Rare books double in value in past 10 years
Animal Farm, Ulysses and James Bond books have all become more collectable, but a first edition of The Great Gatsby remains the most valuable
If you own an early copy of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, James Joyce’s Ulysses, or even a James Bond novel such as Casino Royale, it is not just your mind that might be enriched. A new price index of first edition 20th century popular classics reveals how values have more than doubled over the past 10 years.
Stanley Gibbons, the London dealer better known for stamps and coins, will launch a Rare Book Index of 30 first editions this week, mostly by British authors but including American classics such as JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.
Far outstripping every other book in the index is The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, which came second in a Waterstone’s poll of the 20th century’s best fiction. Stanley Gibbons values a mint condition first edition of the jazz age masterpiece at £246,636 (HK$2.9 million).
Ulysses, the novel that consistently tops polls as the most admired but least readable 20th century classic, is only the third most valuable book in the index. At £24,557, Stanley Gibbons reckon it is just one-tenth of the value of a rare Great Gatsby.
In total, the 30 rare classics add up to a current value of £560,451, compared to £312,276 five years ago and just £78,497 at the start of the millennium.
Many have seen their value boosted by film tie-ins. Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale has leapt in value from £15,537 to £24,180 over the past two years, while fellow Bond tome Live and Let Die has nearly doubled from £4,560 to £8,060.
JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit is named as the second most valuable book in the index at £65,420, double the price it was two years ago - and triple what a mint condition, first edition copy of The Lord of the Rings is likely to fetch.