I was recently asked by a reporter to comment on this question, and I offered some specific examples. As is often the case, my comments in the article, as well as an explanation of the examples, were very much cut for space (no hard feelings, I understand how these things go). But I thought I would provide the examples here, as well as a fuller answer to this question of how much rare books appreciate in value.
First, some examples. The exact SAME COPY of:
Author | Title | Old Price | 2004 Price |
Ernest Hemingway | Three Stories and Ten Poems | $6000 in 1977 | $150,000 |
Jack Kerouac | The Town and the City | $2500 in 1978 | $40,000 |
Mark Twain | Life on the Mississippi | $4800 in 1988 | $19,000 |
Oscar Wilde | Lady Windemere’s Fan | $1700 in 1982 | $32,500 |
But are these good examples? And what do these numbers really mean?
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