APPRAISER: You brought in, obviously, a Tarzan book.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Tell me about it. Where did you find it?
GUEST: It was just an estate sale and I just liked it, so I bought it. I liked the cover, and it's interesting. I like books, so.
APPRAISER: Do you read Tarzan in general or just...
GUEST: (laughing) No. I have grandchildren, so I just picked it up on a whim.
APPRAISER: When did you buy it?
GUEST: I'm not sure, I'm thinking 2000?
APPRAISER: About 15 years ago?
GUEST: Yeah, yeah. You know, I think it's one of the early ones.
APPRAISER: This book is done by a company called McClurg.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Who are actually the first publishers of the book. There was a reprint company called Grosset & Dunlap that did later printings of them. They did them very nicely. They actually can have some value because they also have very pretty dust jackets. And then there was a Burroughs publishing company, because after he started publishing, getting popular, he said, "Why do I have to pay a publisher? I'll have my own publishing company."
GUEST: Oh, he did.
APPRAISER: And so some of his later books are done by Burroughs Publishing, but let me show the title page here.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: It's Tarzan the Untamed. It was done in 1920, McClurg & Co. When you flip over the title page, it's 1920-- the copyright. So this is the first edition of this book.
GUEST: Oh, good.
APPRAISER: And one of the important parts about first editions is the dust jackets. Collectors who collect this kind of book, the jacket is almost everything. And one of the reasons for that is if you think about it, you get a book, it's well-read, people enjoy it...
GUEST: Sure.
APPRAISER: What falls apart first, what goes away first?
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Sometimes what do people take off first? And the other thing about this is the first Tarzan book, which everybody knows, that was done in 1914. And one of the things that's sometimes very helpful if you're wondering where in the series this comes, well, you can open the dust jacket.
GUEST: Ah!
APPRAISER: And it very conveniently shows you that there were six before this, and this is the seventh in the series out of 24 that he did total on the Tarzan series. It's in good condition. There are a few little tiny nicks and tears, not the worst thing in the world. Now, you said you bought it at an estate or yard sale.
GUEST: Yeah
APPRAISER: Usually books aren't priced that high. Do you remember?
GUEST: You know, I think I just handed her a dollar.
APPRAISER: And she handed you the book.
GUEST: (laughing) Right.
APPRAISER: This book, an average, good retail value is $1,500.
GUEST: (laughing) Really?
APPRAISER: Really.
GUEST: Cute. (laughs) I like it.
APPRAISER: If you didn't have the dust jacket on this, maybe $100, maybe $75.
GUEST: Oh, really?
APPRAISER: Because the collectors who want it, they want that jacket. Even when you first said at the beginning, "Oh, it was colorful, it caught my eye."
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: It's the dust jacket. It's the dust jacket that caught your eye.
GUEST: Great.
