Continuing our new monthly series on Ebay sales of interest, below are a few highlights and recognized prices for Agatha Christie books sold on Ebay in February. In general, Ebay is a mixed bag for collectors, often littered with misinformation, uninformed sellers and poor condition items. Occasionally real gems do show up so its often worth a periodic review of offered items. Prices shown reflect the currency used for the listing.
1976 Pamphlet (UK): In Memoriam - the address by Sir William Collins (her publisher) at Agatha Christie's funeral. Sold for £70 (UK) - 1 bid. This printed four page pamphlet is certainly unique, and the number printed is unknown. The listing party asserts that this copy may have belonged to Collins and used at the memorial service given a pencil note on the cover. Regardless a very uncommon item.
1946 UK Collins first edition: Come Tell Me How You Live in complete dust jacket, not price clipped, overall very good- condition. Sold for $124.50 (US) - Buy it now. This book used to be very common and affordable with prices usually at half this level. But all books from the 40s and 50s are starting to firm in price. Her non-mystery books also typically sell for lower prices but recent price trends show this may be changing. Still arguably $200 - $400 US less than a mid-1940s mystery 1st, so upward potential still exists.
1932 Italian Pulp/magazine: The Mysterious Affair At Styles (1st thus). Sold for €152 (Euro) - 3 bids. Profiled earlier this month on our twitter account (@collectchristie), this uncommon magazine is perhaps most desirable for its atypical portrayal of the deceased Emily Inglethorp with her breast exposed. Christie hopefully never knew this existed as she would not have been happy.
1960 UK Penguin 4th printing: Ten Little Niggers - paperback. Sold for $120.50 (US) with 35 bids. The unfortunate name of this book meant that many reprints use more acceptable titles but many collectors still want this book with its original title. This early Penguin "white stripe" paperback is quite uncommon and its price affirms the collectibility.
1980-2000 US: Bantam book collection - 88 titles in all. $799.99 (US) - Buy-it-now. Technically there are 102 potential titles in the 'Bantam blacks', so this was a fairly complete set with a few of the more uncommon titles but lacked the UK versions of books. Finding the last 14 will be a pain for this collector, but if only interested in US titles almost complete. Helps provide clarity as to where the market is for these books - about $10 US each.
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