- So what do we have this time?
Well, this time I bought you something wildly interesting.
[LAUGHS]
Which is?
A book by Oscar Wilde.
You really need to work on the jokes, dude.
And that's among the best of them.
[BOOING]
I bought this one privately from a family that inherited it.
I love Oscar Wilde.
There's just a lot of wit and charm in his works.
I'm asking a really reasonable price today of $2,000.
You know, it's so reasonable I don't think I want
to take much less than that.
OK, this is interesting.
"The Happy Prince and Other Tales" by Oscar Wilde.
Printed in 1888.
1888.
Is this a first edition?
This is a first edition.
And it's a very interesting book.
This was really the first book that sort of
cemented his literary career.
Yeah, and half the country loved him--
loved his works, and thought he was
just a complete genius, and the other half absolutely hated
him.
Exactly.
I'm sure you know Oscar Wilde was
one of these great personalities of the 19th century.
Yeah.
Well, yeah, he was a very odd cat.
[LAUGHS]
Exactly.
Well, I consider him sort of like the Lady
Gaga of the 1890s.
[LAUGHS]
Oscar Wilde published the majority of his work
during a seven-year stretch in the late 1800s.
And even though he's still considered a creative genius,
he seems to be remembered more today
for having that over-the-top personality
and just being a funny guy.
So how many actual stories are there in here?
Well, there's five stories in there.
Definitely cool, man.
So how much do you want for it?
I'm looking for $2,000 for it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Which might very well be a good price.
I'm not sure.
I'm going to call Rebecca up.
I'm going to get her down here.
She will help me out with this.
- Oh, of course, yeah. - OK?
Hang out a little bit. I'm gonna go give her a call.
Great. Thanks so much.
A first edition Oscar Wilde would be
an amazing item for the shop.
But I don't want to get too excited
until Rebecca gets here and tells me it's the real deal.
What have we got?
We have something really wild.
Yeah.
You gotta stop those bad jokes.
You both need to stop those bad jokes.
Oscar Wilde.
Well, this is the book.
He says it's a first edition.
May I pull it out of the Mylar?
Of course.
You know how to handle these things.
This was the sort of breakout work for Wilde.
He had printed a number of poems.
He was famous for doing reviews.
But this is when the literary establishment starts taking him
a little bit more seriously.
And just a couple of years later, he ends up producing
"The Picture of Dorian Gray."
And then, of course, his big, big hit was "The Importance
of Being Earnest."
And he lived a very extravagant lifestyle, too.
Even on his deathbed, he was sipping champagne.
And he supposedly said, alas, I'm dying beyond my means.
[LAUGHS]
I'm a fan of Oscar Wilde because he is all about style.
He had a number of contributions in the literary world,
but also, he was kind of important in the history
of authorship, of this superstar author
that everyone paid attention to.
So it's definitely a first edition?
In this case, we actually call this the first trade edition
because the same year, there was a deluxe edition
published of 75 copies.
OK.
And this is the trade edition, the first that
was pretty much open access.
You didn't have to pay specially for.
And there were 1,000 copies of this printed, which
is still a very small number.
OK.
So what do you think of the condition?
Listen, I've seen better, but I've seen worse.
OK?
This book is notorious for this kind of soiling.
Japanese vellum, which is what you've got here,
this is what happens with it, unfortunately.
The materials used were very beautiful.
Wilde was very, very sensitive about how
his books were published, and he wanted them to be beautiful.
The problem is he didn't anticipate how
they would age 100 years later.
So it does have, obviously, an effect on the value.
Just like coins and other things, some of them
age better than others.
You're right.
There are some books, when there are certain condition traits
that are acceptable that would be utterly
unacceptable in another book.
All right, so--
value?
This book, you do see a big range, depending on condition.
I'd be willing to place it--
I would say 2,600.
Optimistically, 2,800.
OK.
All right?
Thanks. You're the best.
You're welcome, Rick.
Thanks so much, Rebecca.
Bye, Adam.
This book is not as famous as some of the other Oscar Wilde
works.
But I don't think he's going to have a hard time moving
it because it's Oscar Wilde.
Everyone loves him.
OK, so we're not so far off this time.
Give me a number.
Let me have it for 1,500.
Well, you know, when I was younger,
I thought money was the most important thing in the world.
And now that I'm older, I know it is.
[LAUGHS]
That's Oscar Wilde.
What about something about, uh, 21?
Didn't you say earlier you wanted 2,000?
Just-- she gave me a better appraisal than I thought.
There's a lot of demand for Wilde.
I'll give you 1,700 bucks.
I'll come down.
But give me a little bit more.
Give me 1,800.
That's a fair price.
You're going to sell this.
I know you bring me stuff all the time.
And this one, I actually think will sell quick compared
to some of the other things.
So 1,800 bucks.
Do you want to wrap it up for me?
And I'll meet you right over there.
Yeah, let's do that.
I'll bring it over.
We ended up on settling on 1,800.
I mean, that's a really fair price.
I'm definitely going to be back.
I'm saving some books that I think Rick will like.
And I'm definitely saving some books
that I think Rebecca will like.