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How Condition Affects a Rare Book’s Value
Condition is king for many kinds of collectors – but not always for buyers of rare books and manuscripts, which were often intended to be handled and disseminated.
I t’s hard to find a pristine, first-edition copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The first edition of the book, published in 1900, was written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow, and quickly became the fastest selling children’s book in the United States. “These books are often found in poor condition, usually due to harsh treatment at the hands of their intended readers,” says Noah Goldrach, a Specialist in Sotheby’s Books and Manuscripts Department.
This is a common problem for all collectors of children’s literature, but is especially pronounced in the case of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Denslow and Baum were both deeply involved in the book’s design and production, stipulating that it be printed in a squarer format, Goldrach explains. “Oz’s unusual format looks wonderful but, because of the book’s shorter-than-average proportions, the text block is less strongly attached to the binding.” Over time, the pages – especially with rougher handling from young readers – became loose in their bindings. When an exceptionally rare signed copy in collectible condition came to auction at Sotheby’s New York in 2024, it hammered for $108,000.
Looking at a modern book at a used bookstore, it can be relatively easy to tell what kind of condition it’s in. A book in like-new condition has bright, crisp pages and an unbroken binding. A book in worse condition might be yellowed or dog-eared, be full of underlining and notes or even be torn and missing pages.
It isn’t quite so simple when it comes to collecting rare books and manuscripts – especially those that might be hundreds of years old. “Since printed books are produced in multiples, the condition of any book must be evaluated relative to other extant copies of the same book.” Goldrach explains. “As such, different types of books have different standards.”
A modern first edition, Goldrach says, is held to exacting standards. “You can find books printed in the 20th century in mint condition, while a pristine incunable is simply unheard of,” he explains. Therefore a collector might expect a book to have a dust jacket without tears, pages in good condition and so on. On the other hand, finding an incunable – a form of European book published after the invention of the printing press in the 1450s until about 1501 – with complete and intact pages, even if they were worn and fragile, would be a feat.
“A book can be in absolutely perfect condition, but if it is neither rare nor important, then it will not have value.”
- Noah Goldrach, Specialist, Books and Manuscripts
As in many collecting markets, condition can be a key determinant of value for an item.
The price of The Great Gatsby, with its iconic dust jacket design, can vary widely depending on condition. A first-edition copy without a dust jacket might only be worth about $5,000, while a copy with a pristine dust jacket could fetch many multiples of that.
How a book’s production lends itself to being more or less fragile is something book specialists are very aware of. Likewise, the inherent fragility of different printing materials. In 2024, Sotheby’s New York auctioned an early newspaper printing of the Declaration of Independence, which sold for $3.4 million. “For something ephemeral like this, you have to consider the fragile nature of the paper it was printed on as well as the document’s intended use,” Goldrach says. The page, as expected, has visible fold lines, which are not a defect in this case but part of the history of this object as something that was touched and passed around by people during an important moment in American history.
“All books are distinct combinations of their materials and production histories,” Goldrach says, making it hard to generalize about the definition of good condition. It’s one area where having access to specialists or reference work in the field of book collecting can provide important information on a book’s history and expectations for what “good condition” means.
Yet condition alone isn’t everything. Plenty of families have old books that have been stored safely on dry shelves for generations and aren’t worth much. “A book can be in absolutely perfect condition, but if it is neither rare nor important, then it will not have value,” Goldrach says. “Books must include a combination of all three aspects in order to be a sought-after collector’s item.” It’s only when a book is something collectors seek – for one reason or another – that its condition becomes a factor. The more demand there is for the book, the more its value rises.
