By nature not an overreactor, but fearing for the lead-free life of my children, their children, and children in near and far locales, including Eastville in southwestern North Dakota, decided to part with my five thousand or so collectible children’s book collection. The value of the collection, the vast majority first editions, some rare, some … Read more
Dr. Seuss and the Beginner Books Up until the mid-1950s, there was a degree of separation between illustrated educational books and illustrated picturebooks. That all changed, dramatically and with much national fanfare, with the 1957 publication of Dr. Seuss’s The Cat In The Hat (Random House). Here was an early reader, full of 220 madly … Read more
Franchise Books There are a number of children’s books initially published with modest expectations, which then blossomed into franchisable pop culture phenomena causing million dollar windfalls for their authors and publishers. The Little Engine That Could, Madeline, Cat In The Hat, come quickly to mind. In most instances the first edition book for each franchise … Read more
We started a thread on the eBay Bookseller’s Forum to identify higher value children’s books sold on eBay, with $300 being the ‘bottom’ threshold. The thread can be found here: Valuable Children’s Books Sold on eBay. The thread covers a broad range of children’s books, from a $12,000 Hardy Boys first edition book to a … Read more
A first edition copy of Madeleine L’Engle’s Newbery Medal winning book, A Wrinkle In Time, recently sold at a PBA Galleries’ auction for $10,800. Heading: Author: L’Engle, Madeleine Title: A Wrinkle In Time Place: [New York] Publisher: Ariel Books/Farrar, Straus and Cudahy Date: [1962] Item # : 195185 … Read more
How Collectible Books Are Priced The current method of pricing collectible books for sale is more a learned art than a science. The world of collectible books is quite large and very diverse. Everything from modern first editions to pre-1500 incunabula are sold and collected. Because of the diversity among collectible types, one pricing methodology … Read more
A first edition Make Way For Ducklings, Robert McCloskey’s 1942 Caldecott Medal winning book, has recently surfaced for sale. We haven’t seen a copy for years, so it will be interesting to see how long this book stays on the market. From the item description: MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS Robert McCloskey Book Price: US$ … Read more
2008 Caldecott Medal Winner The 2008 Caldecott Medal winner is The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Scholastic) From an opening shot of the full moon setting over an awakening Paris in 1931, this tale casts a new light on the picture book form. Hugo is a young orphan secretly living in the walls … Read more
A New ‘Most Valuable Children’s Picturebook’ Previous to the July 2007 PBA Galleries auction, we had listed Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are, the 1964 Caldecott Medal winning book, as the most valuable picturebook in the The Children’s Picturebook Price Guide. At the PBA auction, a copy of Where The Wild Things Are sold … Read more
First Edition Little House Fetches $9775 at PBA Galleries Auction The first edition copy of the 1943 Caldecott Medal winning book The Little House we described in our May 2007 blog post sold for $9775 at the July 12, 2007 PBA Galleries children’s book auction. The first edition The Little House is very difficult to … Read more