buy books online (not just Twain), or if you've published
a book about Twain in the last ten years and are looking for something
blurby to use in promoting your book, or if you died during that time and
are worried that I may have overlooked you, you should find this article
rewarding.
Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
9307 Glenlake Drive
Austin TX 78730
512-345-4139
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Member: ABAA, ILAB
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You may browse our books at
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Talbot" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, September 06, 2009 10:14 AM
Subject: Re: which edition of AHF?
> Hello Hal,
>
> How much? The collector's value should be determined by Keven or some
idiot
> with a fat check book. Below is a collector's summary as written by Kevin.
>
> My copy is a green cloth first edition, first state, and my wife won't
tell
> me what she paid, but I'm going to guess it to be around $3,500.
>
> The true value of any Mark Twain book comes in its reading. There is an
> abiding pleasure that comes each time I sit with one of these old volumes
in
> my lap. The musty aroma of the 125-year-old text rises up to meet my nose
> and as always, I run my fingertips over the smooth, slick glassy surface
of
> the polished paper. Scanning the text these dots of ink transform
themselves
> into letters, words and sentences that bring people and places and things
> alive with meaning once more. What you hold in your hands becomes
> literature, and to relive-whenever I want-- the angst of Huck as he
battles
> his conscience as his nearly-failed deliberate deception of nigger Jim's
> presence nearby in the skiff plays out once more; to be there as he is
> questioned by bounty hunters searching up and down the river-well, it's
> thrilling. That's all there is to say, it's thrilling. That is the highest
> and truest value of any one of my books.
>
> In this simple act, I am able to bestow upon Twain the author and Clemens
> the man the thing that I suspect he longed for; recognition and
> near-immortality. And upon myself I bestow regality, as no other than man
> can read and be transported by this complex act.
>
>
>
> From Kevin Mac Donnell:
>
> ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN. New York: Charles L. Webster and Co.,
1885.
> BAL 3415.
>
> Fine copies of the first printing in either of the leather bindings have
> increased in price enormously in the past two decades, fetching $6,000 and
> more. Fine copies in blue cloth run close behind, and fine copies in green
> cloth fetch $3,500. In the second printing, those prices fall by half. In
> very good condition, prices run about two-thirds of those for fine copies.
> Shabby copies of this book can easily be found, and sell for a few hundred
> dollars. What makes the hunt for a collectible copy of this book
interesting
> is the differences of opinion about the market value of the various states
> of the sheets and frontispiece. Generally, the earlier states fetch
slightly
> higher prices, but most prudent collectors have studied BAL and are not
> swayed by issue-mongers with a book to sell.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: "Harold Bush" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, September 06, 2009 8:37 AM
> Subject: Re: which edition of AHF?
>
>
> > just out of curiosity -- how much $$ IS it worth these days??
> >
> >
> > regarding records -- AH yes! vinyl! how quaint. "That's All Right"--
> > anyone besides me ever been to Sun Records in Memphis? it's about the
> > size
> > of a small Dairy Queen! what a place! followed by pulled pork at
Central
> > Barbeque.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
> > Professor of English
> > Saint Louis University
> > St. Louis, MO 63108
> > 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
> > <www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/ENG/faculty/hbush.html>
>
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