Rare first editions of Jane Austen's novels could sell for £100k
By: ITV News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Rare first editions of Jane Austen's novels could sell for £100k
The books were bought for around £5,000 in the 1970s and 1980s
A set of five first-edition Jane Austen novels could sell for more than £100,000 when they are sold at auction.
The books were bought by a UK-based private collector in the 1970s and 1980s for a total of around £5,000.
They are now due to be sold at auction in Gloucestershire on 15 December by the daughter of the collector.
Chris Albury, auctioneer and senior valuer at Dominic Winter Auctions, said: "The current owner remembers her mother being particularly anxious one time after she had bought one of the books for £2,000 and told her husband to cancel the cheque that night.
"He wisely in a long-term investment sense said no.
"She was a great fan of Jane Austen but these were the only rare books she ever bought and they would be brought out every now and then, treated carefully by the family, and then put back in the bookcase.
"We estimate she would have paid no more than £5,000 for all of these back then and are now expected to fetch over £100,000.
"The daughter has had these for many years now and has decided to sell them through auction and let others get the pleasure from them and use the money for new projects and plans."
The rarest of the five books is Sense and Sensibility, as less than 1,000 were printed when it was first published anonymously in 1811.
Also being sold is a copy of Pride and Prejudice, which was published two years later in an edition of approximately 1,500 copies.
Mansfield Park was released the following year and in 1816 Emma was published - each in editions of 1,250 copies.
Finally, a year after Austen's death in 1817, Northanger Abbey [and] Persuasion in a run of 1,750 copies.
The books could fetch more than £100,000
"The first four were published in triple decker format, three-volume sets that became standard practice for novels put out by British publishers in the 19th Century - cleverly forcing the new breed of fiction readers to pay for each novel three times," Mr Albury said.
"Even so, all five works fit comfortably on one shelf meaning shelf space is not going to be an issue even for the most minimalist of modern book collectors.
"The most desirable copies are those in original board. These are uncommon and can be fragile and it was more usual for books to be bound up in full or half leather bindings.
"When this was done it was not uncommon for the bookbinder to discard 'unnecessary' half-title pages and blank pages at the front and rear.
"The copies of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice are both in near-contemporary calf gilt bindings and, fortuitously the binders of the day retained all the half-titles and blank leaves in both copies, so are very high-grade copies.
The books will be sold at auction in Gloucestershire on 15 December. Credit: Dominic Winter Auctioneers
"The only ones that would be better are ones in original boards."
Mr Albury said first copies of Pride and Prejudice was the most sought after by collectors, while Sense and Sensibility was valuable because of its rarity.
"Of course, it all comes down to condition, provenance and the market on the day so we will have to wait and see how things turn out," he said.
"Besides expected enquiries from transatlantic bookdealers we have interest from seasoned Austen collectors looking to fill in gaps in their collections, or looking to upgrade to better copies, as well as from neophyte Austen collectors tempted into a market they see as combining a love of Jane Austen with an investment opportunity.
"And for Janeites with more modest budgets there are plenty of Jane Austen lots from other vendors to suit most pockets."
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Today the equivalent of £100,000 is US$122,320. If I were a rich man I would want to purchase an original copy of Pride and Prejudice, as that novel was one of the most important items that guided me along the direction of my life.
It should be noted that on the title page of the Pride and Prejudice image above that Jane Austen's name as author does not appear, because at the time of the first publication and printing of the novel she preferred to remain anonymous.
I've never collected valuable rare books. Although in High School I collected stamps.The collection is in a closet--I haven't looked at it in years-- decades even. It might have some stamps that have become valuable over time.
And to a lesser degree collected coins.
I collected coins, but none of them were particularly valuable, but I have no idea where it ended up. I did have a couple of rare books. One was a law book from the 1840s that had in it the still-followed precedent Saunders vs Votier, an estates case which decided that if in a will someone left a gift to a person when they reached the age of 25, with no gift over to another if that person did not survive, the named recipient had the right to demand and receive it when they reached the age of 21. Now I don't remember if I sold it or not. However I also had a rare old book on the various kinds of occult that my son wanted so I gave it to him.
I have never collected rare books but have a few that are worth a small bit of money. I have a first edition of Jack London’s ‘’Call of the Wild’’. An art book, first edition signed by the author and a first edition of an Ansel Adam’s photo book.
The only one that I know of the value is the one signed by the author and I checked it out and it is selling for around $2,000.
Artwork is a whole different story in our house the walls are covered with some top artists.
I only had one signed book, a sci-fi book signed by the author Edward E. (Doc) Smith. My brother had it signed by him when he went to a sci-fi convention in Chicago, but I think I sold it on eBay for $100. I did get another signed book when I went to a special showing at the Ontario Science Centre of The Hurricane. Carter was there signing his book and I got one signed for my son.