Books are purchased primarily for two reasons, reading and collecting. While the first purpose is the main reason they are published in the first place, it is generally a one-time shot. Read it once and its usefulness has been depleted. However, collecting has a permanence. It gives books a long term, and likely increasing, value. And once something has these attributes, a third purpose raises its head: investing. Most people who collect books for the sheer love of them are probably aware of this secondary purpose. Still, it isn't often that books are collected solely for investing. Once in awhile, they are, and a chance encounter with a 25-year-old pamphlet gives us an opportunity to look back on such a scheme.
While digging through boxes of old auction catalogues being prepped for the Americana Exchange Database*, we chanced upon a pamphlet produced by Francis Edwards, Ltd., of London, around 1980. Before we continue, we need to point out that this is not the same Francis Edwards of today. Francis Edwards today is again a traditional antiquarian bookseller, just as the firm was for more than a century before this pamphlet was printed. This pamphlet dates from a brief period between the 1978 sale by the Edwards family to venture capitalists to its early 1980s purchase by the current owners. The firm of Francis Edwards is now back to selling books in the British book town of Hay-on-Wye, as well as in London, as it has done through most of its existence since founded by Mr. Edwards in 1855.
During the brief venture capital period around 1980, the firm published this pamphlet, Rare Books for the Collector From the Investor's View, Francis Edwards Limited, Creating a Portfolio. Basically, the plan worked like this. You would invest a sum of money, minimum GPB (British pounds) 500, with the firm. This, they explained, was "the minimum feasible sum which will permit a balanced portfolio of titles across subjects, authors and countries." Then, "specialists identify titles which in their opinion will provide good appreciation over a period of several years." The purchaser could take physical possession of these books if he liked, or store and insure them with Edwards for 2% per year. They could be sold at any time, but the firm explained that this "scheme" (their words, not mine) was designed for those expecting to hold the books for "3 to 5 years."
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 1: Bob Dylan, his high school classmate's yearbook with his senior portrait, signed and inscribed to her, 1959. $10,000 to $20,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 1: Bob Dylan, his high school classmate's yearbook with his senior portrait, signed and inscribed to her, 1959. $10,000 to $20,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 4: Various entertainers, Group of 30 items, signed or inscribed, various dates. $1,500 to $2,500.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 27: John Adams, Autograph Letter Signed to Benjamin Rush introducing Archibald Redford, Paris, 1783. $35,000 to $50,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 36: Robert Gould Shaw, Autograph Letter Signed to his father from Camp Andrew, Boston, 1861. $10,000 to $15,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 53: Martin Luther King Jr., Time magazine cover, signed and inscribed "Best Wishes," 1957. $5,000 to $7,500.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 127: Paul Gauguin, Autograph Letter regarding payment for paintings, with woodcut letterhead, 1900. $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 169: Suck: First European Sex Paper, complete group of eight issues, 1969-1974. $800 to $1,200.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 173: Black Panthers, The Racist Dog Policemen Must Withdraw Immediately From Our Communities, poster, 1969. $2,000 to $3,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 187: Marc Attali & Jacques Delfau, Les Erotiques du Regard, first edition, Paris, 1968. $300 to $500.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 213: Andy Warhol, Warhol's Index Book, first printing, New York, 1967. $800 to $1,200.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 215: Cookie Mueller, Archive of 17 items, including 4 items inscribed and signed. $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 249: Jamie Reid, The Ten Lessons / The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle; Sex Pistols, chromogenic print with collage, signed, circa 1980. $20,000 to $30,000.
