Princeton University Press and Brown University Press (1972). Not bad for a discounted book club reprint! However, as one commentator mentions, one BCE of The Interview With a Vampire was so limited, so rare that recently they managed to sell it at auction for over a couple hundred dollars. They are routinely looked down upon by collectors as not having intrinsic value because they are not the first true printing of a book - they are all essentially reprints. BCE's are the limited-run editions of well-known stories reprinted by subscription magazine book clubs such as Readers Digest, sent out to their members and especially printed on the anniversary of a books arrival on the market.
However, we are not all so lucky as to have a signed first edition hardcover of this writer's most famous work! This is where you might be interested to consider book club editions, or more commonly called BCE's. A true first edition of An Interview With A Vampire (1976, Alfred A Knopf, hardcover with its original gold foil dust jacket) is worth today somewhere in the region of hundreds of dollars, and a signed or advance copy in mint condition is easily worth two thousand dollars. So, are those early bodice-rippers from Rice collectible now? The short answer is yes, if you are lucky and careful with your acquisitions. Since her writing in the early eighties we have seen the 'supernatural romance' genre grow from strength to strength, now branching out to include Dark Fantasy, Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. She has made a profound mark on her literary landscape by re-invigorating the gothic novel from its roots with Bram Stoker, and wedded the genres of horror, romance and adventure seemingly forever in her Vampire Chronicles. One such writer, perhaps surprisingly, is the vampire-novelist Anne Rice.
These authors are themselves the collectible greats of the next generation, who others will be searching for, and will return to for literary inspiration. Although the greats of classical literature are undeniably collectible, there is currently a wealth of very influential writers who are well known and well-respected, who have informed the reading habits of our current generation, but who are often neglected by professional antiquarians and collectors.
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