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Misprinted First Edition Book Value

C

ConEEE

New Member
Hello,

I have a first edition hardback copy of "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman from the His Dark Materials Trilogy. I received this book as a present and I was surprised to find that the book had a misprinted error which I failed to notice first time around. The pages 297-328 are repeated at page 218, after which the pages go back to normal and the story is picked up again at 219. I must have been pretty tired when I was reading the book because I didn't notice the error at all! I finished the book without picking up on such an obvious flaw. I went for about 2 years thinking that the book was a complete disappointment because I was left utterly confused by the middle part of the book!

After I read it I put it on a shelf for a while and only came back to it a few years later. This time around I did notice the error. I spoke to my mother about it and she said that I should keep it because first edition hardback books are very rare and in a few decades this book could be very valuable. Is there any basis to this reasoning? Would anyone pay more for a book because it had a strange error of having 31 more pages than any other copy of the book?

I'm not really that interested in selling the book in the future, I'm just interested in how the second hand book market/collectors market works. Do misprints add or detract value? I'd love to hear about any famous misprints from older books if anyone knows of any.

Thanks, Conrad
 
Yeah misprints can add value. Depends on the popularity of the book and how rabid fans are for such unique things. I heard a story that in Toronto someone walked away with a copy of Half-Blood Prince with every page printed upside down. Before he left he had over 15 offerings on the book.
 
ions said:
in Toronto someone walked away with a copy of Half-Blood Prince with every page printed upside down
Click to expand...

...then he put the dust jacket on the right way up and the offers were withdrawn.
 
I remember my dad telling me that one of H.G Wells' first published works is worth a fortune because of a misprint. On the cover they spelt his name H.S Wells or something like that. It may have been The Time Machine :confused: (first edition, I might add...)
 
MonkeyCatcher said:
I remember my dad telling me that one of H.G Wells' first published works is worth a fortune because of a misprint. On the cover they spelt his name H.S Wells or something like that. It may have been The Time Machine :confused: (first edition, I might add...)
Click to expand...

Yep. It looks like you are correct. I just found an edition here in my father's collection. It's "The Time Machine".

It's a small tan book published in 1985 by Henry Holt and Co. and states H.S. Wells on the title page and the "author's note" has the initials HSW. 216 pages with ads in the back.

Anyone know just how rare this edition is?
 
I found a first edition of the book The Eight Day by Thornton Wilder, and had to have it. I only noticed it (and this is going to sound stupid) because I liked the coloring (the light blue) and the "aged" look to the book. I thought if nothing else it would look good on a shelf (pretty stupid, but I warned you).
As I was reading the book however, I came to page 118, got to the bottom of the page and the top of the next page said 87. Pages 87-118 were duplicated and pages 119-150, do not exist at all. Needless to say i was a bit confused as to how our hero ended up in Chili after escaping in Coaltown, IL. It did not deter me however from finishing the book. I was really curious if this has been seen by anyone else or even if it was worth somethng to someone.
 
Update - I sold my Time Machine book through eBay for $4200.00! Full pics of the book can be seen here: The Time Machine

As far as misprints being more valuable, it usually only happens during the first printing/first editions and doesn’t include binding flaws, such as upside-down pages or double pages. The books that have the rare error printings are usually so because of mis-spellings that were noted after the initial printing and then quickly recalled and reprinted.

Both versions would be considered “first editions” and likely labeled as such on the copyright page, but the original printing with the typos would be considered a “first edition / first state”. But binding errors, such as duplicated pages/missing pages/upside-down pages can more often hurt the value of the book.

I ended up donating a case of muscle car photography books because a section of the pages were upside down & I couldn’t give the darn things away!
 
It's because they were something that was missed by the proof-readers and then printed. But then most of the books were usually recalled and destroyed and the corrected version released.
 
well thats not good, maybe it'll make a good coaster, cause i have no idea what happens from 119 to 150. oh well. thanks :sad:

Anyone want a fancy (book shaped) coaster?
 
so i wrote the Thornton Wilder official sites contact & she put me in contact with the editor at Harper & Row, who said "sorry for the inconvenience, I will send you a copy of the book that I have." It turned out to be a first edition (in poor shape, but still) So now I have 2 costers, but at least I know how he made it from Illinois to Chili...although I don't think I was missing too much.
 
ConEEE did you ever find anything out about your book? I would be interested to know the differences between yours and mine.
 
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