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Dear Seonaid Valiant,
That's an interesting question. I addressed something similar in a piece about the history of Art in America, founded in January, 1913, and its publisher, Frederic Fairchild Sherman, for a reference work that fell through over two decades ago, as follows:
Throughout Sherman’s tenure, Art in America was an expensive magazine, produced in what must have been very small printings. A publisher’s note in October 1929 (17:6) states: “The edition of the magazine is restricted to a number sufficient only to supply subscribers and current demands, and almost every number is ‘out of print’ before the succeeding issue is off the press.” The first year the cover price was $1.00, and a subscription of four issues cost $4.00. In volume 2 the cover price dropped briefly to 75 cents, but after August 1914 (2:5) it never fell below $1.00 again, gradually climbing to $1.50 in the depths of the Depression, December 1932 (21:1), where it remained through December 1954 (42:4).
By way of comparison, an advertisement for International Studio, itself an expensive English import, appeared in the fourth issue of Art in America (Oct. 1913) at 50 cents per issue and $5.00 per year for twelve issues. A popular mass-market magazine like The Saturday Evening Post typically sold at the newsstands for 5 cents. The New Yorker cost 15 cents from its birth in 1925 to 1947.
Without any additional information about the book in question, it is hard to say much more. $2 in 1902 is worth $69.90 today, according to an inflation calculator, though I doubt that there would be a precise correlation between a fancy book and bread, for instance. The article quoted above is posted at mcgilvery.com under "Stories and Essays."
With warm wishes to all,
Larry
[log in to unmask]">Hello Everyone,
I am wondering what an average art book would have cost in 1902 in the United States. I am working on a book with more than 100 art plates that was hand bound. I believe that it was sold by a museum for more than $2.00. How reasonable would this price have been?
Sincerely,
Seonaid Valiant, PhD
Curator for Latin American Studies
Distinctive Collections
ASU Library
Affiliated Faculty, History, SILC, & ACMRS
Author of: Ornamental Nationalism: Archaeology and Antiquities in Mexico, 1876-1911. https://brill.com/view/title/35741
Library of Congress highlights exhibit Shoestring Productions: Brazilian Storytelling through Contemporary Woodcuts, Artists’ Books, and Small Press Books (1997-2021). https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2021/12/southwest-west-meets-northeast-in-shoestring-productions-brazilian-storytelling-through-contemporary-woodcuts-artists-books-and-small-press-books/
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-- Laurence McGilvery Member: Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America P. O. Box 852 La Jolla, California 92038 (858) 454-4443 [log in to unmask] (public) [log in to unmask] (private) www.mcgilvery.com
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