Google isn’t helping me much, do I’ll try the Dope.
I am trying to find a way of getting a value of a particular book I have.
Years ago, I managed to pick up a copy of Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire. It is a third printing (I think), hardback. However, the dust jacket is misprinted. On the cover as well as the spine, both the “Harry Potter” and the author’s name were not printed. It’s just… blank. I’ve searched the web, and cannot find a single instance of this misprinting occuring elsewhere.
The book is perfect shape. I bought it from a bookstore new, put in the back of a closet and have kept it there ever since. It still has the original sales slip.
Any way to find if another one of these exists and what the value may be?
If it were a rare book or written by a “notorious” author or other special circumstance, it might be worth something. But the print run for GoF was in the bazillions and printing errors happen all the time, so its value is likely zilch.
I suspect UFCiS is right, but I kind of like the notion that misprinted Harry Potter slipcovers might be the inverted airmail stamp of the 21st century.
I worked for Scholastic Book Fairs in supply chain when GoF was released.
A different dust jacket would pretty much be irrelevant for collectors purposes, as it would be a trivial thing to manufacture a modified dust jacket and slap it on any old copy of the book.
The main run on GoF was actually a disaster, we found hundreds of copies missing blocks of 30-40 pages just in our warehouse and had dozens come in with several blank pages or large blobs of ink obscuring half a page of text. I probably destroyed 300-400 copies personally
To piggyback onto the OP’s original question, JK Rowling changed a particular plot point in GoF (the order in which apparitions appeared from Voldemort’s wand during the climactic battle with Harry). I wonder how many books with the old verbiage were printed (and how valuable THEY might be) before Rowling changed it?
I also doubt it’s especially valuable, but I think a good way to get an idea of its real world value (what people are actually willing to pay for it) is to put it on eBay (with a high reserve if you aren’t interested in selling).
Documented here. See “U.S./UK Release” most of the way down the page. Which leads me to believe that the first edition with the erroneous order could have some value.
Interesting, thanks. That seems to say 3.9 million were printed in the first run, so there are a lot with the error. It doesn’t say whether it was corrected in the second print run or second edition. Note that it says it was an editing mistake, not Rowling changing the plot.
There’s one on abebooks that mentions the error in the description, listed for $17.59. Plenty of other claimed first eds (that may or may not be the first print run), some for under $10.
Hmmm. Ok. I figured the misprinted jacket might be worth something… I worked at both a bookstore and a distribution warehouse, and we destroyed misprints. I managed to snag this one before it was destroyed. I guess I’ll just keep it, and try to get the rest of them in hardback. Thanks everyone.
I buy and sell old books as a hobby. Printing errors are simply errors, and do not add value to a book. The exception may be an error that indicates a very early printing (a point) but the error does not create the value then, it merely verifies the value of the copy in hand.
Guilty. I went to edit my original post but got a curt little note saying that I was out of time.
And I clearly recall paying more than $17.59 at B Dalton for the hardcover first edition the day it was released. So apparently it’s not all that valuable today.
My general opinion of what something is worth is nothing at all until a seller and a buyer has agreed upon a price and there are many factors involved with that.
Quoted for truth.
Every book on any shelf anywhere had a first edition. Most never get a second edition or even a second printing, and I dare say the world would not be a worse place if most of them were never published in the first place.
(And going back to the OP, the third printing of the first edition is not special to collectors in any way. First/first, or maybe even galley proofs *might *be, but when you have a recent book produced as a commodity like the later Potter franchise there is no shortage of supply to drive up demand.)
Just wanted to give an example of this. I have a first edition of The Great Gatsby, and one way of verifying its nature is the misprint “sick in tired” instead of “sick and tired” (along with a few other similar issues).
My copy isn’t actually worth much because it lacks a cover and overall the condition isn’t pristine. There are enough 1sts around with covers and in better shape that my edition isn’t of much value. Nevertheless, just knowing it’s a 1st makes it very special to me (as does the fact, which is of greater personal importance, that it used to belong to my late mom).
Yes. The misspelled word "Dodgeson"instead of “Dodgson” on the cover flap of “The Hobbit” indicates a first addition of J.R.R. Tolkiens book.
Look for it to turn up on “Antiques Roadshow” when the PBS show goes to El Paso airing either March 28 or April 2 or 9–not sure which episode. The book was autographed and the appraisal will knock your socks off.