When 36-year-old Nitin Narayanan decided to get rid of his great grandfather’s books, published between 1846 and 1900, by giving them away to his friend Ramesh Taurani, little did he realise that the current market value of those tomes on book auction sites stood at over ₹20,000!
However, thanks to the plethora of book auction and sale sites, many like him are now waking up to the idea of ‘rare books’ as a form of alternative investment.
A rare book is one that is hard to find due to its early printing date, limited issue, special character of an edition or binding, historical interest or being signed by the author.
Generally books published in numbers less than 500, published before 1900 in America, and King James version Bibles printed in 1611 get the ‘rare’ tag.
Though this concept is yet to catch up in India, Richard Davies of Canada-based Abebooks.com, an online marketplace for rare and out-of-print books, said the trend of buying such books as an investment has existed for long abroad. According to US-based Onerarebook.com, a 100 per cent return over 10 years is the average rate at which a rare book appreciates.
“A lot of book collectors are stocking up classics that do not have much value as of now, but can fetch a very good profit in the future,” says bibliophile Taurani.
Long-term appreciationSo, if you, too, own a ‘rare’ book that is author-signed or a first-edition copy with its dust jacket intact, then it could well turn out to be your passport to riches in future.
“Today, the ease and convenience of buying and selling books on sites such as Amazon and e-Bay have made it possible for collectors residing in any part of the world to buy rare books and participate in book auctions worldwide with a mouse click. I already have a huge collection of old Bibles, which I plan to hold as an investment for my grandson in the future,” said Taurani.