Edward Baker, a bookseller from John Bright Street, Birmingham, frequently placed full page adverts in the Bookman magazine during the early years of the twentieth century. In previous jots we have looked at deleted items that a hundred or more years later were listed in Abebooks with large ( sometimes eye-watering )prices attached to them. This time we feature a selection of ‘ first and scarce editions ‘ taken from an advert of October 1913. Current Abebook prices are listed next to them. All books are first editions unless otherwise stated.
Oliver Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, 2 vols 1766. £4 4s (£4 20p)
Today @ £4,000 – £5,000
Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills, £6 6s (£6 30p)
Today @ £695.
Rudyard Kipling, Soldiers Three, 1888, £8 8s (£8 40p)
Today @ £2,800
Lord Alfred Douglas, City of the Soul, 1899. 15s (75p)
Today @ £488.
Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, fo., 1627. £6 6s (£6 30p)
Today a 1635 ed. @ £325
The Scourge, with 18 coloured plates by Cruikshank, 2 vols.,1811 -12. £3 3s (£3 60p)
Today 11 volumes @ £7,500
Southey & Coleridge, St Joan, 2nd ed inscribed, 1798. £21
Today same ed. inscribed to Chas. Lamb @ £4,800
Thos. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, 1859. £6 6s (£6 30p)
Today @ £395
Capt. Dickinson, Narrative of the Operations for the Recovery of the Public Stores and Treasure Sunk in H.M.S. “Thetis“, 1836. Very rare. 10s 6d ( 52p)
Today this guide to the whereabouts of sunken treasure is yours for £500 !
Lady Caroline Lamb, Glenarvon, 1816. £7 10s (£7 50p)
Today this ‘mad, bad, and difficult to read ‘novel is yours for a mere £1,250.
Alex Hewatt, Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, 1779. £3 3s ( £3 60p).
Today this much sought after book is £1,689, if you can get a copy.
Lord Chesterfield, Letters to his Son, 1774. £2 10s (£2 50p)
Today this classic @ £2, 628.
[R.M.Healey]