Book Collecting Guide
2015: Uncommonly Good Books Sold This Year
We’re closing the books on 2015! We’ve seen another successful year of bookselling and look forward to what the next one may bring.
The trends in book collecting this year have been interesting to watch.
The classics of literature, both old and new, continue to be sought after. Lolita was a popular book this year, as 2015 marked its 60th anniversary of publication. Other modern first editions by well known authors like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Margaret Mitchell, and Agatha Christie remain popular. The realm of pulp, noir, and specifically Ian Fleming’s Bond series have seen a sharp increase in interest. Children’s books remain a strong niche collectible, with first editions or limited editions of Alice in Wonderland(and Through the Looking Glass), The Little Prince, The Chronicles Of Narnia, the Harry Potter series, Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm being consistently bought and sold.
Politics and world history have also been a focus of collectors this year. As the US election year looms before us, it is no surprise that books by candidates have seen an increase in sales, specifically those by Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. WWI & WWII era books were a strong seller this year, too, with Hitler’s Mein Kampf and many of Winston Churchill’s writings getting a good deal of attention.
Ephemera and illustrations have made a strong showing in 2015. Handwritten letters, original sketches by famous illustrators, and posters were quite popular. There’s also been a good deal of interest in books from the era before household electricity that deal with homesteading, household maintenance, cleaning, and cookery.
The top three most expensive sales on Biblio.com in 2015 were:
- Isaac Newton, Philosophia naturalis principia mathematica
- Ernest Hemingway, an autographed letter signed “Papa,” to his son
- William Eddy, F.D.R. Meets Ibn Saud
Thank you all for a wonderful year - best wishes from all of us here at Biblio to all of you, and have a Happy 2016!