Featured Complete 17 vol. John Lothrop Motley Rise of Dutch Republic; United Netherlands; etc.

Any thoughts on what this set of books might be worth, or how I'd go about finding this information? And if its worth selling or should I keep? I've entertained the fantasy of reading the whole set but I've had to admit to myself that may not happen.

Its a complete 17 volume set of the writings of John Lothrop Motley comprising The Rise of the Dutch Republic; History of the United Netherlands; and Correspondence. Library Edition, published 1900, Harper and Brothers New York and London. Beautiful embossing on covers, still bright, and on spines as well. All illustration plates intact. Some of the front or back pages in some of the volumes have moisture damage. No rips, tears or missing pages. Some wear to the edges of the bindings where the books were probably removed and put back on the shelf. I haven't tried to clean them up in any way. One excellent illustration plate of Catherine D'Medici and her two dogs looking at a visitor with great skepticism (all three look skeptical). If no one is going to want these books I may have to just keep that illustration.

Any thoughts about this set?

 

Welcome, PartNouveau.

Here are results from two of the better sites for finding information on books. Keep in mind that these are asking prices, not what sets have sold for -

https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?...=FjXC0XtP539RcgGBKv8Qjj8ZJ6o_1695229144_1:1:2

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=John Lothrop Motley&bi=0&bx=off&cm_sp=SearchF-_-Advs-_-Result&ds=30&kn=Library edition&pn=Harper Brothers&recentlyadded=all&rollup=on&sortby=17&sts=t&tn=Writings 17 volumes&xdesc=off&xpod=off&yrh=1900&yrl=1900

There do not appear to be many complete sets listed as available. To get an idea of possible value, you should carefully compare the dealers' description of condition with the condition of the set you have.

If you do not want to keep the set, I would encourage you to look for a used book dealer in your area who might be interested in buying them for resale. A dealer would typically offer approximately half of the estimated value (a wholesale price), or possibly a little less in this case as it it a large set and may have a limited pool of potential buyers.

Another option is listing them yourself on ebay. A similar set (with different bindings) recently sold on ebay for 101.00 GBP -
https://www.ebay.com/itm/166266913316?hash=item26b647c224:g:SNcAAOSwsIRkz3hN&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA0IYoGTDtCDq4+c4Mjp6PZsNa6dO9GaB3A0CpF3rNdnxUT6zooB2IflJMfZjDZBLUBJKi9oLThXVXeD1Mi08FE96ClJTFTiIgyvwbVNPY13vfq9NRs+R/2XZUlymE2tUylr8+BZDUVRQRRN7LUtdfV8FSeG8sDl8+LhYuWoBQGqFHRMjo1QwP6tI1sRrzuTVW+gG64IBCTxa1JnwdYgSTVBmKBGU+RVinQQv4pdvKVMV6TlL8w59h7jYybPVFiThwTyOpQ24IPa+kQ6A41+sQQWI=|tkp:Bk9SR6LFornWYg

And a set like yours is currently being offered for $245 -
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2044218898...q77IrILq9aMY85H155j6|ampid:PL_CLK|clp:4429486

Please do not selectively remove any of the plates, as this seriously affects any potential value. We cannot always predict what future collectors or libraries will be interested in.

 

Thank you so much for those resources! And honestly I could never remove a plate from a book, I love books too much to do that. I do like that illustration though, the expressions on the dogs' faces ("will this guy ever shut up?") are fantastic.

Is there a difference between a local retailer who would buy the set for resale, vs a dealer? Or is the retailer the same as a dealer? I'm wondering if its a different type of financial arrangement.

I'd love to be able to make some money selling them but my ultimate concern is making sure the set finds a good home. Since I live in Washington DC, sometimes I think I might put the whole set in a box, stick a bow on it, and abandon it at the doorstep of the Dutch embassy for them to sort out - though that would probably set off a bomb scare so its not a realistic option.

Thank you again for your kind advice.

 

A book "dealer" is essentially a retailer - they buy used books and try to resell them at a (modest) profit. Occasionally books might be sold on consignment if they are of significant value and the dealer is not able to make the investment up front. In this sort of arrangement the dealer may agree to take a set percentage of the price when the book is finally sold, and pass on the rest to the original owner. The amount the owner receives through a consignment sale is sometimes greater than what he or she would receive if the dealer purchases the book outright. A consignment agreement requires some confidence and trust between the two parties.

You are in a good location to find a likely dealer. Just google "used book stores Washington DC". Try calling first, to see if they might be interested.

 

Thank you again. Given my photo and description, would you say (roughly) this set is in "good" condition? It seems a bit more weathered that some of the books listed as "very good"?

 

Assigning a "grade" for condition is tricky, and even more so for a multi-volume set without having them in hand. I would be most concerned about your mention of moisture damage on some of the volumes, which in some cases can be associated with the unpleasant smell of mildew.

The best I can do is point you toward the guidelines provided on the abebooks website -
https://www.abebooks.com/books/rare...anding-rare-books/guide-book-conditions.shtml

 

You'll get very little money from a dealer - probably about 10% of what he'll try to sell them for, but they will be difficult to sell. You've got a hundred years of history and a hundred years of history books between then and now, and the books are not old enough to have much interest as artifacts in and of themselves.

It will help if this is a set that was considered definitive in it's time, a set that served as a basis for subsequent histories. Other than that, the hope is that incidents and people mentioned in these books have been omitted in later writings.

Don't know if it's still true or not (the internet has changed many things), but the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica had some desirability long after the publication of subsequent editions because it contained articles that were dropped from those subsequent editions.

Someone who wants them just as shelf decorations won't likely be willing to pay much.

My opinion anyhow.

 

Motley was popular in his day, but is no longer well-regarded by scholars. There are a LOT of his books out there, though a complete set like this is uncommon. Mostly of decorative value, readable but not authoritative. So condition is paramount. As a dealer, I would not be too excited about these, I'm afraid. And as far as what book dealers pay, I'm usually in the 20-30% range of what I expect a book to sell for. Rent & other expenses take about half of what I make, so that means I split the 'profit' with the seller. If I have a ready buyer for a good book, I might pay half what I'll sell it for, but that's uncommon.

And a note on the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica - the editors of that edition made efforts to get the world's experts in their fields write the articles, so you had Einstein writing on physics, Bertrand Russell on philosophy (if I recall correctly, probably not) and so forth. This means the set continues to be of historic interest. The ninth is also well-regarded for its history.

 

2manycats is right - I was overly optimistic in suggesting a book dealer might offer 50% - but moreotherstuff may have been overly pessimistic at 10%. At any rate, it might be worth your effort to shop the set around to see what the local range might be.

 

Just want to thank everyone for your replies - this is the kind of perspective/lay of the land I was hoping I'd find. I think the expense of shipping would cancel out the value of selling them, so they'll be living with me rent-free for the foreseeable future.