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Are these really First Edition?


KristerAxelsson

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Hey guys,



I have the Harper Voyager Slipcase Edition of A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows and A Dance With Dragons. I first bought them because I thought the looked nice, and didn't have a clue that they would one day be rare. None of them have been read (haven't had the time sadly), a few weeks ago I saw these books up on Amazon for thousands of dollars, and upon a little bit more research I saw that it is only the First Edition books that was worth that much.



I removed the shrink paper on the first two books to check the copyright page if these are First Edition, and to me it looks like they are. However I noticed that it says "First Published 2005" and then "First Edition: 1"



Here is a picture I took of the copyright page.



How should I interpret this? What version of the book do I have? I am in the middle of saving money to buy my first apartment, and are looking to sell these three if they are indeed worth this much.



Condition of the books are as new: Shrinkpaper removed a few weeks ago and have been on my book shelf ever since. Books have never been opened (aside from checking the copyright page) and I've been very carefully not to damage them.



I'm hoping that people in this forum might be able to help me estimate the value of the books I possess. :)



Thanks in advance,



- Vaerkone


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I'm no expert, but my understanding has always been First Edition can only be applied to the actual initial release of a book. So the UK First Edition is the hardback with the Jim Burns cover released in 1996, US First Edition is the one with the silver foil cover. Any later editions are not First Editions. However, they may be first printings of that particular edition - which is what the '1' refers in your image, it's a first printing of that edition, but it's not a First Edition. Does that make sense?



Particularly on EBay I've seen a lot of people use First Edition to refer to a first printing of a particular edition.


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I'm no expert, but my understanding has always been First Edition can only be applied to the actual initial release of a book. So the UK First Edition is the hardback with the Jim Burns cover released in 1996, US First Edition is the one with the silver foil cover. Any later editions are not First Editions. However, they may be first printings of that particular edition - which is what the '1' refers in your image, it's a first printing of that edition, but it's not a First Edition. Does that make sense?

Particularly on EBay I've seen a lot of people use First Edition to refer to a first printing of a particular edition.

Thank you for the reply! It does make sense now, I wanted to be sure my wording was right when I put it up for sale.

I noticed that there is a buy/sell thread and I am thinking about putting my books upp for sale in it, but do you (or anyone else for that matter) know any good sites one can come in contact with collectors? I've searched on google but the only ones I find are antiquity stores.

Also, if anyone can confirm: Is the price listed on Amazon (2.321$) for A Feast for Crows accurate? Does someone know where I can check how much the three books I have are worth?

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Also, if anyone can confirm: Is the price listed on Amazon (2.321$) for A Feast for Crows accurate? Does someone know where I can check how much the three books I have are worth?

Afraid not, not even close. Game of Thrones in those editions, first printing sometimes sells for a few hundred (see http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-Game-Of-Thrones-Book-1-A-Song-of-Fire-and-Ice-Hardback-Slipcase-Ed-RARE-/111393864611?pt=Antiquarian_Books_UK&hash=item19ef977ba3) as it had a fairly small print run. For Storm you might get $100-150 I'd guess, less for the other two. Your best bet might be to check the sold listings on EBay to see what they've gone for in the past. That Amazon listing is ridiculous.

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Afraid not, not even close. Game of Thrones in those editions, first printing sometimes sells for a few hundred (see http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-Game-Of-Thrones-Book-1-A-Song-of-Fire-and-Ice-Hardback-Slipcase-Ed-RARE-/111393864611?pt=Antiquarian_Books_UK&hash=item19ef977ba3) as it had a fairly small print run. For Storm you might get $100-150 I'd guess, less for the other two. Your best bet might be to check the sold listings on EBay to see what they've gone for in the past. That Amazon listing is ridiculous.

Oh I see. Didn't know it was possible to see historic sales on eBay (I never go there either). I am a bit dissapointed, although I do agree that 2000 dollars sounded ridiculous.

Thanks for answering my questions guys!

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You will be able to sell your complete set for around $1500, i have seen a complete set sell for that previously! The '1' refers to the printing, meaning first print, and these books were printed in 2011! A Game of Thrones only has a first print run of 3000 hence why the price is higher with that book! Hope that helps :)

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You will be able to sell your complete set for around $1500, i have seen a complete set sell for that previously! The '1' refers to the printing, meaning first print, and these books were printed in 2011! A Game of Thrones only has a first print run of 3000 hence why the price is higher with that book! Hope that helps :)

Thanks :) That's actually how I found out the Voyager Harper Slipcase Edition was worth a lot money, I was looking to complete my set and saw the prices on Amazon and thought (wow, I wonder how much my books are worth!), and here I am. :)

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Just FYI, the only book that's going for thousands is AGOT. If you only have books 3-5, you won't get nearly that amount. I would say conservatively $300-500 for the 3 books. Probably more if you wait until the new season starts.

I was actually thinking of this, waiting for season five when the hype gets going again in mainstream media. Not sure if I'll sell them yet though, I figure that the value will rise in the next few years? As Dajamieson and Lady Visenya posted earlier, AGOT only had a 3 000 print run. Does anyone know how many runs the others had, or where I can find these figures? I googled it a bit but couldn't find any trustworthy information.

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Whoops, didnt realise you only had the last three! Becca is right, your storm of swords will be able to fetch the most, with aFfC and aDwD selling for around $50 each! im not exactly sure how many each print run had for those books! Selling when the next season starts is always best due to the hightened interest!


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  • 2 weeks later...

A note on prices, they seem to be all over the board recently! I sold a first print AGoT for $950 the other day, then saw a full set go for 1,000 on ebay. Also overall prices on all of them are going up as I sold a second print ACOK for $700 yesterday. Feast seems to be the cheapest with 1st prints going for 100-150 and sealed un-confirmed prints going for about the same while ADWD has been fetching around $200-350 depending on if its a 1st or sealed copy. As far as you ASOS is confirmed i'd say currently worth at least $400, that seems to be the min that sellers are looking for right now on that one.



The only way I see the prices going back down soon is if they produce some more print runs of these slipcased editions, which they very well might as I've see at least a third printing AGOT and i seem to recall seeing a 4th print ACOK but I know at least a 2nd on that one.


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