Overpriced
Sir: In your issue of 20 October an orga- nisation called 'Modern First Editions' has put forward the claim that an unsigned first edition of Casino Royale is worth £1,500, thus presumably hoping to sell your read- ers signed first editions by Erica Jong, Frederick Forsyth and others. In fact Casi- no Royale (with dust jacket etcetera) reg- ularly makes under £500 at auction: it is anyway something of a freak in this mar- ket. As for the practice of signing, your readers will no doubt remember the hoary old bookseller's adage: that an unsigned copy of George Moore's Brook Kerith is worth more than a signed one. This distinc- tion has, I understand, recently been con- ferred on the works of Edward Heath.
Felix Pryor
20a Maclise Road, London W14
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