Depends on how many "Steam" publications were issued in 1892 and how many are still around and the condition of the publication. I would keeo it, why sell it?????
Look on eBay to get an idea what it'll go for. That's where I got most of my old books, but I've never paid all that much - most of them I got for $15 or $20, a few for a couple of bucks or less. You just have to watch for a while.
To be truthful, I didn't really find it, it was given to be in the late 1980s by a boiler engineer that was even older than me.
As I am approaching retirement (only 13c days to go) I was sorting through the files in my garage and found it in an archive box. Surprisingly, I have hand written boiler performance calculations from the 1960s when we were building 500MW coal fired boilers in the UK.
The inside cover has three signatures of previous owners, one dated 1892, one 1957 and the other some time in the 1970s.
At the moment the price for the book could be between $1 and $5800.
athomas236;
All kidding aside, I would keep the book. I have several 'old' ASME code book sections and other publications that I intend to keep.
By the way, congratulations on a personal achievement - retirement. Best of Luck to you.
You might also consider adding your name and a date to the front cover and passing it on to someone who you think would appreciate it -- carrying on the tradition, if you will.
Patricia Lougheed
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I agree with Patricia. I have a lot of stuff, some physical and other as written material, books, etc, none of it as cool as a 1892 version of Steam - even if the one I got in my senior year in university is about half as old - that will be trashed by my heirs if I don't pass it on to someone who will recognize the value of it and treasure it. I am a just few more days away from the magic retirement age than you, but not triple digits and I have been giving that a lot of thought lately. I just can't stand the thought of what I consider to be really cool technical stuff going in a garage sale for a penny and if I don't find a home for it, that is about what it will amount to if it is not outright trashed.
What I decided to do was pass the book over to a younger boiler engineer (ex-UK Babcock) who was taken with the idea of being given a piece of history.
Thanks for mentioning the Linda Hall Library. I was not aware of the existence of this obviously significant institution.
Valuable advice from a professor many years ago: First, design for graceful failure. Everything we build will eventually fail, so we must strive to avoid injuries or secondary damage when that failure occurs. Only then can practicality and economics be properly considered.
