Inscription can add a lot to the value of a hardback first edition

If you have any first editions of Irish books at home, a forthcoming London auction will give you a fair idea of what collectors might be prepared to pay for them.

The Peter Apap Bologna collection of modern first editions is going under the hammer on November 5th, and Mr Nicholas Workskett, head of books at Christie's, says there's "a very strong Irish contingent in the sale".

All items in the auction are first editions in hardback "and they've all got their dust jackets, which is extremely important. I usually say it is about 90 per cent of the value".

So important is the dust jacket that you can't sell most modern, post-war novels without them, he says. "Without them they're considered not worth having, to be honest. I suppose the parallel would be the Dinky toys without their boxes."

An author's signature can also "add a lot" to values. "There is a modern tendency for mass signings, of course. Once a writer had become very famous and was being printed in large numbers, the signature therefore would not have so much influence on the value.

"But if it's an early book, which is therefore printed before the writer became famous and therefore in smaller numbers, when that's signed then that can have an enormous influence. It can double and triple the value.

"And if it's an interesting inscription to a friend or to a fellow writer or a wife or a husband then it can influence it even more."

For instance, a book by Frederick Forsyth inscribed "For Dennis Wheatley. For the maestro from the novice. Freddie Forsyth, 1973" is estimated at £400-£600 sterling (€615-€922). "Without that inscription the book would probably be worth under £100," he says.

Irish author John Banville's first book, Long Lankin (1970), unsigned in very fine condition with its dust jacket, is estimated at £350-£450. Banville's second book, Nightspawn (1971) in fine condition and with dust jacket, is estimated at £300-£400. A group of eight books, including recent books, by Banville is estimated at £160-£200.

Five lots with single books by Molly Keane, writing as M.J. Farrell, namely Mad Puppetstown (1931), Devoted Ladies (1934), Full House (1935), The Rising Tide (1937) and Two Days in Ara- gon (1941) are each estimated at £100-£150.

Another lot of four Molly Keane first edition books, including Good Behaviour (1981), the first book she wrote under her own name and which was shortlisted for the Booker prize, is estimated at £50-£100.

Some 24 books by William Trevor in one lot starting with his third novel, The Boarding House (1965) is estimated at £700-£900 - described by Mr Worskett as "bargain basement".

"So it's a nice way of acquiring a really good collection of Trevor, many of which are signed or limited editions,' he says.

Brian Moore is well represented in the auction. For instance a group of 10 books by Moore dating from 1951-1958 is estimated at £500-£700.

Two lots of 14 and 16 books by various Irish writers are estimated at £300-£400 and £280-£380, respectively.

These lots include first editions by Flann O'Brien, Seamus Deane, Booker-nominated Colm Toibin, Patrick McGinley, Patrick McCabe, Thomas Kilroy, John McGahern, Michael McLaverty, Edna O'Brien and Benedict Kiely - in whose honour the Irish Writers' Union hosted a lifetime achievement celebration last week.

Seamus Heaney is well represented, with as many as 10 lots. The first edition of Death of a Naturalist (1966), the poet's first book with dust jacket is estimated at £400-£600. A Boy Driving his Father to Confession (1970), from a limited edition of 50 copies, signed, is estimated at £500-£700, while a group lot with 13 books by Heaney is estimated at £450-£500.

Books by Martin Amis, Aldous Huxley, Graham Greene, J.G. Ballard, A.S. Byatt and Jeanette Winterson, among many others, also feature in the auction.

Joe Armstrong can be contacted at jmarms@irish-times.ie

Joe Armstrong's book, Men's Health The Common Sense Approach, based on his Man Alive column in The Irish Times, has just been published by Gill & Macmillan. Price £4.99.