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What constitutes a “rare” book?
My focus for this discussion is not so much on rare books in general, but rather on rare signed books. However, I thought that perhaps defining the former might bring perspective to the latter.
So how few copies of a book must there be in order to bring on the adjective “rare”?
I know that some rare books can be worth thousands of dollars regardless whether or not they’re signed by the author.
Basically, I’m looking at the possibility of buying a book that is limited to 2500 copies, or rather 2500 First Edition hardback SIGNED copies.
So...is that rare? I’m just curious, and I’d really like to get our knowledgeable members’ opinions on this topic. Thanks in advance.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on
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I don't think, at least in the areas I am familiar with, that 2,500 of anything is rare. I used to own Proof strike U.S. coins of which there were maybe 675 minted total with 35 registered examples and I am not sure rare applied even then. That is long ago - it was R1, R2 and so on.
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Permalink Reply by James on
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Thanks for your reply, Eric. It helps me to get a better grasp on the term. I know 2500 likely isn’t considered rare, but, of course, when one thinks of the total US population or the global population for that matter, 2500 does seem somewhat rare to me. But i understand from a collecting standpoint, 2500 probably isn’t really rare.
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No problem James :)
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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on
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2,500 is rarely rare in rarities. But if there's a limited edition of 2,500 signed books and hundreds of thousands or millions of people with strong, favorable interest in the book's author or subject, then demand could far outstrip supply and make them appear rare.
Is the author is a tough, high-demand signer?
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While the author is not necessarily a tough signer (he has signed thousands of items), his autograph is always in high demand.
So let’s unveil the author and the book: Michael Jordan’s book, Rare Air. Okay...so he’s not Hemingway! But the book was limited to 2500 signed copies back in 1993...I believe.
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Because it was limited to 2500 copies, it got me thinking about what number would in fact constitute “rare”.
Speaking of Hemingway, a couple of years ago, a friend of a good friend of mine found a signed copy of a Hemingway book at, of all places, Goodwill, I believe. She didn’t know if the signature was authentic, but for 75 cents or whatever the price was...she decided to buy the book. It turned out that the signature in the book was indeed an authentic Hemingway autograph. My friend told me she sold it to a collector in Chicago for $10,000.
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Permalink Reply by Gratefulphish on
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In the world of rock posters from the 1960s, which I collect a lot of, most items were printed in far less numbers, and then handed out on the streets for free, leaving precious few copies in circulation, much less ones in really good condition. With a first edition book having 2,500 copies published, I would be more concerned with the dilution of the value of the existing autographs of the individual, as the market will now be flooded. See Bruce Springsteen.
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The Jordans are $500 books.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on
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I would not consider 2,500 "rare."
It's possible that due to demand and the fact that collectors keep them in their collections, the item is "rarely" offered. But that is not the same as being "rare."
There are currently six of the Jordan books on ebay ranging from $600 to $1,000. So, I don't think it qualifies as "rare" or "rarely offered."
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Rare, in my world of poster collecting, means that in two decades or more, I have not seen a single copy of that item for sale anywhere. That's rare. Anything with under two dozen or so known originals probably fits, but once you get into the hundreds, much less thousands, then as Steve indicated, it may be rarely offered, but not necessarily rare.
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+1 these are the numbers I was thinking of. Most items labeled "rare" are actually "scarce" - often at best.
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I understand what you all are saying, and it makes sense.
Part of my thinking goes like this. Let’s say we’re talking about the Jordan book that’s limited to 2500...or the soon-to-be-released Jimmy Page book, also limited to 2500, And if we look at just the US population alone, which is about 330 million, only a maximum of 2500 people out of 330 million (assuming all books were only sold in the US which is probably not realistic anyway) could own that book. So if you own one of these Jordan or Page books (and yes, I know Page is a UK rocker), you have something that precious few people have...relatively speaking that is.
And let’s take this a step further, a big step really. Let’s say Jordan has signed 100,000 items for UDA over the years. Even 100,000 in a sea of 330 million is actually not a lot...relatively speaking.
Gratefulphish, you mentioned 25 or less as probably defining “rare”. To me, however, if only 100 of an item exists, that’s pretty damn rare. In some cases, with some authors well over 100,000 or even much more than that may be printed in successive runs. That’s why First Editions are so desirable, and they may include a lot more than 2500 copies.
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