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First editions of The Gruffalo (Macmillan Children's Books) have increased in value more than any other picture book in the past decade, according to research compiled by JustCollecting.
JustCollecting, a community website for collectors based in Bristol, looked at the increase in value of first editions of picture books between 2006 and 2016, working in association with PBA Galleries, a book auction house in San Francisco.
Daniel Wade, head writer at the site, told The Bookseller: “Some picture books are pretty rare and sell for a huge amount of money, so we wanted to keep track of them. We are a western, English language site, so the list has a British and American bias.”
The title that has shown the biggest increase is The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, as first editions of that book have experienced a per annum increase in value of 11.6% between 2006-2016.
Gruffalo first editions sell for around $150 (£113.8) on average. There were a large amount of first editions published when the book was released in 1999, but children growing up in the late '90s and noughties are now “nostalgic for their youth”, according to Wade.
The next biggest earners in terms of value growth are: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and published by Harper & Row (up 9.6% per annum to $5,000/£3,793); The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, first published by Hamish Hamilton in the UK and Putnam in the US, (up 9.2% pa to $12,000/£9,104); The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams and William Nicholson, published by George H Doran, (up 8.8% pa to $7,000/£5,311) and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, published by Harper & Row (up 8.8% pa to $3,500/£2,656).
However, first editions of The Gruffalo sell for considerably less than the most expensive first edition picture books. When it comes to the most valuable picture books, the title that comes top is Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey (Houghton Mifflin), which sells for around $25,000 (£18,966).
“Curious George is enduringly popular,” said Wade. “It’s never been out of print and it has a fascinating story behind it – the manuscript was smuggled out of war-torn Europe by the authors.”
The next most expensive first editions are: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, published by The Viking PRess ($17,500); The Very Hungry Caterpillar ($12,000); The Velveteen Rabbit ($7,000); and Where The Wild Things Are ($5,000).
Other popular UK picture books that are on the Picture Book Index are Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea (HarperCollins Children's) and We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury (Walker Books). Tiger has increased 5.8% in value every year over the past decade and first editions now sell for $700 (£531). Bear Hunt first editions retail for $300 (£227) after increasing 4.1% per annum in value during the same period.
One author that is absent from the list is Beatrix Potter because, even though her books can be very valuable, she self-published some titles before finding a publisher, making classification hard, Wade added.