1960 Review Edition of "To Kill A Mockingbird"
Watch
GUEST:
I was at one time engaged to be married to a woman whose father was the poetry editor for the New York Times. And he had a tremendous collection of poetry books and also some other books and novels. And this was a gift to me from her, because she knew how much I loved the book and how much I loved the movie.
APPRAISER:
Well, To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the great books. It's probably on everybody's summer reading list when you're in high school. Usually when you see the book, though, you see a hard cover with a nice dust jacket and so on. And this is a paperback. This is a review copy. This is what they sent out before the book was published so that reviewers could get it, they'd put it in the paper. Publishers always want to send out loads of review copies. They want the reviewers to read them, put them in the New York Times and all that, but then they don't want them to go out and sell them because then they're competing with the new book. So that's why the review copy was different than the others. It's by Harper Lee. A nice blurb there by Truman Capote. There were some rumors maybe he helped write it. He didn't. It was done in 1960, it won the Pulitzer Prize. Then in 1962, the movie came out. That's what people really remember. So the book becomes much more of an icon, and it's really driven the price up. A lot of people collect the first edition. This isn't really the first edition. It's before the first edition.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
The date stamp up here was from the publisher, when the publisher sent it out, or it could have been when the New York Times received it. It's a plus. The one thing this really, really has going for it: it is in perfect shape. I mean, even if you put this in a bookshelf and pulled it out, the chances are you would have damaged it. And in collecting first editions, especially 20th-century first editions, that's everything. If you nick, tear, you could lose two-thirds, three-quarters of the value. Now, getting to the value of this, it's easily a $5,000 book retail.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Now, the first edition, which came out after this, could actually go for more because the collecting phases go up and down as to whether they want the review copy, the earliest...
GUEST:
How many copies of this would have been...?
APPRAISER:
My guess is they probably had about 400, 500 that they sent out to major reviewers and so on.
GUEST:
I see.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
