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Harrington. “Again,that'sfashion's
influe nce on popularity.”
Forthese reasons,the valueof
newerbooks can be harder to
antic ipate.Scarcity remainsakey
factor .Books that receiveshort
initialprint runs likeIrvine Welsh’s
Trains pottingand,mostfamously,
Harry Pot terand thePhiloso pher’s
Stone, andthengoontogainahuge
followingcan be extremelyvaluable,
but that future popularity is almost
impossible to predict. If that were
othe rwise ,publishers wouldbe
printingmorecopies in the
firs tplace.
If youwantadviceortoget a
particularbook valued,UK
booksellers ’accreditedbodyist he
Antiquarian Book Association
(ABA), of whichHarringtonis
curr entl ythe president.“Anyonewho'sapartoft he ABAisb oundby
thecodeofe thics,”hes ays. “That
really is thegoldstandard. If youfind
adealerwho is amember, then they
know what they're talkin gabout.”
Thebestguide to buildin gyour
rare bookcollectionis to follow your
passion,ratherthantrying to guess
what will be popular with othe rs in
thefuture. “I thinkpeoplewho buy
dispassionately–theyjustbuy
something becausetheythink it
mightbeagoodthing –tendtobe
wron g, frank ly,” says Harrington.
Liquidi ty canbeanissue wi th rare
books, but if youbuy qualitybooks
that youreallylove, you’re more
likelytobeabletof indabuyer
furtherdowntheline. “Followyour
heartabout what youthink is great.
Buythe best youcan afford–that
will ser ve yo uwell.”decrease in tourisminEgypt,which
hasled to adropindemandfor a
once very popular tr avelogue by 19th
centuryillus trator,traveller and
painterDavid Roberts. What once
reminded pe opleoft heir own
travelsnol ongerretains the
same resonance.
Desirability canalsobeaffected
by major movie adaptat ions and
thei rsuccess (orlackthereof).
Demand forrareJ.R.R .Tolkienbooks
rocketed thankstot he popularity of
theLordoft he Ri ngs films, but
whilethe Narnia adapta tions caused
abumpins ales of C.S. Lewi sbooks,
themovies were less well received
anddemandfor hi sbooks quickly
tapered off.“It's onlynow,10y ears
on fromthemovies,thatthings have
recoveredand C.S. Lewi sisflying
underhis ownsteam,” says
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