First Editions, First State, Fine Copy usually sells for between 12-15,000. Jocelyn On 9/6/09 11:14 AM, "Richard Talbot" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > 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>