The value of any book, new or old, is based primarily on condition. A worn, torn, stained 200-year-old book with missing pages might only be worth a few dollars, whereas a fine condition, first printing of one of the Harry Potter books may be worth thousands.
Most Elder titles are not worth a great deal of money. They might be rare, but not necessarily valuable. An “ordinary” Elder in “very good” condition (see below), on Ebay, will sell for about $20, give or take. The same book in good or poor condition might not sell at all. Pretty artwork, a fancy cover and/or an intact dust-jacket will appeal to a larger audience.
A few Elder titles are particularly well-known and desirable, such as:
- A Balloon Ascent at Midnight, Hall
- Catalog Deluxe of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, Trask & Laurvik
- The House That Jack Built, Hyde
- The Palace of Fine Arts and Lagoon, Maybeck
- The Raven and The Philosophy of Composition, Poe
- The Simple Home, Keeler
- Wayfarers in Italy, Hooker
- Western Classics series
- Yosemite Legends, Smith
Some titles were issued in multiple editions, e.g. in an “ordinary” trade edition and a much fancier limited edition. Elder also issued a large amount of ephemera, much of which is now quite rare. Catalogs, particularly ones before 1912, and copies of his in-house magazine Impressions are also in demand.
Lastly, a note on terminology: to a bookseller, “good” condition is bad thing: only “poor” condition worse. The scale from best to worst is: fine (sometimes “mint”), near fine, very good, good, poor.
