I have a 2 volume set of books called ?The History of Napoleon Bonaparte.? 
Written by John S.C. Abbott. Published in 1855 by Harper & Brothers.
The volumes are profusely illustrated. The bindings are in good
condition with some signs of age. The interior of both books are in
excellent condition.

My question is: What are these books worth and who might be interested
in buying them?

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 02 Feb 2006 10:03 PST

Most of the results returned by the AddAll and Abebooks
searches are for the 1883 reprint of the books. From what
I can see, if your volumes were the original version, 
printed in 1854/1855, they should fetch $125-150.

Are they originals?

sublime1-ga

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Clarification of Question by basilbear-ga on 02 Feb 2006 11:11 PST

It is the 1855 edition.

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Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 02 Feb 2006 14:45 PST

There's a first edition (1855) set for sale now on eBay for $50.00, OR
the highest bidder, the auction ends in 3 days:
http://cgi.ebay.com/History-of-Napoleon-Bonaparte-by-Abbot-1st-Ed-1855_W0QQitemZ7005011419QQcategoryZ29223QQssPageNameZWD10VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Also, see this set:
http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-HISTORY-OF-NAPOLEON-BONAPARTE-Complete-in-Two-Volum_W0QQitemZ4552893426QQcategoryZ378QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If this is a satisfactory answer, please let me know..

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 02 Feb 2006 20:03 PST

basilbear...

I'd be happy to post some links which reflect the pricing
I mentioned earlier, but I don't feel qualified to tell
you who might be interested in buying them, and I wouldn't
know where to begin to research such a question. You might
get some idea of who prospective buyers might be by the
nature of the websites which offer the books for sale, but
beyond that, I couldn't say.

If my proposal would satisfy your interests in asking the
question, let me know. If not, please elaborate on what
would fulfill your needs.

sublime1-ga

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Clarification of Question by basilbear-ga on 02 Feb 2006 20:53 PST

Thanks to all of you. You have answered my questions about The History
of Napoleon Bonaparte book. The only way I see to respond to all of
you who worked on this is through the ?Clarification? page. I must be
missing something. To sublime1: your proposal to give me some web
sites is just fine. Thanks again, I?m just sorry the books weren?t
worth more.

basilbear...

You can't "pick an answer", as it were - the question isn't
answered until a researcher posts something in the answer
box. Until then you can post Clarifications to refine the
question or direct a researcher to post an answer.

Here are the links I found which are relevant to your book:

Volume I of the first edition was sold at auction, along
with 2 unrelated books with a later publication date, in
auction #368 on the Malter Galleries website. All 3 books
sold for a total of $50 in 2001:
http://www.maltergalleries.com/archives/auction01/022501auctioncat1.html

Given it was the oldest book of the 3, and sold separately,
this might suggest that the full set could command ~$60-100.


The 1883 reprint of the book, which is a 4-volume set, was
sold at Bay Books for $150, as shown in this cached page
from Google, and is no longer available on the site:
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:QeERZoDWLQgJ:www.baybooks2.com/bookdetails.asp%3Fbook%3D14269+%22The+History+of+Napoleon+Bonaparte%22+%22John+S.C.+Abbott%22+1854+OR+1855+-amazon&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=14&lr=lang_en

The same sale was listed on TomFolio.com
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:GYkfJuDmwiQJ:www.tomfolio.com/bookdetailssu.asp%3Fb%3D14269%26m%3D515+%22The+History+of+Napoleon+Bonaparte%22+%22John+S.C.+Abbott%22+1854+OR+1855+-amazon&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9&lr=lang_en

Since this was a 4-volume set, but newer, one might surmise
that the original edition, in very good condition, might go
for as much as $60+ per volume, or $120+.


Then, of course, there's the eBay auctions noted by my 
colleague, cynthia-ga which show the 1904 2-volume reprint
being sold for ~$60, while the seller of the original edition
is willing to 'sell it now' for ~$50 (though I believe yours
are in better condition).


Part of what may lend to the devaluation of the texts is
the fact that there are numerous reprints available, some
of which are still relatively antique, but naturally in
better shape than the original, such as the relatively
common 4-volume 1883 version.

There are also recent paperbacks, such as this 2004 edition
on Go-Blvd:
http://go-blvd.com/r-916932/m-Books/b-917000/a-1410212262/Default.aspx

Portions of the book are even available in reproductions
online, such as these at Cornell University:
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABK4014-0003-62

So, to get the most for your treasure, you need to locate
someone who's interested in the fact that they're first
editions, and, if they're in very good condition, you may
be able to get as much as $150 from the right buyer.

To that end, you might consider contacting sites like
TomFolio.com or BayBooks2.com to see if they are able
and willing to post your book for sale on their site 
for some sort of consignment fee.


Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that  
the answer cannot be improved upon by way of a dialog  
established through the "Request for Clarification" process. 

sublime1-ga


Searches done, via Google:

"The History of Napoleon Bonaparte" "John S.C. Abbott" 1854 OR 1855 -amazon
://www.google.com/search?q=%22The+History+of+Napoleon+Bonaparte%22+%22John+S.C.+Abbott%22+1854+OR+1855+-amazon

Good Job

Sorry but it's not that rare.

A search on AddAll has produced 181 hits, although some of these are
for only a single volume and others relate to Nap III.

For 2 volumes prices start at $11.94 and go up to $150.

See:

http://used.addall.com/

hello exactly not that rare but you can check by yourself there
http://www.abebooks.com/