Barack Obama and Arthur C. Clarke wrote the most expensive titles sold by Abe Books during the holiday-buying season this year. Combined, these books sold for more than $8,700–an interesting glimpse into the rare book market during a recession.
According to the report, a copy (signed by Obama and his wife) of the President-elect’s memoir, Dreams From My Father, sold for $5,000 earlier this month. In contrast, a complete, signed first-edition set of Clarke’s Space Odyssey series sold for $3,750. Clarke died earlier this year, perhaps driving that sale.
SciFi Signal counted down the rest of the top five most expensive books of the holiday season–a split between modern and older authors:
“3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley –$3,000 — First American edition, one of 250 numbered copies signed by the author.
4. The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice –$3,000 — Complete set (10) of first editions — all signed by Rice.
5. China, in a series of Views, Displaying the Scenery, Architecture, and Social Habits of that Ancient Empire by George Newenham Wright –$2,556 — Published in 1843, a rare insight into China during the Qing Dynasty.”