If so, help is at hand.
Some sellers think that because a book is old it is very valuable but that takes no account of the numbers produced and reprinted.
Take Cleopatra for example. Published in 1889, there were 25,000 copies so you should not be paying more than £40 for a VG copy.
Or, think of a later reprint such as the more elusive copies of Treasure of the Lake: here scarcity and smaller print runs can inflate a poorish reprint up to about £20.
A dustwrapper can sometimes increase the price of book manifold.
So how can you find out these details as well as identifying a first? Roger Allen, Secretary of the Rider Haggard Society, has published two guides. Click on Haggard's fictional works or Haggard's non-fictional works for more details. Use your back arrow to return to this page.