What's The Rarest Book You Own?

[Bakunin]

I have a few rare books in my collection, but two in particular stand out:

1. The Cruise Of The Bismarck by Francis McMurtrie, published by Hutchison in 1941 after the hunt for and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck and given to my late grandfather as a souvenir as he was an eyewitness to the sinking, standing on the deck of his ship and seeing the Bismarck capsize and go under.

2. The second is even more interesting. It's called 'VC's Of The Air' by John Frayn Turner (published by Airlife) and, aside from stories of some flying that's hair-raising to put it mildly, my copy contains the signatures of no less than three Victoria Cross holders (William Reid VC, Norman Jackson VC and Len Trent VC).

I was wondering what rare books other Urbanistes had in their own collections.

 

[Blagsta]

I have a first edition Victor Serge "Memoirs of a Revolutionary", dunno how rare it is though.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Hard to say. No idea how many still exist of the 1830s Tennyson anthology I have, or the 1926 American Atlas.

I've got the first three volumes of the "Dillinger" series by the late, great American poet Todd Moore - 1163 copies only published of each of them. I think they would prove difficult to get hold of now, so I suppose they're "rare" in that sense.

 

[DotCommunist]

reviewers copy of 'swiftly' by adam roberts- his weird homage/sequel to Gullivers Travels. Works in loads of bodily disgust a la Swift.

Not that rare, but I treasure it. Full of errors and bad copying

 

[Yetman]

1990 copy of C&VG magazine with SFII poster signed by none other than Julian 'Jaz' Rignall

 

[strung out]

got a first edition of tom's midnight garden

 

[butchersapron]

The Bell Jar by Victoria Lucas (Plath) 8 grand, picked up for 50p. Got Robert Burns worth a few grand as well, plus some pretty rare bibles.

 

[Blagsta]

Did you sell it?

 

[Pickman's model]

first edition of 'strange cults & secret societies of modern london' by elliot o'donnell; first edition of 'revolt in the desert' by thomas edward lawrence

 

[butchersapron]

I have a first edition Victor Serge "Memoirs of a Revolutionary", dunno how rare it is though.

Rare-ish, but not really rare.

 

[butchersapron]

Did you sell it?

I would if someone would buy it!

 

[Blagsta]

I would if someone would buy it!

I'm not offering!

Have you tried on ebay or amazon?

 

[Blagsta]

Rare-ish, but not really rare.

Doesn't have a dust jacket though.

 

[butchersapron]

I'm not offering!

Have you tried on ebay or amazon?

I've tried all sorts of places - and i keep on eye how mnay of the oters that are out there are selling - practically none. Very frustrating!

 

[trashpony]

I have a book called The House that Beebo Built that I've had since I was a kid. It's not in great condition but worth around £300

ETA - that copy is selling on Amazon for $955

 

[Blagsta]

I've tried all sorts of places - and i keep on eye how mnay of the oters that are out there are selling - practically none. Very frustrating!

I can imagine!

 

[Steel Icarus]

The missus had a book as a kid called "Phoebe and the hot water bottles" which we tried to find for our daughter Phoebe when she was born. Copies of that go for around £70, paperback. Luckily her copy was found in a box in her dad's attic.

 

[JimW]

Got a few just-post-Cultural Revolution editions of the Chinese classics picked up off street stalls. Quality of editing and printing back then was miles better than the sloppy commercial crap these days and it's pretty hard to get your hands on copies.

 

[D'wards]

I have a copy of Junky by William Burroughs that was published just after the ban on that sort of filth was lifted in 62/63 - has an essay on censorship in the front by some other dude. Dunno if its rare, but its a nice thing to have.

 

[Fruitloop]

First edition of Mein Kampf. Bit random, that.

 

[A Dashing Blade]

The London County Council Bomb Damage Maps 1939-45 Atlas.
Detailed maps for innner London showing bomb damage

eg

 

[trashpony]

I have a book called The House that Beebo Built that I've had since I was a kid. It's not in great condition but worth around £300

ETA - that copy is selling on Amazon for $955

I was just sorting out some books to take to the charity shop and was going to put in a kids story book which was published in 1932. Then I thought I'd check the price of this again - this thread is the 3rd link There are 2 copies for sale - selling for between $2,000 and 4,800.

Maybe I should insure it. I'm also not 100% sure it was mine rather than one of my sister's

 

[King Biscuit Time]

Les Dawson's apocalyptic (and well fucking weird) novel - A Time Before Genesis.

Quite collectable. And did I mention it's really fucking weird.

 

[gosub]

First translation Foucault's Pendulum

 

[el-ahrairah]

A first edition of Brave New World, dedicated to people at the Atheneum, which i like to think means that it is signed by Aldous Huxley himself. but it probably isn't. A good condition copy would go for 2000+ but this one is a bit battered. Got it from a charity shop for under a pound

Also got a battered old copy of Signs & Symbols Of Primordial Man, by Albert Churchward. A huge tome full of weird nonsense about the egyptians and masons and ting. found it in a box in my parents house in a cupboard the hadn't been cleared since my dad moved out. good condition worth lots and lots but this one prolly only about 200 quid.

Finally I have a copy of White Stains, by Aleister Crowley which I bought when I was an impressionable student and is utterly terrible. However the print run on that turned out to be very small and so it's apparently worth a few quid but no-one wants to buy it so i call shenanigans.

 

[DotCommunist]

White Stains eh? 'oh I must have dropped a bit of yoghurt on my trousers, how remiss of me

 

[chilango]

I've a bunch of signed first editions, a few rare ones too. including pretty valuable Books by Rheinhold Messner, Chris Bonnington and China Mieville.

Rarest though is a signed, numbered copy of Kem Nunn's "Dogs of Winter" only 300 printed, 100 signed. The book that inspired "Point Break".

 

[sojourner]

I'll need to check the date on it, but I have an extremely old copy of Paradise Lost, with gold leaf/gilt on the outer leaves of the pages and the illustrations by Blake are covered by wafer-thin sheets of paper. Stunning. Think it's somewhere in the region of the 1800s.

 

[butchersapron]

I'll need to check the date on it, but I have an extremely old copy of Paradise Lost, with gold leaf/gilt on the outer leaves of the pages and the illustrations by Blake are covered by wafer-thin sheets of paper. Stunning. Think it's somewhere in the region of the 1800s.

Would be interested to hear some more about this.

 

[butchersapron]

I sold a book to Clifford Harper yesterday (one for the anarchists and artists).