Q: I am a volunteer at a bookstore in Bluffton, Ohio. We received as a donation a set of 39 of William Shakespeare’s Plays. Using your website, I have determined that our set is of the Format 7 variety, which was published from 1906-1933. I was wondering if you could tell me how to precisely date the set? Or is it that each book in the set was published within that range of dates? Also, they are used and in good condition, is there any way you could tell me how much they’re worth?

A: The Format 7 books were published continuously between 1906 and 1933. The title pages of the earlier format 7 books are red (later are black).

See Shakespeare’s Plays for more information about this format.

Originally all these volumes were all housed in a large box.

These books are very common. Most often when offered for sale, there are no bidders. A few dollars for each book would be reasonable.

You might get a bit more if your books have dust jackets.

Examples of the dust jacket and the box are shown below.