Condition of Books

**voldermort** · 19-09-11, 17:13

Mellow, seriously from what I have found is that a neatly written inscription or birthday note etc does not lessen the value of the book at all, this is specially so in the case of more sought after books, but even in the normal run of the mill books Dean Koontz, Patricia Cornwall etc etc it does really no damage to the price. Incidentally a lot of the much older first editions sometimes do not have dates so coming across a dated inscription actually helps you to date the book.
What does lessen the value though is when you have an owners name written on the outside spine eg: end pages across on the outside, you could literally throw the book away

**Mustlovebooks** · 19-09-11, 17:49

Originally Posted by voldermort

Mellow, seriously from what I have found is that a neatly written inscription or birthday note etc does not lessen the value of the book at all, this is specially so in the case of more sought after books, but even in the normal run of the mill books Dean Koontz, Patricia Cornwall etc etc it does really no damage to the price. Incidentally a lot of the much older first editions sometimes do not have dates so coming across a dated inscription actually helps you to date the book.
What does lessen the value though is when you have an owners name written on the outside spine eg: end pages across on the outside, you could literally throw the book away

Thanks for the info. It's good to know.

**mellowred** · 19-09-11, 19:10

Thanks Voldermort. I've always liked those neat old fashioned ink penned names and dates, so it's good to know they do not devalue the books.

**booksallsizes** · 20-09-11, 10:27

Pen inscriptions actually do devalue some books to a certain extent. But now I'm talking about collector's of first editions and suchlike. I DO NOT want an inscription (or a dustjacket price clip) on first editions that I collect. I will, however, at first buy one for less if it has an inscription (they usually are cheaper than the spotless ones) and get rid of it once a better, cleaner copy comes up for sale.

But generally those books that are bought for interest and not collector's value are not at all affected by inscriptions. In fact, these can make a book more personal and of sentimental value. And dates on these are very helpful when a book is without publication date.

Again, though, we are talking subjectively - some people may not mind inscriptions in their highly collectible books - I don't actually mind them in old old books, they add charm - but I think they are terrible in modern first editions (which I collect). And I actually don't know of any collector of these that doesn't feel the same.

But also, if it is an exceptionally rare book and has problems - people will buy it anyway...
And in your average book I don't think they're a problem at all. But the cleaner the book, the more one can ask for it (especially in an overseas market, where they seem to be very very fussy about these things).

Just my opinion ...

**booksallsizes** · 20-09-11, 10:33

Oooh - but if it is the right inscription (i.e.the author's signature

), then there are absolutely no worries - in fact, then do a happy dance cool chicken dance.gif

**mellowred** · 20-09-11, 10:56

I had a book of Thomas Hood's poetry. Nice little book and signed by Thomas hood. You could even see the impression of the signature through the back of the page!

Luckily before listing this I checked up on Thomas and found that he had died in 1845. The book was published in 1906.

Thomas Hood

**booksallsizes** · 20-09-11, 11:05

Originally Posted by mellowred

I had a book of Thomas Hood's poetry. Nice little book and signed by Thomas hood. You could even see the impression of the signature through the back of the page!

Luckily before listing this I checked up on Thomas and found that he had died in 1845. The book was published in 1906.

Thomas Hood

LOL Good thing you checked! It's like finding an author's signature in ballpoint pen in the 1800's...
People do strange things sometimes...

**booksallsizes** · 20-09-11, 11:12

BTW - that was a nice little book... Now there is a case of having inscriptions being not so bad - definitely adds character.
I can't see all that clearly but it looks like the signature, taken from an original, may have been printed on by the publisher - this can often press through to the other side.