This came in a bit late for my previous post Book Collecting Juice which including a link to a recent article in the Telegraph about books as an investment.
The Standard, an English language paper in Hong Kong, has a piece by Ronald Chan titled Judging the Fine Print which comes on the heels of the inaugural Hong Kong International Antiquarian Book Fair that will take place from November 30 to December 2
Chan, founder and chief executive of the private investment company Chartwell Capital, says:
“The growing interest in rare books has finally hit Asia, with alternative investors seeing them as an undervalued asset class… As many factors determine the value of rare books, it is challenging to calculate its overall return as an asset class. But if we only look into the titles of auction quality, their investment returns beat other asset classes.”
Using Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as an example Chan charts the books appreciation against the annual returns of the Hang Seng index, The Dow Jones, gold and US Treasury. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory blew away the competition amassing a 20% annual return, only the Hang Seng was close with an 18% annual return.
Chan also reminds us that “millions of books have been published over the past 100 years, but only hundreds have become classics with dramatic increases in value. The true nature of rare-book investment has been distorted by a focus on the winners that are in demand at the expense of the rest.”
One can still build a formidable collection that isn’t focused on hi-spots, thematic collections offer as much investment potential.
Chan then gives us a phrase worthy of inclusion in the next edition of John Carter’s ABC for Book Collectors.
“Misleading vividness” – a term he uses to denote “books that are popular today [that] might fade into oblivion tomorrow.”
Maybe it’s time to start sending our catalogs to investment firms?