I think I may be sitting on a fortune...

[girlyswot]

Window shopping in an antiques shop today, I spotted a Peter Rabbit library, just like the one I have at home.  The books weren't in great condition - jackets torn, spines scrawled on, and so on.  And the shelf was a bit battered too.  I was shocked to see a price tag of £148.

Hmm.

What price my childhood?

Comments

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

That's ridiculous. I've seen them down the market for £20.00. Anyway, you don't want to sell it, do you? I could sell my Pedigree doll for £100 but I'm not going to.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

That was my feeling, too. To be fair, I was in Tetbury, where prices for everything seemed to be about 10 times what you'd normally pay. If someone offered me £150 I could perhaps be persuaded to part with it, though.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

Apparently I used to keel over with laughter at the bit in Mrs Tiggywinkle with the bowl of starch. I have not the least recollection of why.

[ladywhizbee.livejournal.com]

My husband and I were in Las Vegas recently for one of his business conferences and we stumbled across a rare bookstore while there. It was on the strip--so the prices were astronomical--but they did have some really great books. Usually all first edition (Thomas Paine's 'Common Sense', James Joyce's 'Ulysses" illustrated by Henri Matisse, Machiavelli's 'Prince') or just really cool for one reason or another (A.A. Milne's 'Four Pooh Books', Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz', a first edition 'Velveteen Rabbit'). Anyway, we spent a long time there looking at all the books--and the original documents as well--it was really fascinating. It does make you wonder about what you have on your shelves though...and what they may be worth...

Here's their website just out of interests sake:

http://www.baumanrarebooks.com/showcase/showcase.html

[rhetoretician.livejournal.com]

A first edition of The Prince? In the original Renaissance Italian? (Or Latin, or whatever it was?)

[ladywhizbee.livejournal.com]

No, first edition in English. 1640 or so. It was behind a glass case so I couldn't look at it...though the binding was beautiful...

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

My brother had one of those sets. It was always a bone of contention. I didn't get the books because we didn't need two copies but he wouldn't let me read his. I have no idea what happened to them. They could have been passed down to some younger cousins. Don't sell, even in Tetbury.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling me and brother both had sets and that the other set got sent to the charity shop when my parents moved. Oh well.

[rhetoretician.livejournal.com]

Okay, you've just given me an idea for a story about a character selling his soul on eBay...

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

It's scary how that happens, isn't it? I was wandering round Malmesbury Abbey today and was struck with an idea for a murder mystery. I'll never write it (too much plotting needed for my taste), but it would make a great episode of Midsomer Murders.

[nundu-art.livejournal.com]

How old were those? My daughter, who has and loves all things Peter Rabbit, has the set in tiny little books, still in their dust jackets and in the box. They're still in mint condition and now 25 years old, as they were a baby gift along with everything Wedgewood ever made of Peter Rabbit ware. She's the only 25 year old I know who still decorates her bedroom around Peter Rabbit.

[amamama.livejournal.com]

Don't sell. The worth can never be measured in money. Can't imagine how anyone would pay £148, when you can find it on Amazon for 9 Canadian dollars... I guess the world really wants to be fooled. Or maybe it was some celebrity who had owned it? 'Peter Rabbit Library with the childhood scribblings of the Empress of Blandings - only £2500!'

[mrflyingfingers.livejournal.com]

I was in a local memorabilia shop in Westwood back in the day, and wondered "I wonder if it's worth anything" in reference to some movie posters I had gotten. I will always remember a clerk's reply, "Everything has value."

One man's junk is another's treasure, and vice versa.

I've always been a collector and keeper of those things that I've found "significant" for one reason or another. Out of necessity, I've become somewhat more pragmatic in my old age--sentimentality is only for those who have lots of space.