Q: Good evening…My father has a lot of old books and is not internet savvy so asked me (daughter) to look up more information on this “The Biography of Benjamin Franklin”, which pages are beautiful in pristine condition but the outside looks worn a bit 😉 The binding keeps all pages in but edges starting around inside of cover are starting to crack 🙁 It says First Edition yet all info so far says its a reprint? Or Series of? I attached photos for view. Is this a reprint/series/any information will make him smile we’re huge history buffs. And he has curiosity if with its conditions does a book like this still have value? Thank you so much for your time.

A: Your book is part of the Petit Trianon Series and was published in 1897. During that year all of the titles in this series had the dot pattern on the left of the front cover. On the right was one of many decorative patterns. I have seen 14 different as of this time. Several are shown below. The book was originally sold within a labeled box.

All of the volumes in this series are reprints. A few very collectible titles have some value but most (including yours) really have only nominal value. In addition the cover of your book is in poor shape making it a hard sell regardless.