The earliest examples in the book, dating back to the mid-19th century, mostly aspire to the condition of book illustration.
When I was doing my DPhil on Conrad I accumulated a number of unprepossessing (dust wrapper presence and condition of book immaterial) first editions of his work, seldom for more than a few pounds.
Private collectors are often able to collect in depth on a subject to a degree usually impossible for a public institution; being known to booksellers and other collectors, they are likely to be given early information about books of interest to them; they can also give close attention to the condition of the books they buy.
Based on the condition of the books that I saw, it was probably too late to salvage most of them, but it was a noble effort nonetheless.
The condition of the book and changing tastes in literature also play a role in a book's value, says William Reese, a rare-book dealer based in New Haven, Conn.
Hence the fragmentary condition of The Book of Disquiet which contains material that predates 1913 and which Pessoa left open-ended at his death.
The contemporary solution has been, increasingly, to overvalue the condition of the book and its wrapper: there may be a lot of On the Roads out there, but how many of them are as "mint" as the day on which they were printed?
The criteria by which she determines who shall drown and who shall go to "Select Reading" are partly but not wholly determined by the literary worth of the text and by the condition of the book; the author's rising or falling reputation will often tip the balance.
Place your cursor on "about this copy," and a little box will pop up describing the condition of the book (if it's used) and the name of the seller (if it's an Amazon.com listing, for instance, it will show the name of the actual seller).
You have to figure out where to position yourself based on the condition of your book and others available for sale.
