Few things will transport you back to the halcyon days of childhood quicker than the act of leafing through a beloved children's book, so it's hardly any wonder that lots of collectors focus on this genre. Children's books offer a rich field for collecting--whether for the authors, illustrators, or bindings, but don't sink any serious money into them if you haven't first done your homework.
Instructions
1. Start by asking yourself why you want to collect children's books in the first place. If you want to buy your children or grandchildren copies of the books you enjoyed when you were growing up, you might be in for a shock when you find how much the replacements can cost. If you don't have deep pockets, you might consider just buying later editions--first editions in good condition can be hard to find, especially since children tend to treat books roughly. You should also buy later editions if you just want to enjoy the work of the authors or illustrators but have no intention of building an important collection.If, however, you have the ambition to start a valuable collection and the means to follow this through, figure out where you want to specialize. If you consider these books as an investment and would like to sell them to a university or put them up for auction one day, it's better that you have a focused collection, rather than a haphazard pile of books. Also, it's often not enough to have all the books from a given children's author or illustrator. Collect all his appearances in magazines and newspapers, toys, commemorative plates, advertisements and other related merchandise. The more items you have connected with your collecting niche, the more valuable your collection is likely to be.
2. Research authors in a particular genre. You could specialize, for example, in nineteenth-century writers of adventure stories such as G.A. Henty, Captain Frederick Marryat, R.M. Ballantyne and Robert Louis Stevenson. While these authors all sold vast quantities of books, as time passes those supplies will become more and more scarce.Focus on the works of specific illustrators, such as Walter Crane, Randolph Caldecott, Kate Greenaway, Arthur Rackham, Edward Gorey, Maurice Sendak, or N.C. Wyeth, to name just a few. Gorey, for instance, while not exclusively an illustrator of children's books, was so prolific it would be quite a challenge to amass a fairly complete collection of his work. Forget about collecting all winners of the annual Newbery and Caldecott Prizes (for best children's book and best children's illustrator, respectively) because there are many copies of those on the market.
3. Hunt for rarities or for things that others don't think to collect, such as children's magazines. St. Nicholas Magazine was published in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Everybody who was anybody in children's literature had work published there, but copies of this magazine are hard to find. Boy's Own was published for years in Britain, but it was cheaply printed and may be hard to find in good condition.
4. Hold your breath and count to ten before you leap into a popular series. Those Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or Bobbsey Twins books in the attic may be old, but really aren't worth much. They were all issued by the Stratemeyer Syndicate--a children's fiction factory. Every few decades each series would get new bindings and the stories would be modernized. The only versions of these with any value would be the original ones that came out early in the twentieth century, and even that's not a sure thing.And don't expect Harry Potter books to become valuable in your lifetime--there's just too many of them out there. On the other hand, older British series books, like the Just William or Rupert the Bear lines or works by Enid Blyton or E. Nesbit might be worth something if you had a complete collection. Books, toys, dolls and other memorabilia connected with Oz, the Brownies, Babar, Winnie-the-Pooh and Raggedy Ann are always popular and the market.Most American children have read at least a few of the Little House series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and were charmed by the warm friendly illustrations by Garth Williams. But the Williams illustrations were only introduced in 1953. The original editions of the books, which came out in the 1930s and 1940s, were illustrated by Helen Sewell and Mildred Boyle, and are not as easy to find.
5. Look into topics and genres that are dated, such as children's science and technology books that came out before the space program. Even books depicting views that were commonplace at the time they were printed but regarded as politically incorrect today have value as sociological and historical documents.
Tags: hard find, authors illustrators, best children, children book, complete collection, connected with, early twentieth