Rare Book Prices Online Up or Down?
Posted by Richard Gabriel on Wed, Mar 10, 2010 @ 03:33 PM
We have been watching rare book prices go down over the last two years, which is not surprising to us. Book prices, like anything in our economy is tied to the success of individuals and wealth creation by those individuals. Since most of us have experience a downturn in our 401K's and stock brokerage accounts, the declining book price is no great surprise. What however is a big surprise is the lack of buying power being exerted by the libraries around the world. Rare books and ephemera are usually bought up, especially if they are unique, by rare book libraries around the globe but recent information has it that rare book libraries in the U.S. are suffering because of a lack of funds to buy materials. Some reports we have heard through the grape vine (tinkling wine glasses) that many of these libraries are laying off staff, cutting back on hours and begining to consider selling off collections or parts of collections. Why is this happening? Simple, no money no buying.
However, let's just say that books, rare books in particular, are like works of art, sometimes they can be reproduced, meaning multiple copies were printed and other times they are unique (manuscripts, books of hours etc), perhaps only one or two or a dozen surviving copies are scattered in libraries across the globe. Generally, the laws of supply and demand also work in the book trade but when a rare book is up for auction, it's really anybody's guess as to what the price will wind up being. Back several years ago, Maggs Brothers, one of the most prestigious London book dealers, bought the first edition of the first English printed book before 1500 in England and paid a whopping $7.5 million for it and sold it to a collector several months later...now that's something!
Generally if you find a category of book you like, start the collection and you'll soon find out what all the heavy hitters are buying or not buying. Since once a book is bought and no more are printed, its demand and supply become instantly inelastic, meaning there is no flex in the supply demand curve for the book. The older the book, the fewer of them that survive, the more valuable they become but only when there is a demand. It is reported that the famous book dealer, H. P. Krause, now long deceased, God rest his soul, bought and sold at least six Gutenberg bibles during his lifetime, privately.
So the bottom line is this, if you have the cash for investment, the time to buy books, good quality books, is now. Why? You don't have to compete with the libraries for now and they represent a significant price driver in the restricted supply of rare books, manuscripts and ephemera.