10-21-2017 01:48 PM - edited 10-21-2017 01:49 PM
I collect and sell mostly glass and pottery and know very little about old books. However I think this one is quite interesting. It is all written in German. Not asking about value, but do you feel it is worth selling? Anything you can tell me about it would be very helpful!
It has lots of pictures and a couple of songs.
10-21-2017 02:28 PM
10-21-2017 02:58 PM - edited 10-21-2017 02:59 PM
Thank you for the info! I didn't think I would get rich from the sale of this book. LOL!! However it is a little older than the one you sent me to. Think I will keep it since it is 102 years old and in great condition!
10-22-2017 07:33 AM
You don't mention the size.
It looks much like a "Junior Elf Book" without the glossy (acetate) surface on the boards--they are roughly 4" x 5" .
Of course it could be much larger--nothing to scale against--or smaller. German children's books from Rand McNally strike me as an oddity but not surprising. I've not seen one and I look at all of these I see: odd, but there was a large diaspora of German speaking people, a lot of them Jews in this period. My mother's people immigrated at that time. I also happen to live near a large community of Amish--Pennsylvania Dutch, really German primitive Christians--so there are a lot of German language books around.
So... McNally has a few ways of determining true age and copyright isn't one of them. At first they would number by the thousands (first thousand, 12th thousand), then by impression. Children's books would get a similar treatment but it would be like Copyright 1932, 1944 edition or something along those lines.
The Junior Elf's have a code--4315 or something like that. Sometimes with a hyphen. The latter 2 digits are MSRP, in cents, the first digits are the year of publication. When the first two digits match the copyright year last two, it's a good chance it is a first edition.
Of course the prime rule with all childrens' books published by general interest publishers like McNally is that there are no rules. They were followed inconsistently.
Without any research on the title, I would fix the price of this at $25.00. It's in good shape. The pictures look like Tasha Tudor, Holly Hobby and other popular franchises. Clearly a knock off.
One last thing, the title page reads as if it is a translation to the German: Deutsch von (German by).
So look up the original author/book. It might reveal added value.
Only you can decided if that is enough money to be worth the time and trouble selling.
10-29-2017 11:04 PM
Charming illustrations. There are collectors of Sunbonnet Babies and and edition in German might attract those who collect everything related.
The Sunbonnet Babies Primer was used in public schools of Cook County Illinois, 1906-08. The cost was 0.40