A Thick Judy Bolton Library Edition and Thoughts on Value

I was excited to find an online listing for a thick copy of Judy Bolton #2 The Haunted Attic that has been rebound in a library binding.  

The book has all four glossy illustrations.  This is not the first printing book (no birthday mention on invitation).  

"5-15-2008" has been written in the upper right corner of the front free endpaper.  The date has been covered with correction fluid, although it can still be seen.  The book does not appear to be a library discard.  There are no library markings and no evidence of past library markings.  The book has very light wear.

I assume that the book was rebound in 2008, perhaps by somebody for their private collection.  It certainly does not appear to have been circulated.

I am kicking around the idea of writing up another blog post about the values of the different library editions.  I see some common misconceptions where collectors do not understand that some library editions have little value while some others have great value.  The style of the library binding, the series name, and the condition of the book are very important and can wildly swing the value either high or low.

A book like the one featured in this post is certainly worth what I paid for it, which was $20.26 including shipping and sales tax.  It could possibly be worth a bit more, maybe $35 or so.  

I place the value that high for three reasons. 

1.  The binding is very attractive and falls under the category of what I consider to be a "handsome binding."

2.  The book has very light wear.

3.  The book is thick with the glossy internal illustrations.  Thick books don't show up in library bindings very often.

If this were instead a Nancy Drew library edition with all of the same characteristics (very light wear, attractive binding, thick with internals), then the book probably would be worth $50 to $100 in the current market.  Judy Bolton library editions won't sell for as high of prices as Nancy Drew library editions.  The series makes a big difference.

If this same text block (thick with internals) were bound in a plain library binding, like the one seen below, the value would likely be only $10 to $15 at the most.  The binding makes a big difference as well.

The book seen in the above photo was rebound from a tweed edition.  I place its value at $5 or so.  The bottom line is that all library editions are not equal.

Here are all of the thick library editions that I own.