Photo books - the way to untold riches?

<p>An idle thought of the work of Charles Harbutt led me to a web page where someone was saying how expensive his book "Travelog" now is. In fact a signed hardback may cost $1400 and even a clean unsigned paperback more than $230. I have on my shelf 2 clean paperback copies, remaindered by MIT Press at $3.95 about 15 years ago. This equates to a 5899% price increase in this period. Has anyone experienced a similar or greater price increase with a book in their possession, and has this allowed them to retire in luxury?</p>

I bought Crosstown by Helen Levitt for $70 at the beginning of 2004. I read somewhere at the time that it was a good candidate to become a future collector's item, for some reason I'm not aware of. My copy would be close to mint. I just took a look at prices on Amazon, and the cheapest offer is $150 for "very good" condition, or $250 for "new" condition. So I suppose it's a reasonable return from a percentage point of view, but in terms of figures, is a return of $100-150 over 12 years anything to get excited about? If you are looking for an investment that will allow you to retire in luxury, I think you can skip photo books.

It's a matter of scale. If you invest enough in enough photo books, a 200% profit on your investment may indeed help you retire in luxury.

<p>You would have to wait a long time after purchasing a book for its value to rise significantly, such a rise is unpredictable, and the value of any one book is small, so you'd need a lot of books to make any real money. Therefore, you need a large initial investment with very risky returns that won't materialize for many years, and all that time your investment is illiquid.</p>

<p>This pretty much defines a horrible investment choice.</p>

<p>I would say, if making large sums of money for retirement is the main goal, this would not be the best way to go about it.</p>

Once a book is out of print it sometimes defies market values. But the markets rule. When demand rises and supply is small, there is a bidding process that goes on. I just bought a 40 year old vinyl disc London Decca Phase 4 recording for 12 bucks. A few other titles of same vintage can go for many times that amount. Recall when many got sent to Goodwill not so long ago as trash, audio devotees are relentless... A collector's edition album in mint shape with sleeve perfect is higher than one might imagine.

 

What goes on in the markets, (all market, from albums to human organs in fact) some Nobel economists say. is just part of the big market logic. Beyond me ,so go figure. What is the algorithm for this kind of stuff?

 

If you happily invested in such current market rarities, David, do not read the photo books, you may damage the spine or the dust cover. ( My wife treats books as relics of saints, not me..I take some hits from her if I borrow one and am less than gentle with it.)

<p>If one has already made a name for themselves and their books are from a known publisher then yeah, they may bring in lots of dough when the book(s) go out of print. Just look at the prices Avedons "In the American West" and Kleins "New York" are going for these days just to name a couple of examples. I've read that publishers rarely make a profit on photo books and most are happy to just break even which might explain why so many are reluctant to publish work by unknowns.</p>

<p>For the rest of us, I wouldn't suggest quitting ones day job quite yet. With the rise of self publishing the market is flooded with books of varying quality. I visit independent bookstores which often have books by lesser known publishers. One such book I saw recently was done by a young woman from (I believe) The Netherlands. She made several trips to LA to photograph the homeless on Skid Row. I never heard of her but as I looked through her book which was selling for about $40-$50 all I could think of was"she made repeated trips to the US for this project and this was the best she could do?" Another time I found in a Goodwill store another book by an unknown photographer. This again was pictures taken around downtown LA. It was self published and it wasn't hard to see why. Not only was his street photography bad but he took it upon himself to write about how he interpreted the photographs even going so far as to try and convey what he thought the people in his pictures might be thinking or the lives he envisioned them to lead. He wrote this in a format to resemble poetry but they were not poems at at all, they just looked like they were. I was so embarrassed at the epic level of pretension of his book that I had to part with the $1.99 or so Goodwill was asking for it. Now whenever I feel my own work isn't going well, I pull out that cringe inducing book and I instantly feel that maybe I'm just being too hard on myself.</p>

<p>".... has this allowed them to retire in luxury?" If only it were so.<br /> I have been a photo/art book collector for 40+ years. Nearly one thousand books by now, I haven't counted. I have many books that I paid $20ish and now online they are listed from several hundred and even 1-2 thousand. But like many collectors I purchased not for future profits but only what i was passionate about or very taken by. If I posessed foresight (something that eluded me) I would have bought x2 or 3 of the books I did buy when they were often $5 or occasionally $25. Back when I started very few books reached $50 and only then if new. Most of my collection started as very inexpensive and used. <br /> Now that most books are out of my price range My Interest has been in new independently published artists. I am seeing bookstores that specialize in limited edition 'unknowns'. Very affordable and often creative/provocative sometimes self published but also new small publishers seeing an opening, an exciting trend.</p>

<p>As an example of my lack of foresight, I came across Nan Goldins 'Ballad of sexual dependancy' when first released and available signed for a low price...$? I chose the browser copy that was less money and very dirty from being handled. I liked the handled copy as it seemed to take on a live performance characteristic. The signed version goes for $1000 give or take. Mine dirty copy is probably worth $20.</p>

<p>Another example is Fukase ' Solitude of Ravens". I was browsing the nature section of a store in SF when I came across a few copies of a mesmerizing book to my eye. I bought x2 1st american edition softcovers, one for me one for a friend. Under 20 for both. Now listed for 400 up to 1000. It dropped a bit with a reissue but still a profit could be had. BUT I elected not to buy the beautiful limited edition boxed Karasu (the original japanese issue) Now worth up to 5000. It wasn't even in the photography stacks. The owner offered Karasu for less than he had it marked because he saw no value in it. It's now gone. The same store had Sudek prints for sale. I regret that I didn't buy them.</p>

<p>I do have several books that ONLINE list for outrageous amounts but I have doubts about how often a 1000 - 2 -3 or 4000 dollar book sells. I have watched some very rare limited electa limited edition portfolios (x5) that I have completely disappear from the online rare book selling circuit. But I can't let them go now. I enjoy them too much.</p>

<p>Thanks for your input guys! I was of course joking about the "untold riches" and certainly concur that the best policy is to buy books which you like for aesthetic reasons and not worry about ups and downs and values, although it does seem to be the case that if you buy remaindered books and can store multiple copies of them in suitable conditions in a place which is not costing you money, you may end up turning a profit occasionally.<br>

It strikes me that buying high-priced so-called "collectors' items" is much more risky, since you may be caught out by shifts in fashion or by the sudden re-availability of a book. I am thinking in particular of "William Eggleston's Guide", long out of print and selling at high prices until the publication of a facsimile reprint edition (i.e. one which looks just the same as the first edition apart from the date) and as a consequence now freely available for around $25-$30. The most extreme example of shift in fashion which I have personally experienced is with the Minor White book "Mirrors Messages Manifestations", of which I bought almost the last new copy which Aperture had, for around $400. No regrets, since the book is been a major inspiration to me, but it is now available in excellent used condition for around 80 bucks, a sign sadly that Minor White appears to be on the verge of being forgotten.</p>