Antiques Books from Victorian Home

ALDERSON2011

13 years ago

Hoping this post finds everyone in good health and happiness! I have two old books that I am trying to find the value of. I have researched them to no avail and have had a couple of dealers tell me they really were not sure what to tell me. The first one is titled " The Heroic Life of Ulysses S. Grant". It was published by DeWolfe, Fiske & Co. of Boston in 1902. It is illustrated in black and white with colored pages. The bottom left hand side of the cover says " "Heroic Series". The book has all of it's pages still securely intact. There is some wear around the very edges of the cover.

The second book I can only find reference to on the internet about a history professor that wrote a paper on it. Unfortunately the gentleman has passed so contacting him is not possible. The title of this book is "Camels for Military Purposes". The cover is a pine green with an etched pattern on the front with no writing. The spine of the book reads "Senate Document". The introduction page reads " Report of The Secretary of War, Communicating, In Compliance With The Resolution of the Senate of February 2, 1857. Information Respecting The Purchase of Camels for the Purposes of Military Transportation." The bottom of the page reads "Washington: A. O. P. Nicholson, Printer 1857". It appears to be reports from Generals and such. It has illustrations as well. Can anyone help me with this? I would be very grateful. Have a great day!

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Comments (8)

gracie01 zone5 SW of Chicago
13 years ago
Can't help you, but you can look at this site as a start.

Here is a link that might be useful: your old books
User
13 years ago
http://used.addall.com/ is a really good place to start.

The Grant bio is offered for $30-60 if in really great condition. He had a lot of bios written about him.

The "Camels for Military Purposes" on the other hand YIKES!!!!! If it's the 238 page one, it's probably the first and only edition. The dark green cover is not the usual one, so you need to figure out if it's a Senate library binding.

Can you post pics of the binding and give more info on the # pages and illustrations?

And, read the book. It's extremely interesting, as was the US Army's Camel Corps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Camels For Military Purposes
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User
13 years ago
ADDING: It was common for books to be offered in a variety of bindings. I see one listed with the dark green cloth, so it was one of the original bindings.

*******
And I lust after that book!
ALDERSON2011
Original Author
13 years ago
I will post pics as soon as it gets light enough outside to take them. In the mean time, the book does have 238 pages with a fold out in the back. The ink on the spine is gold, some rubbed off. The corners of the book are not frayed but are a little bent inward. There are some water stains on a few pages, but no tears or wrinkles and appears to only occur on the outer pages with no interference to any of the print. There are charts among the illustrations that list plants and shrubs with the Arabic name and translations.
User
13 years ago
It's tough to figure out how to handle a really rare book, because you don't know where the buyers might be.

If you want to sell it, let me know and I'll help you find a dealer who specializes in military history or western USA history. They may have clients who are looking for that book. You can estimate that a dealer will offer you about half of what they think they can sell it for. It's not a rip-off, they need to eat and pay rent!

Or, you could try your luck on eBay, with a reserve and see what happens. Collectors there often pay more than you can get from a dealer.
texasredhead
13 years ago
There was something on this board some time ago about a book about the life of Grant being cowriten by Samual Clements, Mark Twain. Seems in his later years, President Grant fell on hard times and was pennyless. Clements aided Grant in publishing a book about his life as a way of helping Grant financially. Don't know anything about the other book.
jemdandy
13 years ago
One way to find a price for an old book is to visit the web sites of old book sellers such as "Alibre", "BookFinder", or "Barnes and Noble".
azelismia
13 years ago
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=camels+for+military+purposes&x=56&y=15

price depends on condition, which printing it is ect. It sounds like it is not first printing as other first printings are in dark brown cloth hard covers.

Antiques Books from Victorian Home

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