Antiquarian & rare books

I have signed copies of The Great Tree of Avalon Book III The Eternal Flame by T.A. Barron & Broken Prey by John Sandford. First Edition. How much would these books be worth? I am interested in selling these books.  Thanks for any help.

Hello all. I have a Cormac McCarthy book out of an estate that appears to be signed. Can anybody help with verifying this signature or point me in the right direction? Thanks.

Hi Guys,

I'm faced with a choice and I don't know what to do.  I have an option of 2 versions of a book I've been interested in adding to my collection.

One has impecible binding and interior (clean text)...but a 1 inch long tear in the corner of the dust jacket ($180)

The other has a fair dust jacket (no big tears)...but a library stamp on the first couple of pages ($160).

So, which do you think would hurt the long term value of the book more?  The rip in the DJ, or the mark on the pages.

On a personal note I really dislike marks inside a book...but that's just me, I'd really be interested in some advice on this.

Hi Everyone,
Recently I bought some acid-free mylar dust jacket covers from Highsmith.  They're the "E-Z Fit" covers with paper backing attached to the top of the mylar cover, open at the bottom.  The idea is to slide the dust jacket between the paper backing and mylar from the bottom, snug the dj across the top where the paper is sealed to the mylar, and fold up the bottoms of the mylar and paper to fit the bottom of the dj.

What I'm finding is that it's impossible for me to get a dj into the cover without leaving a visible line of the paper backing showing at the top.  The bottom snugs up OK but that's because I can fold it to fit.   However the top of the dj can't be forced into the top far enough to completely cover the backing.  That visible line of paper backing at the top looks lousy, especially if the dj is dark in color.

As luck would have it, I can't fold the top before inserting the jacket because then I won't have enough cover material left at the bottom to do the fold there.  This book has a huge jacket: 16" tall at the spine.  The largest Highsmith cover with paper backing is just large enough to accommodate it with no fold at the top and a very slight one at the bottom.  

I was wondering if there's some trick to getting the jacket snug at the top between the mylar and the paper backing.

If not, I guess I'll just start over from scratch with separate pieces of mylar and paper backing, and put it all together myself.  It defeats the purpose of "E-Z Fit" which is supposed to eliminate the need to attach the paper to the mylar at the top; but with the top sealed the way it is, it doesn't work well for me.

BTW this is that monstrous "Red Book" by Carl Jung.  If you buy it, I suggest that you check the binding carefully.  I went through a few returns before I got one that was adequately bound for the weight of the thing.  The first two started pulling away from the endpapers, cracking, and creasing as soon as I started reading the book - and I handle valuable books very carefully.  The binding is a little on the wimpy side for this massive book.

Thanks for your time reading this long message,
BoMoon

I was wondering if anybody knows if it is possible to have a softcover book made into a hard cover, leather-bound copy? I was told of a bookbinding company (McSpadden out of Shawnee, OK) that may do it, but I have not contacted them yet. I figured I'd try to get an answer on here first. Thanks!

-S.G. Martin

I just purchased an edition of Dante's Inferno ca. 1885 illustrated by Dore. It is leather bound, and in good condition, but the spine is very flimsy; the pages are very loosely set, and I am afraid it is going to separate. I wanted to get it replaced by a reputable book binder, but I wanted to know if this would increase or decrease the value of this book (?). Thanks for any advice, everyone!

-S.G. Martin