eBay

peascat · ‎02-26-2018

I have a very old copy of Heidi by Johanna Spyri. The problem is either the first few pages with the copyright information fell out, or they were never there. I'm guessing the former as the condition of the binding is horrible as my pictures will show. I tried finding a similar copy online, but was not able to. So my question is .... is this book worth trying to sell? All of the other pages are there and are in very good shape if not a bit fragile. I also would like to know if there is a way to date this book?

While I am on the topic of "marred" books, I might as well ask about my copy of The Little Prince. 1943 edition. It would be a great seller, if not for one problem (and it's a big one). There is an entire section of one page (well, actually two) ripped out. I was hoping to find the piece somewhere, but I can't. It's on written pages so there are words missing. Would it be of any help/value to copy the words and slide the pages in the book. The rest of the book is in very good shape.

taylor_memorial · ‎02-26-2018

Heidi: probably worthless in the condition it is in. I can't make out the publisher, but it does not look to be a collected publisher of badly made books--there are some, like Saalfield, that people will buy if in good shape. This one isn't. I'd toss it but if you have kids, maybe one will read it.

You can repair the damage for reading with some white glue. This is NOT how to fix books worth fixing.

Little Prince: again, probably not worth anything or not much. It's very early, if you identify it correctly but the lack of completeness will reduce it's value. If it has the DJ, then somebody might buy it for that.
It is a readily available reader, still in print and likely to stay that way. I doubt if investing the time to print off the missing text would be well spent. Especially with other damage you mention.

This is why children's books take on value: kids beat them to death.

You might get $5 for the Little Prince. I'd be delighted to be wrong, but I am probably not.