Children's Picturebook Price Guide, 2006-2007: Finding, Assessing, & Collecting Contemporary Illustrated Books by Flying Moose Books

	Title: Children's Picturebook Price Guide, 2006-2007: Finding, Assessing, & Collecting Contemporary Illustrated Books Purchase Item Manufacturer: Flying Moose Books List Price: $24.95 Our Price: $14.96
Customer Reviews:
Children's Picturebook Price Guide, 2006-2007: Finding, Assessing, & Collecting Contemporary Illustrated Books by Flying Moose Books Lovely format but some disappointing errors....
I just received this meaty (the size of a small town phone book!) guide, and was very impressed with the layout and scope. As a collector (and seller) of quality modern children's books, I have found most price guides of collectible books in any genre to be less than what I wanted in terms of accessibility of the information. This guide, however, starts with well-written chapters on the history of Children's Illustrated books, why and how to collect, how to identify first editions, and many other juicy morsels ("flashpoints" in bookseller jargon). While some of the information might not be new to me, it is presented as a whole which makes sense. What I did find disappointing was errors in the main body of the book: the price guide, organized by illustrator's name. On just a quick browse, I flipped to about a dozen illustrators whom I collect, and TWO of them had titles omitted from the list. This was surprising to me, since this book was published so recently, and the books are readily available on major online venues. A simple search on the illustrator's name will yield this information. Of course, any guide of this scope will have small errors. I have only been collecting in this area for the last 6 years, so I hoped the author's combined experience and resources would far exceed what I could reasonably research on my own. The authors started from scratch in this effort to create a Price Guide for modern (since 1930) Illustrated children's books, and what they achieved is a fabulously accessible guide to the why's and how's of collecting these exciting bits of our collective childhoods. While I did find errors in the price guide, the layout was very well designed and easy to browse or to zero in on specific information. I hope the book sells well enough to allow for a second edition... and that anyone else, like me, who finds errors, can contribute to making the next edition a much more accurate reference.
Children's Picturebook Price Guide, 2006-2007: Finding, Assessing, & Collecting Contemporary Illustrated Books by Flying Moose Books A very useful guide to booksellers searching for hidden paper gold
Children Picturebook Price Guide: Finding, Assessing, & Collecting Contemporary Illustrated Books is a straightforward guide for book buyers and book sellers, featuring current market prices for over 22,000 illustrated children's books, including Caldecott Medal and Honor books that are individually worth over a thousand dollars. Though the majority of Children Picturebook Price Guide is a straightforward price catalog, the first one hundred pages also discuss such topics as how to identify first edition books, particularly Caldecott Medal books and Dr. Seuss books, where to find first edition picturebooks, key factors affecting a book's value, and much more. Enthusiastically recommended for serious picturebook collectors, and a very useful guide to booksellers searching for hidden paper gold.
Children's Picturebook Price Guide, 2006-2007: Finding, Assessing, & Collecting Contemporary Illustrated Books by Flying Moose Books Outstanding reference for all children book lovers
Finally there's a book that details the history and reason why children books are a great collector's item. The easy to read format makes my trips to the used book stores, antique shops and yard sales that much more exciting. This has been an outstanding reference for me to review my collection, and suggest what gaps I need to fill to better enjoy my collection.
Children's Picturebook Price Guide, 2006-2007: Finding, Assessing, & Collecting Contemporary Illustrated Books by Flying Moose Books Book Description
The Children's Picturebook Price Guide provides values for nearly 23,000 books, covering over 700 children's book illustrators dating from 1929 to 2006. For owners of picturebooks, the price guide is an essential tool to identify and assess their value. Today's picturebook collecting market is similar to where the comic book market was in 1970, when Bob Overstreet published his first price guide. The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide became the definitive guide to the hobby and helped to institutionalize values. The general population now has an understanding of the value of collectible comic books. James Beckett published his first price guide to baseball cards in 1979. Once considered a child's plaything, hardly anyone would now sell their Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays cards for pennies. In the case of both comic books and baseball cards, a large and vibrant collector base existed at the time of the respective price guide's publication--however the general population was not aware of the value for either. The price guide helped to get the message out. According to the Children's Picturebook Price Guide, the most valuable picturebook is Where The Wild Things Are, with a first edition copy valued at over $10,000 in today's market. The price guide lists forty-four picturebooks with a market value over $1,000. The Children's Picturebook Price Guide is more than a price guide, as the book's first 100 pages provides an overview to collecting children's picturebooks. This overview includes a brief history of how the picturebook came to be the picturebook, and concludes with an explanation for why today is the golden era of the picturebook. Today there are more illustrators and authors who make their living by creating picturebooks then at anytime in the past. Chapter 2, "Factors Affecting Collectibility", provides details about the six key factors which impact a first edition book's collectibility and value. This is important, since it clearly and concisely provides the reader with information to assess a book's collectibility. Usually, a first edition book's value is prescribed through some altogether unknown process. By providing factors the reader can weigh, they can make more educated purchase decisions--and acquire books they feel the market is currently undervaluing. Subsequent chapters describe different strategies or approaches to collecting picturebooks; identifying first editions; grading books; and also discussion/lists of the most valuable children's picturebooks, categorized by decade (i.e. "The Most Valuable Picturebooks of the 1990's").