Listing Pre-1865 and Civil War Era Medical Books on eBay

Topics: Listing methods, Evaluations, Pricing, Medical textbooks, Civil War medical books, Antique medical books, Rare medical books, Hospital Department, Medical Department

By Dr. Michael Echols, American Civil War Surgical Antiques

The principle differentiation for a Civil War era medical book from any other medical book is topic, author, dates published, publisher, who ordered the books published, e.g. the U.S. Army Medical or Hospital departments.  A factor which greatly figures into the value of these rare text-books is if the Medical Department or the Surgeon General's Office thought they were of value to military surgeons.  That information is available by looking at the books listed as having been published and marked for the Medical or Hosptial Department...or looking at the list of medical books which were listed in the printed 1860's catalogue of the Surgeon General's Office library.  Those lists can be found on American Civil War Antiques website by searching on the site for 'SGO library catalogue' and viewing the lists posted on pages for the two years when the lists were printed: 1863 and 1865.  The books on those lists will tell you which books the surgeons valued, distributed to the surgeons, and placed in the military hospitals and the Surgeon General's library.

Book evaluations are very subjective.  Just because a book is 150 years old doesn't mean it can't be in very good or fine condition.  Age is not an excuse for poor condition, but abuse is.  If a book has been left in a wet and unprotected environment (a basement or barn) for years, it's going to be in pretty poor condition as opposed to it having been carefully preserved in a personal library. 

Values vary greatly due to rarity, condition, authors, topic, version, date, etc.  Sometimes you can find medical text-book asking-prices by book dealers on the web site at either: abebooks.com, bookfinder.com,  or alibris.com.

Hospital and Medical Department medical books

The values or either Hosp. Dept. or Medical Dept. marked medical books are much higher than non-marked editions because the are rare.  During the Civil War, the Medical Department ordered specific medical text-books for use by Union Surgeons.  Keep in mind that many if not most surgeons were educated in the north prior to the Civil War, so they would have used the same text-books, but the CSA did not mark their books like the Union.  In general most military marked medical books printed during the Civil War will sell for $1,500 or more depending on the topic, condition, and author.  Books on surgery or surgical anatomy generally command more than mundane topics like pathology, but all military marked medical books are valuable and should be well represented in any Civil War collection.

Again, one of the most helpful resources to determine which medical books were most prized and considered most valued to the physicians and surgeons during the Civil War is the books which were in the Surgeon-General's Library catalogue during the Civil War. 

Points to consider when listing your medical book on eBay:

• The details on the title page are extremely important and must be in focus to be readable, the buyer has to be able to see the author, publisher and above all the date of publication.  You should post the author, title, and date in the listing.

• The hinge of the front cover should be visible, as well as the outside of the covers (boards) and the spine with the name.

Above: Views you should include in your listing

Condition, description, and your photos:

If you are not an expert in evaluation of the condition of a book, then it is your responsibility to carefully and faithfully document the books' condition with photographs.  With digital photos there is no excuse to not fully document the full condition of your book.  Terms such as: fine, very good, good, and poor should be left to the buyer to determine from your digital photos.

Ex-library (Ex-Libris): If a book was marked as being a part of a public library, it must always be designated as such no matter what the condition of the book. Most of these old library books have stamps inside, the white marking ink on the spine of the book, and cards or pockets on the inside from library usage.  Some collectors do not wish to own exlibris books and you are responsible for bringing up that point in your listing.

You should supply measurements for the book size: height, width, and thickness of the book.  (i.e. 5 x 7 x 1/2 in.)

Show any defects or damage to pages such as water stains or foxing.  See a list of defects below.

Above: Insect damage to the spine of the book

Above: Chipping of left edge of spine with loss of book cover material

Above: Broken hinges, split binding between pages must be noted and shown in your photos, not listing this kind of problem will get you negative feedback quicker than almost anything else regarding a book listing.  Open the book and note or photograph this kind of problem in your listing.

Describing defects or shown in your photos:

• Bumped edges or corners bent. Someone set this book down too hard on one or more of its corners or the edge is bent or broken.
• Foxing or foxed. Light brown or rust colored spotting on the pages.  This is a common problem due to dampness and should be fully disclosed and to what extent.
• Scuffed or rubbed marks on the covers (boards) of the book that look a lot like the scuff marks on shoes.  Photos usually show this kind of problem well.
• Cut and loose leather or cloth covering. Show it in your photos, explain it in the description.
• Insect damage.  Insect damage to the outside covers, spine or pages should be documented by photos.
• Water stains.  Irregular water marked pages or covers of the book must be documented.  Mildew may be present too, if so it should be noted.
• Detached pages or missing pages.  Obviously you should say if there are missing pages or if they are loose from the binding.
• Shaken pages.  Groups of pages are loose or out of alignment from the spine binding, usually due to the back of the binding being loose.  There are splits in the gutter between pages. A Big problem!
• Broken hinge.  The page is broken down in the gutter so you can see into the spine of the book. A really Big problem!  (See attached photo on this page.)
• Chipped or missing parts of the spine (back edge of the book on which the name is printed is missing part of the covering.)

The better job you do of listing your book the less problem you will have with feedback on your book.  Be honest and do your best.  Check your photos by looking at them before you post them on eBay.  If they are not clear, do them over.

For information on U.S.Army Hosptial or Medical Department marked medical books, see another eBay Guide article on that topic with values by Dr. Echols.

Dr. Michael Echols is collector of pre-1865 Civil War medical books.  He is not a book dealer.  For additional information and examples of Dr. Echols' Civil War medical book and surgical set collection, please search for his web site:

American Civil War Surgical Antiques

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