New seller with Rare Book Needs advice

cagard wrote:

> Sorry I left out the title. I was going to list it at Amazon for $500
> but my friend said i should get some advice first.
> Book Title is:
> The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ
> The Philosophic and Practical Basis of the Religion of the Aquarian
> Age of the World and of The Church Universal.
>
>>Hope you pros can help me determine what my next step is to sell this
>>book are.
>>
>>I think it is very special.
>>Here is the info:
>>
>>Collectible - Very Good
>>Comments: Black Hardback. London: C. F. Cazenove; The Royal Publishing
>>Company. Los Angeles, CA. 1908. Verso page says, Copyright 1908 by
>>Henry A. Coffeen, Entered at Stationers' Hall, London. Cover is
>>excellent, no DJ. Has an owner label Ex Libris, Mrs. Albert Powell
>>Warrington, Ojai, CA. on inside cover. She was wife of the founder of
>>Krotona Institute of Theosophy and has library tape at bottom of
>>spine. Lovely, clean, binding is fine, pages excellent. Best copy u
>>will find of this work. 260pgs
>>
>>I feel like I have something special here.
>>What are my choices of what i can do next?
>>If I want to auction it, where's a good place.
>>Any advice is appreciated.
>>Who can appraise it, how much do they charge to appraise.
>>Thanks so much.
>>It's really excited me to find this book.
>>Thanks. CAgard
>
>

Your description is confusing. You mention both London and Los Angeles. Where
was it published?

Looking at used.addall.com, I find a 1911 printing in London that claims to be a
17th edition, but the publisher is Fowler and Coy. I also find plenty of Los
Angeles printings, but the publisher is usually Eva S. Dowling or Leo Dowling.
There is a 1908 edition published by DeVorss & Company, which was presumably in
Los Angeles. Some listings give the first printing as 1907 from DeVorss.

Levi H. Dowling, the author, lived from 1844 to 1911 and was said to have
written this book in the early years of the 1900s and it was first published in
either 1907 or 1908. Theosophy was hot stuff at the time, with characters like
Aleister Crowley, Anni Besant and others claiming to have superior and secret
knowledge into which one must be initiated. It sounds a lot like 2nd century
Gnosticism.

What is it worth? Very hard to say.


Francis A. Miniter
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice 

"cagard" <cagard.TakeThisOut@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:761an11mgtfvtmju7umejmqfeogjqf8f5t@4ax.com...
> Hi,
> Hope you pros can help me determine what my next step is to sell this
> book are.
>
> I think it is very special.
> Here is the info:
>
> Collectible - Very Good
> Comments: Black Hardback. London: C. F. Cazenove; The Royal Publishing
> Company. Los Angeles, CA. 1908. Verso page says, Copyright 1908 by
> Henry A. Coffeen, Entered at Stationers' Hall, London. Cover is
> excellent, no DJ. Has an owner label Ex Libris, Mrs. Albert Powell
> Warrington, Ojai, CA. on inside cover. She was wife of the founder of
> Krotona Institute of Theosophy and has library tape at bottom of
> spine. Lovely, clean, binding is fine, pages excellent. Best copy u
> will find of this work. 260pgs
>
> I feel like I have something special here.
> What are my choices of what i can do next?
> If I want to auction it, where's a good place.
> Any advice is appreciated.
> Who can appraise it, how much do they charge to appraise.
> Thanks so much.
> It's really excited me to find this book.
> Thanks. CAgard

First, figure out the title. Next ... um ... I don't know, I don't really
sell books. Some people have though. I suppose you could ask them. I'm
pretty sure the title's important though, unless there's lots of pictures,
you could just cut it up and sell those.
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice 

"cagard" <cagard.RemoveThis@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:tq2an1tmbkjfchn01ddmlrgjcdqctq5s4h@4ax.com...
> Sorry I left out the title. I was going to list it at Amazon for $500
> but my friend said i should get some advice first.

> Book Title is:
> The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ
> The Philosophic and Practical Basis of the Religion of the Aquarian
> Age of the World and of The Church Universal.

> >Hope you pros can help me determine what my next step is to sell this
> >book are.
> >
> >I think it is very special.

....

There are loads of later editions on Bookfinder.

But as you can probably appreciate, it's the ones with the signed
photograph of Jesus that make the most money.



michael adams

....

> >Thanks. CAgard
>
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice 

>
>There are loads of later editions on Bookfinder.
>
>But as you can probably appreciate, it's the ones with the signed
>photograph of Jesus that make the most money.
>
>
>
>michael adams
>
funny. cagard
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice 

fundoc wrote:
> "cagard" wrote...
>
>>Hi,
>>Hope you pros can help me determine what my next step is to sell this
>>book are.
>>
>>I think it is very special.
>>Here is the info:
>>
>>Collectible - Very Good
>>Comments: Black Hardback. London: C. F. Cazenove; The Royal Publishing
>>Company. Los Angeles, CA. 1908. Verso page says, Copyright 1908 by
>>Henry A. Coffeen, Entered at Stationers' Hall, London. Cover is
>>excellent, no DJ. Has an owner label Ex Libris, Mrs. Albert Powell
>>Warrington, Ojai, CA. on inside cover. She was wife of the founder of
>>Krotona Institute of Theosophy and has library tape at bottom of
>>spine. Lovely, clean, binding is fine, pages excellent. Best copy u
>>will find of this work. 260pgs
>>
>>I feel like I have something special here.
>>What are my choices of what i can do next?
>>If I want to auction it, where's a good place.
>>Any advice is appreciated.
>>Who can appraise it, how much do they charge to appraise.
>>Thanks so much.
>>It's really excited me to find this book.
>>Thanks. CAgard
>
>
> First, figure out the title. Next ... um ... I don't know, I don't really
> sell books. Some people have though. I suppose you could ask them. I'm
> pretty sure the title's important though, unless there's lots of pictures,
> you could just cut it up and sell those.


Not so fast. First he'd have to post a message here asking the best way
to cut the book up, and the best way to sell the pictures. And it would
have to be a separate post for each and every picture, asking the same
questions over and over, since he is apparently incapable of learning
from general advice and extrapolating from one item to another.

That, or he's a spammer.


--Jon Meyers
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice 

3. michael adams
Nov 11, 10:06 pm show options

Newsgroups: rec.collecting.books
From: "michael adams" <mjadam... RemoveThis @onetel.net.uk> - Find messages by this
author
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 22:06:14 -0000
Local: Fri, Nov 11 2005 10:06 pm
Subject: Re: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice
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"cagard" <cag... RemoveThis @comcast.net> wrote in message


> Sorry I left out the title. I was going to list it at Amazon for $500
> but my friend said i should get some advice first.

There are dozens of copies of later editions of this title listed and
so what you have to ask yourself when determining value is whether a
buyer wants the book for its content or they want an early collectable
edition for which they are willing to pay a lot of money. In this
instance I would go for the content so on this basis your book isnt
worth much at all.

regards
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice 

On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 16:03:47 -0500, cagard <cagard.TakeThisOut@comcast.net> wrote:

>Hi,
>Hope you pros can help me determine what my next step is to sell this
>book are.
>
>I think it is very special.

I think that you ought to join Beekslayers. We are a kindly bunch that
will be happy to advise. Go to www.beekslayers.org and sign up.


Cheers,

John
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice 

>
>Your description is confusing. You mention both London and Los Angeles. Where
>was it published?
>
On the title page:
Below the title it says "Transcribed from the book of Gods
Remembrances, Known as the Akashic Records, By LEVI with
Introduction by Hon. Henry A. Coffeen
then a ------------------
Then
London:
C.F. Cazenove
The Royal Publishing Company
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
1908

>Looking at used.addall.com, I find a 1911 printing in London that claims to be a
>17th edition, but the publisher is Fowler and Coy. I also find plenty of Los
>Angeles printings, but the publisher is usually Eva S. Dowling or Leo Dowling.
>There is a 1908 edition published by DeVorss & Company, which was presumably in
>Los Angeles. Some listings give the first printing as 1907 from DeVorss.
>
>Levi H. Dowling, the author, lived from 1844 to 1911 and was said to have
>written this book in the early years of the 1900s and it was first published in
>either 1907 or 1908. Theosophy was hot stuff at the time, with characters like
>Aleister Crowley, Anni Besant and others claiming to have superior and secret
>knowledge into which one must be initiated. It sounds a lot like 2nd century
>Gnosticism.
>
>What is it worth? Very hard to say.
>
>
>Francis A. Miniter
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice 

>To reiterate what I said in reply to your previous query, when you
>can't find a listing for a particular title, first try to get an idea
>of whether there is likely to be any demand for it. A check on Google
>shows turns up thousands of web pages, so things look good on that
>front. Even adding the date 1908 to the title turns up over 100 sites.
>
>Then check comparable works. Try a keyword search on eBay for the word
>"theosophy" between, say, 1904 and 1914. There are several at around
>$500. The highest is about $875, but that may be a trifle optimistic.
>
>So, a first edition in fine condition of a key theosophy text with
>excellent provenance in a field where $500 is probably about the upper
>limit. Seems to me you had it right first time and if not you can
>always bring the price down after a few months.
>
>John
>http://rarebooksinjapan.com
gawd, ur so nice and so helpful.
guess i'm rubbing some people the wrong way here.
ur a treasure, however.
cagard
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice 

This message is not archived
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice 

>Why don't you learn what "Rare" is? You aren't a bookman. Learn
>something about what you are trying to do rather than trying to get
>free advice about how to make a few books when it's very apparent you
>have no passion for books.
>
>The name of this group is "rec.collecting.books" not
>"rec.advice.to.people.who.don't.
>know.anything.about.books.wanting.to.make.a.few.easy.dollars.on.eBay."
>
think ur attitude is kind of harsh.
this edition of this book is rare and topic is interesting about life
of jesus.
so this newsgroup isn't for book sellers.
guess i should stick to bookthink and abbookman.com
nothing wrong with wanting to make some money. i use amazon not ebay.
cagard
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice 

"cagard" <cagard.RemoveThis@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:gf7cn196v8keeb4aqa73pvf23f00khp1re@4ax.com...
>
>>To reiterate what I said in reply to your previous query, when you
>>can't find a listing for a particular title, first try to get an idea
>>of whether there is likely to be any demand for it. A check on Google
>>shows turns up thousands of web pages, so things look good on that
>>front. Even adding the date 1908 to the title turns up over 100 sites.
>>
>>Then check comparable works. Try a keyword search on eBay for the word
>>"theosophy" between, say, 1904 and 1914. There are several at around
>>$500. The highest is about $875, but that may be a trifle optimistic.
>>
>>So, a first edition in fine condition of a key theosophy text with
>>excellent provenance in a field where $500 is probably about the upper
>>limit. Seems to me you had it right first time and if not you can
>>always bring the price down after a few months.
>>
>>John
>>http://rarebooksinjapan.com
> gawd, ur so nice and so helpful.
> guess i'm rubbing some people the wrong way here.
> ur a treasure, however.
> cagard

I'm quite surprised that Alice "my wings" hasn't been along to help you.


About the time you get serious here, and quit using "ur" or "u", and
act like an educated person, you might get serious replies.
Right now, you're coming across as a silly teenager trying to look cool.
That won't work if you're trying to sell books. To adults. Who have
money.

Kris
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice 

"Kris Baker" <kris.baker.RemoveThis@prodigyy.net> wrote in message
news:kUpdf.3461$p37.1979@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com...
>
>
> I'm quite surprised that Alice "my wings" hasn't been along to help you.
>
>

Kris:

I think my level of tolerance is just different from yours, and I have a
different way of responding when I've seen enough. I stood up for the OP
when I felt he was being (unreasonably) picked on. But the last time, John
Y-W gave him (and all of us) a wonderful tutorial on how to price an unknown
edition. Here is another question about pricing an unknown edition, with no
indication that any of John's steps have been followed. Silence is also a
response.

Alice
 >> Stay informed about: New seller with Rare Book Needs advice