BBourse Rare Book Price Index: November 2026
Every month we take the valuations and recorded sales behind BBourse and publish what moved: which first editions are worth the most, which rose or fell, how much more a true first printing sells for than a later one, and what an author's signature adds. Every figure below was checked against the recorded sales it comes from.
The headlines
- $50,301 for a near fine first of Casino Royale (Jonathan Cape, 1953), the most valuable book in the ranked list. Recorded copies in very good or better condition sold for $25,000 to $48,000.
- 3.7× what a signature does to the price: across 16 first printings with at least three signed and three unsigned sales in very good or better condition, the median signed copy sold for 3.7 times the median unsigned one.
- 39× the gap between a true first printing of The Godfather ($787 median sale) and the book club edition ($20). Across the eight books in our first vs later table, the median gap is 6.2×.
- 93 sales of the first US printing of A Game of Thrones in the last 12 months, the most traded book in the index.
- +52% for The Crying of Lot 49, the biggest riser of the month among books with a steady sales record.
The 25 most valuable first editions, November 2026
Value of an unsigned first printing in near fine condition, with how many copies sold in the last 12 months.
| # | Book | Value | Sales, 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Casino Royale Ian Fleming · Jonathan Cape, 1953 | $50,301 | 8 |
| 2 | Brave New World Aldous Huxley · Chatto & Windus, 1932 | $18,400 | 8 |
| 3 | The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger · Little, Brown, 1951 | $14,950 | 10 |
| 4 | The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money John Maynard Keynes · Macmillan, 1936 | $13,972 | 5 |
| 5 | Moonraker Ian Fleming · Jonathan Cape, 1955 | $11,040 | 4 |
| 6 | The Outsider and Others H. P. Lovecraft · Arkham House, 1939 | $8,096 | 3 |
| 7 | On the Road Jack Kerouac · Viking Press, 1957 | $7,266 | 7 |
| 8 | Animal Farm George Orwell · Secker & Warburg, 1945 | $6,325 | 7 |
| 9 | Diamonds Are Forever Ian Fleming · Jonathan Cape, 1956 | $6,038 | 4 |
| 10 | Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy · Random House, 1985 | $5,630 | 35 |
| 11 | A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess · Heinemann, 1962 | $5,474 | 5 |
| 12 | A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole · Louisiana State University Press, 1980 | $5,299 | 8 |
| 13 | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl · Alfred A. Knopf, 1964 | $5,239 | 9 |
| 14 | Rage Richard Bachman · Signet, 1977 | $4,982 | 21 |
| 15 | Carrie Stephen King · Doubleday, 1974 | $4,191 | 16 |
| 16 | The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson · The Viking Press, 1959 | $4,191 | 4 |
| 17 | The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C. S. Lewis · Geoffrey Bles, 1952 | $4,191 | 3 |
| 18 | The War of the Worlds H.G. Wells · William Heinemann, 1898 | $4,025 | 7 |
| 19 | Night Shift Stephen King · Doubleday, 1978 | $3,882 | 20 |
| 20 | The Gunslinger Stephen King · Grant, 1982 | $3,843 | 55 |
| 21 | 'Salem's Lot Stephen King · Doubleday, 1975 | $3,500 | 15 |
| 22 | Snow Crash Neal Stephenson · Bantam, 1992 | $3,392 | 7 |
| 23 | Survivor Octavia E. Butler · Doubleday, 1978 | $3,220 | 3 |
| 24 | Outer Dark Cormac McCarthy · Random House, 1968 | $3,144 | 11 |
| 25 | The Man in the High Castle Philip K. Dick · Putnam, 1962 | $2,990 | 8 |
Biggest movers in the last 30 days
Value now against October 15, with the change in the median sale price over the last six months as a check. Only moves backed by a steady sales record are listed.
| Book | Oct 15 | Now | 30 days | 90 days | Median sale, 6 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pynchon · J. B. Lippincott, 1966 | $575 | $874 | +52% | +54% | +146% |
| Suttree Cormac McCarthy · Random House, 1979 | $1,150 | $1,677 | +46% | +46% | +8% |
| Thunderball Ian Fleming · Jonathan Cape, 1961 | $837 | $1,049 | +25% | n/a | +176% |
| Elantris Brandon Sanderson · Tor Books, 2005 | $288 | $350 | +22% | +22% | +18% |
| V. Thomas Pynchon · J. B. Lippincott, 1963 | $2,157 | $2,000 | −7% | n/a | −70% |
| The Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness David Ogilvy · First edition | $705 | $636 | −10% | −10% | −57% |
First printing vs later printing
The same book, two printings: the median recorded sale of each in the last 12 months, all conditions.
| Book | First printing | Later printing | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Godfather Mario Puzo · G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1969 | $787 13 sales | $20 Book club edition, 51 sales | 39.4× |
| The Great Hunt Robert Jordan · Tor Books, 1990 | $720 5 sales | $45 Later printings, 31 sales | 16.0× |
| The Alchemist Paulo Coelho · HarperSanFrancisco, 1993 | $350 21 sales | $30 Later printings, 29 sales | 11.7× |
| Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace · Little, Brown, 1996 | $395 48 sales | $60 Later printings, 25 sales | 6.6× |
| A Game of Thrones George R.R. Martin · Bantam, New York, 1996 | $450 93 sales | $77 Book club edition, 12 sales | 5.8× |
| Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand · Random House, 1957 | $420 57 sales | $89 Later printings, 32 sales | 4.7× |
| The Exorcist William Peter Blatty · Harper & Row, 1971 | $200 38 sales | $44 Book club edition, 5 sales | 4.5× |
| The Gunslinger Stephen King · Grant, 1982 | $2,030 50 sales | $580 Second edition, 37 sales | 3.5× |
What a signature adds
Same book, same printing, same condition (very good or better): the median signed or inscribed copy against the median unsigned one. Across 16 first printings with enough sales on both sides, a signature multiplies the price by 3.7 at the median. The books below have the most signed sales on record.
| Book | Unsigned, median | Signed, median | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Game of Thrones George R.R. Martin · Bantam, New York, 1996 | $408 118 sales | $1,050 34 sales | +157% |
| The Stand Stephen King · Doubleday, 1978 | $590 50 sales | $2,230 11 sales | +278% |
| The Shining Stephen King · Doubleday, 1977 | $925 47 sales | $2,500 9 sales | +170% |
| The Gunslinger Stephen King · Grant, 1982 | $2,200 63 sales | $3,500 8 sales | +59% |
| Carrie Stephen King · Doubleday, 1974 | $2,850 13 sales | $4,500 7 sales | +58% |
| Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy · Random House, 1985 | $3,300 31 sales | $7,998 6 sales | +142% |
| The Eye of the World Robert Jordan · Tor Books, 1990 | $900 17 sales | $3,300 6 sales | +267% |
Stephen King
King is the deepest market in the index: five of his books make the top 25 (one of them as Richard Bachman), and the Grant first edition of The Gunslinger traded 55 times in the last year at a median of about $2,000.
- Carrie (Doubleday, 1974): $4,191, 13 recorded copies in very good or better condition, median $2,850
- Night Shift (Doubleday, 1978): $3,882
- The Gunslinger (Grant, 1982): $3,843, 55 sales in 12 months
- 'Salem's Lot (Doubleday, 1975): $3,500
- Rage (Signet, 1977): $4,982, the Bachman paperback original
Harry Potter
The UK first of Philosopher's Stone is the most valuable first edition we track, but it trades so rarely that we keep it out of the ranked list: only two unsigned copies in very good or better condition are on record, at $55,000 and $83,092. The American first is a far more liquid market.
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Bloomsbury, 1997): $51,563, thin market, see above
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Scholastic / Arthur A. Levine Books, 1998): $2,944, 6 recorded copies in very good or better condition, median $2,324
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Scholastic, 1999): $746
Dune
With Dune: Part Three due in December, the 1965 Chilton first is one to watch. Condition is everything here: of nine copies sold in the last 12 months, eight were in good condition or worse and sold for $2,250 to $17,780, while the one very good copy made $32,000.
- Dune (Chilton Books, 1965): $25,169, a thin market, so treat the estimate as indicative
A Game of Thrones
The Bantam first of A Game of Thrones is the most traded book in the index, with 93 sales in 12 months, and its median sale is up 35% half on half. The book club edition sells for about a sixth of the price.
- A Game of Thrones (Bantam, New York, 1996): $560, 93 sales in 12 months
- A Game of Thrones (Voyager Books, 1996): $864, first UK edition, 3 sales in 12 months
- A Game of Thrones (Bantam Books, 1996): $1,509, advance reading copy
Methodology
- Values come from BBourse's valuation model, which prices each printing from recorded sales of that exact printing across the main rare book marketplaces and auction records. A value is for an unsigned copy in near fine condition with its dust jacket where one was issued.
- Sales counts are copies of that exact printing recorded as sold in the 12 months to November 11, 2026. Later printings, book club editions and facsimiles are classified separately and never mixed into a first printing's figures.
- Sanity check: a book enters the ranked list only if it sold at least 3 times in the last 12 months and its value is backed by recorded sales in very good or better condition (at least three such sales, or two close together) within 0.6 to 2 times their median. 38 books passed above $1,500; we show the top 25. Books that failed, often because of a single outlier sale or a misclassified copy, are left out, not adjusted.
- Movers compare today's value with the value on October 15, 2026. A move is shown only when the book has at least 5 sales in 12 months, the value moved less than 60% (bigger jumps are usually a model correction, not the market), the median sale price over the last six months moved the same way, and the value passes the sanity check. Our valuation history mostly starts in mid October, so 90 day changes are shown only where we have them; from the December edition both windows will be complete.
- First vs later printing compares the median recorded sale of each printing of the same edition in the last 12 months, all conditions, with at least 5 sales on each side.
- The signature premium compares signed or inscribed copies with unsigned ones of the same printing, both in very good or better condition. Where a signed figure looked wrong on inspection we left it out: Dune's signed cell is excluded this month.
- We do not name the sellers or marketplaces behind individual sales.
Cite this data
You are welcome to quote these figures. Please cite: BBourse Rare Book Price Index, November 2026. https://www.bbourse.ai/rare-book-price-index
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