SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Where do I go to figure out how much this book is worth?

Posted: Mar 27 2010 03:34 am

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Samuel L Clemens Complete New Edition Illustrated The Goldsmith Publishing Company, no copyright date anywhere. Says Manufactured in the United States of America Preface by the author has says Hartford 1876

Where should I poke around, Ive got this one and an Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that looks the same, same publisher no copyright date etc.

Posted: Mar 27 2010 03:55 am

I don't suppose it'd be possible to post pics of the cover and info pages, would it?

Posted: Mar 27 2010 04:15 am

I can try, my camera phone is jacked up, stuck on night vision. Let's give it a go.

*update* ok this looks like total shit, I'm gonna have to procure another camera.

The cover *lol it looks like he's mocking the other boy*

The Publisher Page

The preface with date 1876

This wiki answers quote gave me false high hopes

Quote:

On the website "abebooks.com" (which is a site for the buying and selling of just about every kind and age of book, including rare ones) there is one such book in "fine" condition being offered for $4,500. Go there and search Samuel Clemens and Tom Sawyer and you'll see it.

But when I went to abebooks and searched around I'm seeing prices from 75$ to 2500$, and NO ONE has pictures so I can't tell what version I have. I'd gladly take 75$ bucks for it, I've read it already. There's a book trading shop downtown that has rare books, gonna bug them when I get a chance and see what they think.

*anyone know of an old book website that actually has pictures?

Posted: Mar 27 2010 04:20 am

i just googled 'book collectors' and got several websites

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=book+collectors

that should help you narrow it down some

Posted: Mar 27 2010 10:54 am

Well it's either worth 09.25$, 48.80$, or 500.00$ according to Amazon's various sellers. The various websites I checked out can't seem to agree on if it was printed in 1876 or if it's a 1940s era reproduction.

How can it jump from nine dollars to five hundred? Confused

*update*

So the guy at the book shop says it's a turn of the century mass printing and he's not interested in it because he's already got a whole mess of em. 15$ Lame. Sad

Posted: Mar 27 2010 05:51 pm

Bah, what a bummer. Sad

For the record, that's still a very, very cool piece though. It may not be worth much in terms of money, but if you ever have kids or grandkids who become fans of literature in general (or Mark Twain specifically I guess) that will be a really neat piece to be able to show/pass on to them. And failing that, I'm sure there are libraries out there who would love to use it as part of a display, if you cared to donate it. So at least its not a *total* loss. Smile

Posted: Mar 28 2010 03:45 am

Yeah it's cool, but I've got far too many books as it is, and I have no intention of reading it again. Maybe I will donate it.

Banned Joined: Sep 13 2008 Posts: 3129

Take it to las vegas and put it on that PWNSTARS show

Posted: Apr 12 2010 02:56 pm

http://www.powells.com/

Try here.

Posted: Apr 12 2010 03:31 pm

Knyte wrote:

http://www.powells.com/

Try here.

No matches, but no worries. Although the guy at the book store told me it was worth 15$ or so dollars due to the availability and the condition I ended up finding a private collector that bought it and some other old ass books for around forty bucks.

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

Blackout wrote:

Yeah it's cool, but I've got far too many books as it is, and I have no intention of reading it again. Maybe I will donate it.

sell it on ebay, act like you didn't know it was a reprint, and see how many idiots jack the price up. tell em exactly what you told us in the first post.

Posted: Apr 13 2010 03:19 pm

I already sold it! Mad

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

for fifteen dollars?

Posted: Apr 13 2010 09:50 pm

No, for 40!