This “Correct Map of the Jacksonville Tampa and Key West Railway Co.” may not be so correct any more, but if you saved a copy of the book in which it appears, you did the right thing. This is a large category that may include ornithology and zoology or botany or horticulture books.
In the latter categories, see if your books are from the 18th to 19th centuries and whether there are colored plates of flowers or plants. It’s good also to check if the color after so many years is still vibrant. Sometimes it is.
Books you own that could be more than worth their space include any volumes by the following authors: Joseph Paxton, Benjamin Maund, Thomas Meehan, Edward Step and James Andrews. Curtis Botanical Magazine is a valuable publication in this genre. Also hidden away might be some of the famous botanical books known as “language of flowers” books by Rebecca Hey, John Ingram, Robert Tyas or Frederic Shoberl.
Thomas Nuttall — whose “Trees of North America” was the first comprehensive book on that topic — is another name to look for. Hendricks’ “A History of Horticulture in America” is a good historical book. This is a vast category that includes works from the 19th century to the 20th century.
Seuss books are well known, as well as those of Ronald Dahl, Kate Greenaway, Maurice Sendak, Hugh Lofton and Frank Baum. Again, books with dust jackets are worth more than those without and the wrapping and condition counts. Avoid books with split spines, pages missing, with foxing stains or written on because these defects lessen the book value.
They’re still worth giving to a grandchild or school for good reading, however. If your books have authors such as J.C.
Loudon, Gertrude Jekyll, Alice Coats or W. Hedrich, hang on to them, because eventually they will be worth more than their weight in cash. This is a great field, encompassing the U.
S. Railroad surveys of parts of the USA, which are usually filled with drawings or line art written by various authors and generally done in the 19th century. Among authors, William Bartram falls into the category of valuable, as does James Ellsworth deKay, who wrote groundbreaking texts on American fauna and zoology, as well as a travel book on Turkey.
Another valuable text is the Botanic Manuscript of Jane Colden (1724-1766), who is the first female botanist of colonial America. This is one that includes polo, cricket, golf and tennis. It is the 19th-century books that carry value, and names like Bernard Darwin, W.
G. Grace and Henry Aiken and works illustrated by Samuel Howitt are always worth their space in your library. The older the book, the better, and golf books by almost any author before, say, 1950 are worth their weight in cash, so hang on to them.
Other categories within this genre are hunting, fishing and general sports such as boxing. “The Compleat Angler,” written by Isaak Walton and Charles Cotton and originally published in 1836, is always desirable. You may have this one tucked away because thousands were printed — which lowers the value, but they’re still worth money.
Prices for it range from about $8 for newer, paperback editions to more than $4,960 for a centuries-old leatherbound first edition. “Polo” by T.B.
Drybrough (1898) is another good find. In the mid 19th century there were dozens of cook books popular at any one time (as there are today). The name standing out among authors is Mrs.
Beeton (Isabella Mary Beeton), but Elizabeth David’s books are also desirable. Aliza Acton is also well known as well as Hannah Glasse. Scottish co-authors listed only as Mrs.
Hudson and Mrs. Donat wrote a book published in 1804 titled “New Practice of Cookery, Pastry, Baking, and Preserving” that is extremely popular, commanding $1,785 from the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers. Many survive and just may be up in the attic.
Fisher’s “How to Cook a Wolf,” published in 1943, has become a classic collectors seek. Don’t pass up the many cook books published under church auspices; many of these old timers are worth consideration. And if you can’t sell them, you can cook up some wonderful meals from them.
Values at a keystroke Finding an appraisal, or at least an auction estimate, has become a snap — or rather, a click. PBA Auctions handles California and Americana books and offers a handy “Instant Appraiser” on its Web site that will offer an estimate on book values if you type in the title, author, year published, publisher and condition: PBA Auctions also keeps a catalog of its upcoming sales online. For example, its current catalog of rare books for sale date back from as far as the 1500s to as late as 1986.
The latter is a rare English-language biography of Baron Bror von Blixen, big-game hunter and husband of the famous Danish writer, Karen Dinesen von Blixen. You can also obtain free “auction estimates” of your item’s value on from Sotheby’s or Christie’s, the famous international auction houses. However, both charge a fee to make formal appraisals for sale, tax or insurance purposes.
Sotheby’s Web site offers several ways to learn the value of items in your collection via links from the page below: www.sothebys.com/help/whats_it_worth.
html You can check the Sold Lot archive, which may show the price for a comparable item that has already sold; get information on formal appraisal requirements; and request an auction estimate, which will take about four to six weeks. Christie’s offers comparable information online, along with a schedule of dates (“Meet with a Specialist” is the online topic) on which appraisers are visiting major cities to offer estimates on specific items. Currently Christie’s appraisers are touring Miami, Houston, Boston and Toronto, among other cities, to appraise wristwatches.
The company has a page of “Invitations to consign,” offering people a chance to send goods to a specialized auction of their type of item, if the company has scheduled one. Its “Auction Estimates” page explains how to mail in photos and information to receive an auction estimate; again, formal appraisals require a fee. Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s offer services by postal mail, but the sender must print out a form that is only available on the companies’ Web sites.
If you’re not internet-savvy, ask a friend or relative to print out the instructions, with mailing address, and the form for you to fill out. Or go to the Collier County Public Library and inquire about using its computers to print out the forms. If you’re looking online for books and their sale prices to compare them to what you have, one of the most thorough sources seems to be Bookfinder.
com: The site found copies and prices for several books long out of print, as well as for Florida authors, from Marjory Stoneman Douglas to the late Everglades City author Rob Storter. This site does not necessarily agree with comments posted below responsibility lies with the relevant reader alone. Read our blog agreement.
This “Correct Map of the Jacksonville Tampa and Key West Railway Co.” may not be so correct any more, but if you saved a copy of the book in which it appears, you did the right thing.
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