N.C. Wyeth Adventure Classics EBay Price History

https://www.flickr.com/gp/dawsons/L2w055

N.C. Wyeth Adventure Classics EBay Historical Selling Prices.

This only covers the N.C. Wyeth Easton Press editions with the pictures on the cover, not the other EP editions with leather covers, even if illustrated by Wyeth.

This list is of interest to me as I try to obtain my missing three from this series, but it may be of use to others as well, especially with 'Buy It Now' offers.

Multiple sales in the same month are listed in successive rows.

Shipping not included in the price.

Last Updated 2015-12-27

.................. 2014 ................................. 2015 .....................................................
....................Aug .Sep .Oct .Nov .Dec .Jan .Feb .Mar .Apr .May .Jun .Jul .Aug .Sep .Oct .Nov .Dec
Black Arrow ...... $ 40 ---- $ 39 $ 40 $ 43 $ 38 $ 34 $ 65 $ 35 $ 50 $ 45 $ 40 $ 43 $ 80 $149 $ 45 $ 35
.................. ---- ---- $ 45 ---- $ 25 ---- $ 37 $ 41 $ 59 $ 30 $ 62 $ 45 $ 27 ---- ---- $ 80 $ 53
.................. ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 37 ---- $ 28 ---- ---- ---- $ 72 $ 58 $ 36 ---- ---- ----
.................. ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 40 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 62 ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Boys King Author . ---- ---- $361 ---- $392 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- $299 ----
Deerslayer ....... $ 46 $ 79 $ 76 ---- $ 43 $ 46 $ 45 $ 50 ---- ---- ---- $ 55 $ 51 ---- $ 90 ----
.................. ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 83 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 95 ---- ---- ---- ----
Drums ............ ---- ---- $207 ---- $333 ---- $ 90 $209 ---- ---- ---- ---- $399 ---- ---- ----
Kidnapped ........ $ 40 ---- $ 28 $ 60 $ 31 $ 70 $ 29 $ 32 ---- $250 $ 34 $ 49 $ 80 $ 60 $ 32 $ 86 $ 53
.................. ---- ---- $ 76 $ 45 $159 $ 76 $ 34 $150 ---- ---- $ 72 $ 39 $ 40 $129 $ 45 $ 40 $ 90
.................. ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 25 $ 61 $ 37 ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 38 ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
.................. ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 27 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
.................. ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 35 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Last of the Mohicans -- $ 69 $106 ---- $ 55 $ 71 ---- $ 50 ---- $ 85 ---- ---- $242 ---- ---- ----
.................. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 46 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 68 ---- ---- ----
Mysterious Island. $ 99 ---- $ 74 $ 67 $148 $ 75 $145 ---- ---- ---- $180 $ 95 $ 90 $175 ---- ----
.................. ---- ---- $135 ---- $130 $ 77 ---- ---- ---- ---- $159 ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Rip Van Winkle ... ---- ---- $300 $371 $299 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 55 ---- ---- ----
.................. ---x ---- ---- ---x ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---x $200 ---- ---- ----
.................. ---x ---- ---- ---x ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---x $158 ---- ---- ----
Robin Hood ....... ---- $ 49 $ 28 $ 51 $ 63 $ 51 $ 68 $ 50 ---- $ 40 $ 41 $ 45 $ 55 $ 95 $ 80 $ 63 $ 61
.................. ---- ---- $ 45 $ 40 $ 54 ---- $ 57 ---- ---- ---- $ 72 ---- $ 40 ---- $ 85 $ 20 $ 43
.................. ---- ---- $ 60 ---- ---- ---- $ 41 ---- ---- ---- $ 95 ---- $ 35 ---- ---- ---- $ 60
.................. ---- ---- $ 61 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0000 0000 0000 0000 ---- $ 90
Robinson Crusoe .. ---- ---- $ 61 ---- $ 96 ---- $ 92 $150 ---- ---- ---- ---- $100 ---- ---- ---- $149
.................. ---- ---- ---- ---- $159 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- $113 ---- ---- ----
Scottish Chiefs .. ---- $382 $384 ---- $363 ---- ---- ---- $205 ---- ---- ---- $200 ---- ---- ----
Treasure Island .. $ 75 ---- $ 95 ---- $169 ---- $195 ---- ---- ---- $159 ---- $ 86 ---- ---- ----
.................. ---- ---- ---- ---- $110 ---- $160 ---- ---- ---- $ 50 ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
.................. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0000 $130 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Westward Ho ...... ---- $ 59 $ 94 $ 60 $102 $ 49 $ 57 $ 70 ---- ---- ---- $ 55 ---- $100 $149 ----
.................. ---- ---- ---- $ 85 $ 83 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 49 ---- ---- ---- ----
White Company .... $ 79 ---- $127 ---- $125 $ 75 ---- $179 ---- $ 90 ---- ---- $100 $132 $169 ----
.................. ---- ---- ---- $125 ---- $ 72 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- $ 80 ----

Updated List to reflect Ebay sellings on Dec-18-2014

>1 sdawson:

To find out the Best Offer selling price, go to the finished auction, click on the "view original listing" link, and then on the "Print Item" link. The printable version shows the accepted price! I don't know if eBay will correct this at some point, but it works at the moment, and should allow you to increase your sample size. I was collecting sales data for UK 1st,2nd and 3rd Edition Hobbits and this trick allowed me to add quite a few extra data points that I would have otherwise been unable to use.

>3 Studedoo:

Thank you very much for the tip!

This is very interesting, but...

Several years back, I thought there was a tacit agreement not to post historical prices to this group. Nothing official, of course--just some members agreeing to remove prices from their messages in response to other members' comments.

The fear was that unscrupulous vendors might be keeping an eye on threads like this. If a single collector were to grossly overpay (intentionally or not) for a book--say, in order to complete a set--then it might result in higher minimum bids for future sales of that book...

It may all have been a tempest in a teapot, of course -- or simply collector's paranoia. I just thought that I should mention it... Does anyone think this concern merits discussion? (I, to be honest, have no horse in this race)

>5 SilentInAWay:

I actually started collecting the UK Hobbit data (which I have posted on a Tolkien specific site) purely to counter the problem of people overpaying. The big issue is that people see Abe asking prices and start to think they are real. Seeing the real selling prices showed me that prices were in fact lower than one might expect (and made it obvious that certain sales were just anomalies). When you have a series of prices over a period of time, it stops that last crazy price seen on eBay skewing one's perception as to what the real price is.

With Easton Press, one has to be a little careful with the selling prices as there are two or three eBay sellers that clearly engage in shill bidding, buy their own auctions (which then get listed identically a week or two later), and so on. The Best Offer info actually weeds some of that out. Last week I saw a set of EP LOTR that appeared to have sold as a Best Offer down from $1000 or so, but when you looked at the actual price (which most people do not know how to do), it sold for $30. An identical set then predictably went up for sale from the same seller. Do I believe the first set was really sold? Not a chance, but a casual buyer might well have thought "This must have sold for close to the asking price, I'll pay top dollar for this next set". That seller has "Arcade" in their name, and they are now excluded from my eBay searching, along with rare_book_cellar, and the other usual "First Edition First Impression" suspects.

I think, so long as the data is compiled diligently and suspect auctions/BINs are excluded, the data helps buyers more than sellers. The only people who should have any objection are those trying to sell their books for inflated prices.

> 5
I think price history (which is readily available on eBay anyway) is informative to people in this group and for those that don't have time to track closed auctions.

Thank you for the comments. It is particularly interesting to me, and it would be nice to find a way to weed out sellers who engage in shill bidding. Perhaps a discreet private message to me with the names of the suspected would be appropriate --- I will not post them here, but could either exclude them from the data or at least monitor them for suspicious activity.

I do plan on continuing this as an exercise for this particular set. I believe that sharing of information is what the internet is all about, and this limited set is a bit interesting. I will listen to objections or ideas for improvement. I am doing this manually, but I wonder about a script that could automate this process, with a human having the final say on what data is included or not. I have no plans to code such a script now, but it would not surprise me to find out that someone else (possibly ebay itself) has already done so.

-Shawn

Updated table in first post with prices up to Dec 26th, 2014

Updated table in first post with prices up to Jan 12th, 2015

Updated with results through 01-28-2015. 'Westward Ho' just sold for a very good price of $49, 'Kidnapped' for $61, and 'Last of the Mohicans' for $46.

Updated with results through 02-05-2015. Somebody stole 'Drums' for $90 on February 1st.

Thanks for maintaining this, Shawn, as I am interested in a couple of the titles on here, such a White Company, and Kidnapped. By the way, what was the original EP price for these volumes?

>13 eastonlionel:

I'm on travel just now for the coming week, but if you ping me next weekend, I'll go through my receipts (I save all FS and EP receipts in my file cabinet), and answer the question both as to year I purchased them and the original cost.

Sent this info to a friend, but it may be good to have here for posterity.

I just retrieved my sales receipts from when I ordered this from EP. My first book arrived 10/13/95 and my last on 07/17/98. So it took about two years nine months for some reason, they were not monthly.

Robin Hood was my first at a cost of 43.50 plus 2.35 shipping for 45.85 total.

The price went up a bit over time.

My last book was Rip Van Winkle. It was 44.50 plus 3.75 for 48.25 total.

>15 sdawson: A lot smaller price hike than the Folio Society.

Updated through February 2015

>3 Studedoo:

Updated through 03-14-15

Also, eBay seems to have removed the 'print item' link, so I can't see the final price for buy-it-now sales. The link is replaced with 'report item'. If anyone knows how to find this info, post it here. I will not include these sales in the table for now, as I don't know the selling price.

Yes, as predicted, once it was "announced" here, eBay in its continuous and inexplicable war against sales transparency (but WHY as it can only benefit them to have the most dynamic marketplace), removed the availability to learn a BIN price, cumbersome though it was. It makes no sense to me that as prospective buyers shop the site they be denied the visibility of what items actually sell for!!!

It's probably some obscure liability issue as to why they go to such great efforts.

You know, there's nothing stopping anyone from contacting the seller of an already sold item and simply asking them what it sold for. If you're just looking to buy something a seller had sold before and want to get some price data so you don't get ripped off, most people would probably understand.

I think it is simply that they want you to assume that the sales price was as high as possible (even though it may have been much lower than the BIN), so that you will pay a high price on identical/similar future items. Higher prices = more commission. eBay doesn't do *anything* unless there is a financial benefit for themselves.

I think the actual sales price info is still available via the API.

-So, Mr./Ms. Dawson...based on your studious efforts in compiling these price histories, can you hazard a guess as to which "Adventure Classics" will earn the prize for most valuable title(s) in one's bookcase, over the long term?

>22 iluvbeckett:

Based on 1) scarcity as in the fewest appearances on ebay, 2) ebay sales price when it does come up, and 3) current abebooks price offering:

A Boys King Arthur

Followed by

Scottish Chiefs
Rip Van Winkle

The good news for collectors of these is that if one wants to read these, and enjoy the Wyeth illustrations, one could get 2 of those 3 in the Scribners editions from the 40's. (I don't know if Rip Van Winkle was done by them).

I am missing 3 titles myself from this series: one being the Boys King Arthur, the other two I do hope to get at a reasonable price (Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe)

> 21
"I think the actual sales price info is still available via the API"

Can you please translate this for the layman?

> As a programmer:

API means Application Programming Interface. So if one were to write a bit of code, it may be possible to access the data.

-Shawn

Updated List to reflect Ebay sellings on Apr-1-2015

Updated list to reflect ebay sellings through June 1, 2015

I wonder who got ripped off on the $250.00 Kidnapped?

Treasure Island, Robin Hood & Kidnapped sold combined in one lot for $250.00..

>29 EastonQuality:

Thanks, I have seen some other lots and don't quite know how to account for them, so am leaving them out for now.

>28 Arknight:

I had the same thought.

sdawson I just sent you a private message.

Updated through 2016/06/13. And a special shout out to the awesome chixor. Woop! Woop!

Updated through 2016/06/27. And it finally paid off, as I picked up Treasure Island for $50 buy it now. Not in near mint condition (a few scuffs on the cover, and an inscription on the flyleaf), but all else is reported to be solid and fine. As this was at the first one under $100 since last fall, I bought it.

Now just 2 more to go to have all 14 books. One, Robinson Crusoe should be doable eventually. But the Boys King Arthur will be difficult.

>33 sdawson:

'Treasure Island' arrived yesterday and I am very pleased. The description said 'inscription on flyleaf', but what it really was, was the prior owner's book label, which they stuck onto the moire fabric. The good thing, is that these easily peel off without damage. If they are put onto the paper, then they are there forever due to possible damage upon removal. I carefully peeled it off.

It was also listed as having scuffs on the cover, but if they are there they are not obvious to me. There are some heavier natural lines in the leather cover that may have been mistaken for scuffs. The interior is perfect and appears to have not been read, or if it was, the owner was very careful not to scuff the gilt edges and place the bookmark carefully after reading.

Very pleased, and now I need to find the final two books.

>34 sdawson: Congratulations! It is indeed a nice series. So far I've picked up Kidnapped and The White Company. I'm looking for Black Arrow, but the ones I've seen lately are above the average of the prices you've documented. Thanks again for keeping this record active.

Updated through 2015, July 24th

Updated through 2015, August 21

The 1717 Book of Common Prayer DLE is currently bidding on ebay well below original price at 145.49 current bid.

A Rip Van Winkle sold August 9th for $55, it lasted 7 minutes.

>39 EastonQuality:
The DLE?! Wow, somebody didn't know what they had. The only current listing on abe.com is for $500, about what I would expect.

>39 EastonQuality:

Thank you, I missed that one with my search, but I see it now, and will add it. I also missed another buy it now rip van winkle and a drums which I have added in. Not sure why my search missed it yesterday, but it sees it now.

>41 sdawson:
I have seen some very inconsistent behavior with eBay saved searches. It seems like whole hours are missed sometimes (at random) based on when new titles are posted. I find it hard to believe that when about 400 to 600 EP titles are added per day, there would really be only 1 new listing added in a 5 hour span of time. I also write down the most recently added title so next time I look I know where I left off. The book from the first search is no longer there for the second search sometimes and when I check sold items to verify that it sold (which would explain this phenomenon), nothing shows up. Then in a third search a few hours later it is back. So your experience does not surprise me.

I agree Wyeth is one of the most wonderful novel illustrators. However, I do not always keep books just because of the art work. I recently read Wyeth's Robin Hood and Black Arrow and sold them on eBay, since they did not bring me immense joy. I loved Ivanhoe and will read Kidnapped in the future.

>41 sdawson: also do not forget Franklin. You can get the Wyeth Last of the Mohicans and The Yearling (not on your list) for as low as $29, since I think many EP collectors are not aware of these fine books.

>44 HugoDumas:
Franklin is always worth checking into when looking for a classic, as many of them are almost free! I prize some of the volumes in Franklin's "Great Books of the Western World" series almost as much as some of my DLEs.

As a side note, Folio recently reprinted Barbara Tuchman's "Distant Mirror," but Franklin's leather edition can be had for a song.

>45 jroger1: yes their 3 volume GBWW War and Peace with the Romanoff seal is pretty close to a DLE in my opinion. Just wish it had more art. And their Oxford library of great classics are the finest ever published by either EP or Franklin.

Thanks folks, I have 4 Franklin books (3 by Wallace Stegner, whom I like)

I'll look up some of the other ones that were just mentioned.

Updated through August 29th. Also, I only have one to go (the rarest one it seems).

Updated through September 7, 2015.

Shawn, care to speculate on the relative decline in $$ realized for "Scottish Chiefs"?

>50 iluvbeckett:

I'm not sure we have enough data points to make a conclusion. It is sold infrequently, and the last two may have just been under the radar of those willing to pay more.

It does seem to me though, that the truly rare book in this bunch is the 'Boys King Arthur', I haven't seen one sell this year.

Updated list to reflect a selling of 'The Boys King Arthur' --- buy it now at $299.

My 14 book set will be complete when it arrives.

>52 sdawson:: Good Lord, I don't care if it was illustrated for boys or men or tree frogs, I want one!!

I picked up three books in this series over the last year. I'm currently reading The White Company. I've noticed on just a few pages some of the text is weak - either light printing or incompletely formed letters. I'm assuming this is a flaw with the original printing EP is using for the facsimile copy they made. Is this generally true of the series? I had the Deerslayer in the original Scribbner's edition, and don't remember this being an issue. I later sold that edition when I picked up the LEC version, so I can't go back and look.

Updated through 2015/10/04

>55 eastonlionel:
I'll have to look through those books in particular. Some EP book of mine do have type problems as you mentioned, others are crisp and clear. These are older books, so they may have such issues.

I too have many of these in the Scribners edition and I should do the comparison. I expect Scribner's type will be clearer, but I will look.

I'm a sucker for juvenile adventure books. The Scribner's books from the 20's through 50's are great. Here are my books tagged 'Scribner's Illustrated Classics'

https://www.librarything.com/catalog/sdawson&deepsearch=scribner%27s+illustr...

Now that the EP set is done, I should see if I can obtain more of the Scribner's.

>54 daiquiz:

Thank you. I'll post a photo when I get home (am on travel this week). I think this thread has helped me, as I have been tracking these for 15 months or so now, I was able to recognize a good buy-it-now deal when it popped up. I think I'll keep this thread going, possibly alert folks here if I see other good deals show up.

>56 sdawson:
I have no idea how many Scribner's did in total, but I do know there is a Wyeth illustrated version of Homer's Odyssey.

>56 sdawson: Yes, thank you Shawn for maintaining this thread. I would not have purchased the three EP books I have in this series without your help!

I would be very curious if the original Scribbner's books have weak text. My only comparison is the HP books EP has done (a lot). I always found the text very clear in the EP editions, but was not surprised since the HP text is also flawless. I also find the printing high quality when they print a book that is still in copyright, and so they are using the type from the original publisher. Thus my conclusion that EP text clarity issues are due to making a facsimile of an inferior printing.

I looked on my bookshelves, and discovered I have two Scribbner's classics illustrated by N. C. Wyeth, David Balfour (1956 printing) and The Black Arrow (1916 printing). Both are letterpress printed, and the text appears very sharp with no fuzziness or partial letters that I can see. I also have the EP edition of The Black Arrow, and so can do a direct comparison. The EP text appears to be as sharp as the Scribbner's edition, and I don't see sections or pages that have weak text. So, either the EP edition of The White Company that I have was poorly printed, or they used a poor copy to make the facsimile of.

>59 eastonlionel:

I'll look at my White Company today. When the sun comes up in a bit, I'll try and get a photo of the 14 together.

Now to start sorting through my Scribners and my Rand McNally Windermere series of similarly themed illustrated books.

https://www.librarything.com/catalog/sdawson&tag=Easton%2BPress%2BWyeth%2BCl...

https://www.librarything.com/catalog/sdawson&deepsearch=windermere

Uploaded some photos of the set to Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/dawsons/L2w055

eastonlionel, can you mention a few particular pages from 'White Company' that are not printed very well in your copy? I'd like to compare to mine.

Another 'Boys King Arthur' has popped up. It's priced at flat $395. Not a steal, but if anyone is looking for that final 14th book in the series ....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EASTON-PRESS-Sidney-Lanier-N-C-Wyeth-The-Boys-King-Arthu...

The seller has a bunch of other EP books. Not great prices, but some are uncommon and are listed at about what one would have paid direct from EP new, and if one missed the set at the time it was released, one could get it now.

Updated through 11/09/2015

Updated through 12/27/2015

Bump

I have had a very hard time finding Rip Van Winkle and Treasure Island in any form on eBay. But I managed to find 8 of the 14 in still sealed copies this week. And all at reasonable prices - I felt like I won the lottery.

>66 Ar40: That's awesome, congratulations!

>66 Ar40:
>67 Tolkienfan:
Agreed, congratulations. For those of us who enjoy great classic adventure novels, this is a wonderful set.

I stopped updating the prices a few years ago, but it would almost be interesting to do the same again and see what the trend is two years later. I noticied a 'Boys King Arthur' on eBay today for a 'Buy It Now' price of $250, which is less than was seen back then. Other than the nameplate on the moire silk, it looks unread. That was my last book in the collection, which I picked up for $299. I believe that is the most I have ever paid for an EP book, but when one has 13 of 14 of a set, what one is willing to pay for that last book does increase.

In my experience, removing nameplates from the silk can work well, without leaving much of a trace. Start with a test corner and see if removing it slightly works without tearing the silk. This in contrast to when they are affixed to the paper endleaves --- where they must remain for fear of doing damage to the paper by removing.

bump

A little project I did when I was completing my N.C. Wyeth collection. I have no clue what the prices are. I stopped once I had it completed.

We were lucky enough to buy Wyeth illustrated series when it was still available from EP

>72 fancythings:

For some reason, I wound up with 9 or 10 as I recall direct from EP. But later had to find the remaining on the secondary market. Donʻt recall how that happened.

>73 sdawson: 14 volumes were issued in the first release a long time ago. 2nd release comprised of only 10 volumes (trimmed-down set was missing The Scottish Chiefs and few others) with some of the titles given a different leather color treatment.

>72 fancythings: Aren't you a bit too young, fancythings, to have participated in acquiring the NCW directly from EP?

>74 EPsonNY: aren’t this my own private business

>75 fancythings: Of course :). Coincidentally, "aren’t this my own private business" is also a phrase my 10 year old nephew uses when caught in a lie, but he sticks with the fancier Oxford, rather than Princeton, version, "isn't it my business."

>76 EPsonNY: I won’t even respond to bitter person like yourself. Drink some water. You have to calm down. Once again, books I buy and the way I buy them is my own private business and not yours. I’m sure your 10 year old nephew told you the same thing

>77 fancythings: You don't have to respond; however, you have. What is more, your reply betrays your short temper and immaturity - immediate name calling - and your lack of reading comprehension.

I did not question how you buy your books - we all know by now you buy them beauties straight from the bakery - but rather the timing of your purchases. Based on the information you have been feeding members of this group, you are simply too young to to have possibly purchased the NCW editions directly from EP...

>77 fancythings: >78 EPsonNY:
This argument is best handled through private messages.

>79 jroger1: Roger that :).