The Mystery of Jack the Ripper

[LouistheSeer]

Hello Everyone, I have a first edition of " The Mystery of Jack the Ripper by Leonard Matters, I wondered how much this could be worth if I sold it, it is in quiet good condition but there is no dust cover with it, its hardback and the binding is a red colour, can anyone help please ? :-)

Thanks Louis

[Mike Covell]

I have just found a copy of this and payed £15.00 for it, which was worth it in my view.

[LouistheSeer]

Leonard Matters

Thankyou for that Mike, I'll keep that price as a guide line if I should sell it.

Louis

[Mike Covell]

You might get offers from fellow Casebook users if they don't have it in their collection.

[The Grave Maurice]

Hi Louis,

The Matters book is still fairly easy to find in its various editions and printings but the prices vary a lot. Here are a few examples from ABEbooks. With books, as with other collectibles, condition is everything. I think Mike was quite lucky to find a copy for £15. Not long ago, I found an almost perfect copy and was happy to pay the equivalent of £50 for it. Of course, if you happen to come across a first edition, first printing in a decent dust jacket, it would be worth several times that much.

[George Hutchinson]

Yep, £15 is really the going rate for the picture-free 1964 Arrow paperback reprint. A First Edition is definitely worth more than that. If you were going to sell it on eBay, I'd start it at £25 and expect it to sell anywhere between that and £40 so long as the right people were looking and you added it was a First Edition.

PHILIP

[Stewart P Evans]

The Mystery of Jack the Ripper

Details of the hardback editions of Matters' book are as follows -

The Mystery of Jack the Ripper The World's Greatest Crime Problem, London, Hutchinson & Co., n.d. [1929], no index, 254 pages, with 10 illustrations and 5 diagrams. It was cased in red cloth with gilt lettering. There was a second impression, s.y., my copy of which was (I sold it some time ago) cased in blue cloth with black lettering.

The second edition The Mystery of Jack the Ripper, London, W.H. Allen, n.d. [1948], no index, 144 pages, with 5 illustrations and 5 maps/plans. It was cased in red cloth with gilt lettering with a variant binding in green cloth with gilt lettering.

A very good first edition should command a dealer price in the region of £100 or thereabouts, without dustwrapper.

[chrisjd]

There's also a Third Impression of the 1929 Edition, Red Cloth, black lettering to spine.

C

[Mike Covell]

The book finally arrived this morning and it is the 1964 paperback edition minus pictures or maps. The book is in perfect condition and has taken pride of place amongst my ripper books.

[BLUE WIZZARD]

Mike Covell,

Congratulation and good reading.

BW

[Bailey]

Nice score, Mike. I have the same edition, but in less than perfect condition - binding is solid, no major rips or tears, but a fair bit of wear and all yellowed and spotted. However, it cost me about three bucks (that's NZ dollars, so with the current exchange rate, about a pound, or a buck fifty US) so I ain't grumbling.

B.

[Stewart P Evans]

One of my earliest...

One of my earliest Ripper books, bought for 3/6 in 1964 and that was a week's pocket money to me.

[Mike Covell]

Yes, thats the one Stewart! That money is foreign to me, my father always talks in old money and it just confuses me.

The book is an interesting read, and I sat and read it in it's entirety this weekend, I just couldn't put it down, and it got me quite interested in Dr. Stanley! Excellent book, and quite a fun read.

[Rob Clack]

I've got copies of the earlier paperback editions, only because I love the cover artwork on these editions.

1948 and 1960



Rob