Help with a value for 1890 base-ball book by John Ward

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Posted By: mannyiac

Hi all... I'm hoping someone may be able to help me with a book that I have.It is called "BASE-BALL HOW TO BECOME A PLAYER".It is dated 1890 and the author is JOHN MONTGOMERY WARD.I found a couple of first editions from 1888 and they were priced between $7,500-$8,700 dollars.I'm guessing mine is probably a second or third edition.It's in fairly good shape but has a couple of issues.There is rubbing on the cover and spine,about 20 pages where the very bottom corner of the page had been clipped and one page with a inch tear.None of the reading material is affected though.All in all,not real bad condition.It was published in Philadelphia by the PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY NO. 1124 ARCH STREET.If anyone could tell me a value,I'd appreciate it very much.Thanks ..... Ed

P.S. Thanks to slidekellyslide for telling me about this site.

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Posted By: barrysloate

An 1888 first edition of Ward's book isn't worth a fraction of the $7500-8500 list price. Baseball books are typically marked up by rare book dealers at many multiples of their fair market value, in this case at least 4-5 times what it would sell for in a sports auction. Then they knock off 20%, and the uneducated buyer thinks he is getting a great deal.

Given that your book is a third edition and has some condition problems, I would say mid-hundreds would be a rough estimate.

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Posted By: Rhys

If you won the book on ebay recently, I think it is missing pages and has a re-cover job, but if it is not that one, than disregard that comment.

I sold a nice copy last year on ebay with original cover and one of the better condition ones I have seen. The final sale price was about $650.

Rhys

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Posted By: mannyiac

Hi ... Thanks for the help and advice about the book.I certainly appreciate it.

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Posted By: Max Weder

The hardback editions have been for sale by those dealers for at least 7 years. The only hardback I saw sell on ebay sold for about $1600 , if I recall correctly

Max