Dr. Seuss Inscribed Books

Appraised on: August 13, 2011

Appraised in: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Appraised by: Stephen Massey

Category: Books & Manuscripts

Episode Info: Junk in the Trunk 2 (#1621)

Originally Aired: November 5, 2012

IMAGE: 1 of 4  

Appraisal Video: (1:28)

GUEST: They were gifts to our grandmother, Barbara Bash. She worked for Dr. Seuss as a secretary in L.A. in the late '30s,early '40s, and so these were inscribed to her sort of as a parting gift when she was leaving to move back home.

APPRAISER: Well, they're a nice group, they're inscribed, and some of them are first editions and some of them are not. All of them lack dust jackets, so they're not in mint condition, but I would average these out at sort of $800 to $1,200 dollars each.

GUEST: Wow!

APPRAISER: However, this one, The King's Stilts, is more exciting because here we have a drawing by Seuss, and that's your grandmother. So that's a great thing to have. And it's signed by him at the foot, we can see that. Then at the end, we have an added bonus of an extra drawing. Look at that, "Goodbye, Bash."

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Now, I'm very happy to say that the value of this leaps, and I'd like to say $15,000 to $25,000.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: Or maybe perhaps a little more, and that's an auction estimate.

GUEST: Just for the one book?

APPRAISER: Just for the one book. The others are around $800 to $1,200 each.

GUEST: She's going to be thrilled, and we are thrilled.

APPRAISER: I'm so glad. Well, I'm thrilled, too.