Q. I found this book while cleaning out my barn. It is titled New Hampshire for Summer Homes and is the second edition published in 1904. There are about four pages at the end that look like they have been torn or eaten by something. Other than that, the book is in good condition. Can you tell me anything about it? Would anyone have an interest in it?

A. The ins and outs of collecting books can be very complicated. As a general rule, first editions are the most desired and later editions bring far less money and are far less desirable to serious collectors.

Another thing to consider is that the first edition of a popular author's first book can have a significant value. An example might be Graham Greene's first book, Babbling April (1925), which is now worth in excess of $4,000 in pristine condition with its dust wrapper. We have seen one priced as high as $6,500!

The presence of a book's dust jacket or dust wrapper in good condition can be very important to the value, as can whether or not the book is signed by the author. Take Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, for example. The first edition of this (with the word "stopped" on page 181 spelled "stoppped") is worth in excess of $20,000.

The second printing of the same first edition, however, with the word "stopped" spelled correctly, is worth much less, at around $1,500 plus, depending on condition. But if Hemingway signed the first edition with the spelling error, this book is worth more than $30,000.

Now, to your book. It is an interesting piece, but no way nearly as valuable as the Greene or Hemingway examples. Your book was first issued in 1902 by the New Hampshire State Board of Agriculture. It contained numerous black-and-white photographs of homes and farms throughout the state.

Doing a little research, it is clear that each edition of this book had different photographs, and each subsequent edition was not a reprint of the first, so each one stands on its own as a separate work. We found 11 editions of this work and each one reportedly had the same cover, a depiction of the New Hampshire landmark and state symbol, the "Old Man and the Mountain."

The color of the covers varied with each edition, and each edition varied in length, with the first edition having 70 pages, the second 72 pages, the third 48 pages, the fourth 48 pages, the fifth 56 pages and so forth.

Attics and barns are terrible places to store antiques, and they are even worse if the antiques in question are made of paper or cloth. Besides being vermin-eaten (could be a mouse, could be almost anything else), the cover of your book appears to have been damaged by water. This is a serious defect.

Few collectors would find this condition acceptable, but most of the pieces we discovered for sale did have condition problems, such as loose pages, light foxing (dark spots caused by mold and mildew), cover chipping, regluing and such. Most of these examples were selling in the $100-to-$150 range, but we feel the damage on this piece is more serious and keeps the value down below $50, probably closer to $25 or even less.

Send questions to Treasures in Your Attic, P.O. Box 27540, Knoxville, TN 37927, or e-mail treasures@knology.net.