How valuable are -- & what kinds of -- publishing oddities?

This is an interesting Victorian publishing oddity.

The cover is: "Merry little monarchs : a collection of choice stories, bright verse and rare engravings for the little ones: with special features designed to teach our babes useful lessons and help them pass many a pleasant hour." by E E Fowler; H.J. Smith & Co.; Hardcover Publisher: E. E. Fowler and H. J. Smith (1892) A very nice rebound copy with new spine cloth and endpapers. Some pencil children's drawings on older back endpapers.

However, the interior is "Vacation Fun for Boys and Girls." (Intenational Publishing Company, 1894) Somehow there was a mix-up. There is one copy of each book online now, often neither are available. The Vacation Fun book seems to be a little rare as it's priced 50% more.

I tried to sell this about 15 years ago and the market at that time wasn't interested. I think I wanted at least $40 for it. "The times they are a changing, "Bob Dylan, says.

Are they called publisher's oddities, or what proper name is this kind of thing called?

 

To my eye it looks like a less than professional rebinding, and not a publisher error. Someone may have wanted to save the Vacation Fun, and just reused the cover from the other book. Or, alternatively, someone was just learning and practicing bookbinding.

 

I agree. It seems more a repair of the binding than an official publisher’s binding.

 

My bookseller partner points out that he has seen somewhat similar examples of mismatched cover and text, with rather sloppy binding, on other inexpensive children's books from the era. The covers decorated with chromolithographs would have been the most costly part of the books, and the publishers may have wanted to make use of them whether or not they matched the contents. He says the contents are most often collections of stories on various topics, which appears to be the case here.

This does not make the book more valuable.

 

It was at least a rebinding as I see recent materials like a clear film that is protecting some aspect next to the endpapers. I hadn't looked at the book for a long time so I forgot about that. I believe it could be both, as these books tended to wear out.

 

Merry Little Monarchs has only 3 copies in worldcat, so it's the rarer book. The other has 60 copies.

 

Sure, every restoration or rebinding means someone in the history of the book cared enough for it, instead of throwing it away!

 

Probably Merry Little Monarchs gave kids the wrong idea, so copies didn't last very long.