Reference Works on Collectible Fiction
Includes price guides, bibliographies, and collector's guides.
Ahearn, Allen & Patricia Ahearn Book Collecting 2000 : A Comprehensive Guide Regular revisions Putnam Publishing Group. 480 pages. Prices listed are almost exclusively for authors first books - generally the most valuable. Also has much additional material of interest to both collector and bookseller.
Ahearn, Allen & Patricia Ahearn Collected Books: The Guide to Values Regular revisions Putnam Publishing Group. 832 pages. A fairly massive price guide focused on modern first editions. While no price guide is perfectly accurate, the Ahearns are widely considered to be among the most knowledgeable in the field.
Ahearn, Allen & Patricia Ahearn Author Price Guides Regular updates These are available both as individual lists, and as complete sets. Contains sample signatures, brief biographical sketches, and information on the identification of the first U.S. and U.K. editions for each author. The link is to volume 1, however there are 2 volumes in set
Barlow, Ronald S., Ray Reynolds, Ron Barlow The Insiders Guide to Old Books Magazines Newspapers and Trade Catalogs : 21000 Items Priced by Dealers and Collectors 1995 Windmill Pub Co; 455 pages
Bergen, Jr., James A A Price and Reference Guide to Books Written by Edgar Rice Burroughs 1999 The Golden Lion, 604 pages
Blanck, Jacob (vol. 8 & 9 by Michael Winship) Bibliography of American Literature Generally known as BAL, and much referenced by both booksellers and collectors. There are a total of nine volumes. If you sell or collect American literature, this is an invaluable set.
Bleiler, Everett F The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. A Bibliography of Fantasy, Weird, and Science Fiction Books 1948 Chicago. Shasta Publishers. 455 ppg.
Bradley, Van Allen The Book Collector's Handbook of Values, 1982-83 1982 New York. Putnam's. Pretty much superseded by Allen and Patricia Ahearn's Collected Books the Guide to Values.
Breese, Martin Breese's Guide to Modern First Editions 1999 Breese Books Ltd, 304 pages.
Brown, Susan Windisch (Editor) Contemporary Novelists 1995 St James Press. 1173 pages.
Bruccoli, Matthew J., Clark, C.E. Frazer, Jr., Layman, Richard, and Franklin, Benjamin V. (editors) First Printings of American Authors: Contributions Toward Descriptive Checklists 1977-89 Detroit. Gale Research. Five volumes. Some volumes may be out of print.
Burgess, Michael Reference Guide to Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Out-of-print
Cole, Michael (Editor) Modern First Editions (Annual Register of Book Values) Annual Published in England by the Clique, this series is a good source of information on British imprints. No longer available in book form, but you can get the CD compilation of the entire ARBV series.
Cole, Michael (Editor) Literature (Annual Register of Book Values) Annual Published in England by the Clique, this series is a good source of information on British imprints. No longer available in book form, but you can get the CD compilation of the entire ARBV series.
Collins, Richard L. (Editor) Mandeville's Used Book Price Guide : An Aid in Ascertaining Current Prices : Retail Prices of Rare, Scarce, Used and Out-Of-Print Books Regular revisions
Connolly, Joseph Modern First Editions : Their Value to Collectors 1987 A British publication, and thus has a heavy preponderance of UK authors/editions. It covers relatively few authors, but almost all titles are listed for those authors. Out-of-print
Cooper, John, Barry A. Pike Detective Fiction : The Collector's Guide 1994 Scolar Press. 212 pages. The original edition covered 105 authors. This expanded second edition covers 157.
Flanagan, Maurice Paperbacks USA & UK Vol 1 1997 Zardoz Books. 44 pages
Fogel, Al Charles Bukowski: A Comprehensive Price-Guide & Checklist 1944-1999 1999 Glenn Daniels Publishing Corporation. 228 pages
Foord, Peter Collins Crime Club : A Checklist of the First Editions 1987 Dragonby
Gnarowski, Michael A Concise Bibliography of English-Canadian Literature 1973 127 pages. While small, this is actually quite a useful reference for older Canadian fiction. Out-of-print
Hancer, Kevin Hancer's Price Guide to Paperback Books Several editions were produced. Out-of-print
Howlett-West, Stephanie The Inter-Galactic Price Guide to Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror 20,000 entries
Huxford, Sharon and Bob Huxford Huxford's Old Book Value Guide Annual Many lower priced items, which means that you will find prices for many of the more common titles.
Huxford, Sharon and Bob Huxford Huxford's Paperback Value Guide 1994 Collector Books
Jaffery, Sheldon R. Horrors and Unpleasantries : A Bibliographical History and Collector's Price Guide to Arkham House Publications 1983 Bowling Green State University. 145 pages. Out-of-print
Johnson, Merle (revised by Jacob Blanck) American First Editions
Leab, Katharine and Daniel Leab (editors) American Book Prices Current Annual Bancroft-Parkman
Lecker, Robert & Jack David The Annotated Bibliography of Canada's Major Authors G K Hall. Multiple volumes in the series. Some are out of print.
Lee, Thomas R. 20th Century First Edition Fiction : A Price and Identification Guide 2000 Book Emporium Press. 252 pages
Lefontaine, Joseph Raymond A Handbook for Booklovers : A Survey of Collectible Authors, Books, and Values 1988 Prometheus Books. 612 pages
Lefontaine, Joseph Raymond The Collector's Bookshelf Value Guide 1991 Prometheus Books. 113 pages. A companion volume to A Handbook for Booklovers.
Lepa, Jack Price Guide to Collectable Books: First Editions, 1920 to Present 1994 Las Vegas: Amber Unicorn
Lovisi, Gary Collecting Science Fiction and Fantasy : Instant Expert 1997 Alliance Publishing. 130 pages
McBride, Bill Points of Issue: A Compendium of Points of Issue of Books by 19th-20th Century Authors 1996 McBride Publishing
McGrath, Anne and/or Daniel McGrath Bookman's Price Index Annual Gale Group
McGrath, Daniel (Editor) Bookman's Price Index : Subject Series : Modern First Editions Vol 1 1987 Gale
Quayle, Eric The Collector's Book of Detective Fiction Out-of-print
R.B. Russell (Editor) Guide to First Edition Prices: 2000/1 Tartarus Press. 327 pages.
Provides details of over 20,000 collectable books by over 400 different author and artists
Reno, Dawn Collecting Romance Novels (Instant Expert) 1995 Very limited pricing information (approx. 25 pages). Contains much that would be of interest to a Romance collector though - lists of pseudonyms, book care, histories of various imprints etc. Out-of-print
Riggs, Thomas Contemporary Poets 1995 St James Press. 1336 pages.
Smith, Curtis C. (editor) Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers 1981 New York. St. Martin's Press
Smith, Geoffrey D. American Fiction, 1901-1925 : A Bibliography 1997 Cambridge Univ Press
Taylor, Elaine Taylor's 1998 Science fiction & Fantasy Price Guide 1998
Tedford, Marie The Official Price Guide to Old Books 1999 Ballantine Books. 480 pages. More than 10,000 prices.
Toledano, Henry Goreyography : A Divers Compendium of & Price Guide to the Works of Edward Gorey 1996 Word Play Inc. 196 pages
Toledano, Henry The Modern Library Price Guide 1917 - 2000 1999
Wade, John Tomart's Price Guide to Twentieth Century Books 1994 Out-of-print
Ward, K. Anthony First Editions : A Field Guide for Collectors of English and American Literature Out-of-print
Watters, Reginald Eyre A Checklist Of Canadian Literature And Background
Materials, 1628-1960 Out-of-print
Wright, Nancy Books : Identification and Price Guide (The Confident Collector) 1993 Avon Books. 299 pages.
Zempel, Edward N. (Editor) Book Prices : Used and Rare Annual Spoon River Press