1910 Hough's "American Woods" 3rd Edition Set

Appraised on: July 25, 2009

Appraised in: Denver, Colorado

Appraised by: Ken Sanders

Category: Books & Manuscripts

Episode Info: Denver, Hour 2 (#1411)

Originally Aired: April 5, 2010

IMAGE: 1 of 4  

Appraisal Video: (33:20)

GUEST: In 1976 we were living in Massachusetts, where both my husband and I had grown up, and we bought our first house. It was an old sort of fixer-upper, and the attic was full of all kinds of junk, mostly. And in the course of clearing out the house and renovating, we came across a box with this set of books. And we looked at it, and we said, "Wow, this is pretty interesting." And to be honest, we very carefully packed it up and put it away and got on with the business of getting the house together and pretty much forgot about it over the years.

APPRAISER: You just don't ever get to see this set in its completeness. This Hough's American Woods, it's actually a project to describe the nomenclature of all the American woods and trees of the day. The book was first published in 1888, the first edition. And what you brought in today is Hough's third edition of 1910, with the latest changes in botanical nomenclature. And what Mr. Hough has achieved is to... in these 14 volumes, he has actually produced a book that virtually covers almost every known species of American trees by showing how to identify the tree by its wood. And each of these plates that we have here shows three different views of the wood. These aren't photographic reproductions. These are actually thinly sliced pieces of the real wood. And to hand-do that and then to print and label them, bind them into these pages and... over the 14 volumes, there are over 1,000 different American trees identified by actual samples of the wood. They're in astonishing condition as well, so you've taken good care of them. Do you have any idea what this set of Hough's American Woods might be worth?

GUEST: I don't. In the attic there were also some pieces of old clocks, and we did have someone come to the house to look at the clocks, but at the same time it was in an area where these were, and a dealer offered me $2,000 for it, but we never followed up, and we said, "They're kind of cool. Why don't we just hang onto them?"

APPRAISER: That was a wise choice. At retail, this set in this condition would fetch approximately $30,000.

GUEST: You're kidding.

APPRAISER: No, I'm not. I believe that's conservative. The set is in absolutely perfect condition, and it's one of the most sought-after sets of the 20th century.

GUEST: I'm really amazed. I'm very glad I didn't take his offer.

APPRAISER: How much did you pay for the house?

GUEST: In 1976 we paid $53,000 for it.

APPRAISER: $53,000?