While these sell in the thousands when on the market, other LECs, equally fine (and some of them actually better illustrated than the Ulysses), bring less than what they sold for originally-when prices are adjusted for inflation. The parent of the Heritage Press, the LEC, was in its heyday the peer of any of the great fine presses-The Golden Cockerel Press, the Grabhorn Press, etc.,-but most of the LEC's do not bring the kind of prices that one would expect, except for those which were signed by a famous artist or author-the Robert Frost "Complete Poems" signed by Frost, the Lysistrata signed by Picasso, and most famous and valuable of all, the LEC Ulysses signed by Joyce and also by Matisse, the illustrator. The exceptions are those Heritage books which had very limited editions-the first 10 issues, which were sometimes signed by the artist, and pre-eminent among Heritage Press books, Arthur Szyk's Ink and Blood, a limited edition signed by Szyk. Most Heritage Press books-which are of very high quality (at least the pre-1980 books) likewise do not bring substantial prices. In the used book market, scarcity is everything. For Gibbon's Decline and Fall I've got "Everyman" and would never buy FS, as a general rule I'm particularly careful in buying translations no matter who the publisher might be, and where American literature is concerned I definitely prefer the Library of America. (It was volume two of Bewick, Water Birds, that the ten-year-old Jane Eyre was reading hiding behind the curtain on the windowseat in her Aunt Reed's house when her older cousin, John Reed, came into the room and started harassing her.)Īnd I might add that there are editions and there are editions. But I'd never spend that kind of money, or anywhere near it, for anything in FS. Since they're both up in the Berkshires (Massachusetts), I could make arrangements to drive up from Philadelphia, inspect my purchase in advance, and pay on-the-spot in cash. Oh, and as far as a rare book, what I am saving my money for is a 6th edition (1828) of the two volumes of Bewick's History of British Birds, which a couple different AbeBook sellers are both offering in quite good condition for $750. But if it's an investment you're looking for, you'd be better off putting your money into bank CDs. There may be some FS that hold continuing value, like LEs and also Andrew Lang and some other fairy-tale books, but even there I wonder how much market there is once the shrink-wrap has been broken.Īgain, don't get me wrong. I've got quite a number of FS myself (including, I think, the complete Elizabeth Gaskell though I'm not sure because I've bought them one-by-one), but every FS I've bought has been on eBay, probably at a price less than the original issue, and certainly without my having had to make the purchase commitment that FS membership requires. As far as their "preservation potential" (and I've seen that explanation by that particular eBay seller, which as far as I'm concerned is just a come-on to potential bidders), I think the real reason there are so many of them out there in such good condition is because people who spend that kind of money on FS editions are the kind of people who usually take good care of their books.ĭon't get me wrong. The reason they don't appreciate in value is because (like those silver medals issued by the old Franklin Mint) they are vastly over-priced in their original releases.
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