UNCOVERED: Aged like wine posts | History Defined

Some things never change for me. The fear of spiders, my love for coke zero, and my distaste for raisins. Do whatever - hide them in a sponge cake, try persuading me they’re the same as grapes, now as an adult, I have come to terms that there’s close to 0 chance I’ll start eating them.

Just like my personal preferences, many other things have stood the test of time and proved to be relevant to this day. A great example is books. Since their invention in the 1450s, books have been filling up the shelves of our homes with stories of adventure and exploration. Think of the classics like In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust and Ulysses by James Joyce, they still keep captivating our imagination more than a hundred years later.

Some books not only stood the test of time, they actually proved to be even more valuable today than they initially were. Take the first edition of William Faulkner’s The Marble Faun, for example, which is now on sale for $125,000. The seller Peter L. Stern & Co. presents the book as the “First Edition of the author’s first book. Original paper-covered boards with spine and cover labels; about fine in the rare dust jacket with tiny chips at the extremities and only very minor wear; in a custom cloth slipcase.”

Moreover, first editions that include personal dedications, signatures, customizations, and other rare artifacts can even double the price. Condition is another key factor that influences book value. A beat-up old book that is falling apart will have little value. Scarcity also influences value. For example, for hardcover books published from the 20th century onwards, the presence of a dust jacket and its condition also greatly affect value.