Question on Association copy

A few years ago there were some early Sinclair Lewis titles that had been in
Harpo Marx's library listed on ABE. Being a fan of both Lewis and the Marx
brothers I would have happily paid the several hundred dollars asked for the
books if I had the money. Today searching on eBay for a copy of John Dos
Possos "Manhattan Transfer" when I found a copy, a later edition, with a
bookplate from John H Wrenn, the author of a biography of Dos Possos. I
don't really collect Dos Possos, Sinclair Lewis wrote a glowing review for
the book that Dos Possos' publisher had bound and sent out as promotional
pieces. I am hoping to add that and a copy of "Manhattan Transfer" to my
collection. Does an association like this add to the value of a book? Even a
later edition?

I do not have any association with the seller, just wondered what the
consensus would be if I found an item with a similar connection to Lewis.

Tim Crawford
tcrawford.DeleteThis@woh.rr.com

Tim Crawford wrote:

 > I don't really collect Dos Possos

Evidently not!

 > I found a copy, a later edition, with a bookplate from
 > John H Wrenn, the author of a biography of Dos Possos.
 > [snip] Does an association like this add to the value of a book? Even a
 > later edition?

Not significantly. Bill Klimon started an interesting thread on the subject
of associations that just somehow miss the mark (I cited as an example my
copy of Eco's The Name of the Rose, with a laid-in memo to Allen Carr, the
film director, telling him he was too late to secure the film rights). This
copy seems to be in the same category. An inscribed copy from the author to
his biographer would be of interest (even if it was a later printing), and
if the biography had been ground-breaking in some significant way it might
be a different story, but Wrenn's work is a fairly humble creature - one
volume from the Twayne American Authors series, copies of which can be had
for a few dollars (say $15-$20 for a vg-fine 1st printing in d/j).

The only person I can imagine paying a premium for it would be the
completist Don Passos collector. Someone building up a library of Don
Passos's work, together with critical works and biographies, and perhaps
also letters and other manuscripts, might be interested in such an
association copy, but even then it's not a terribly interesting association.

Just my feeling; others may disagree.

--
John
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://rarebooksinjapan.com" target="_blank">http://rarebooksinjapan.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->