I recently saw a list of the most valuable books in existence today. At the top of this list was the Codex Leicester, which is a notebook comprising many of Leonard da Vinci’s hand-written scientific writings. Worth roughly $69 million, the notebook is referred to as the Codex Leicester since it was once owned by Thomas Coke, first earl of Leicester. Other books on the list include the first published collection of William Shakespeare’s works known as The First Folio ($12.4 million), and religious volumes, such as the Babylonian Talmud ($12.7 million), the Rothschild Prayerbook ($18.5 million), and the original Book of Mormon ($46 million) by Joseph Smith. The one notable non-religious American book on the list is John James Audonbon’s The Birds of America. Any one of the 119 copies still known to exist is worth about $12.4 million.

Of course, a book’s value often goes beyond its market price. I would contend that two other factors figure into its value. First, are the lessons it teaches, especially to children. Consider one of my favorite children’s stories, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. The plot about a toy rabbit who wants to become real isn’t new (remember Pinocchio?), but the lessons Williams’ book offers are powerful. Without disclosing any “spoilers,” those lessons would include the importance of self-acceptance, the need to develop strength and resilience, and understanding that love is the most important thing in life. (Note: I think there are some lessons from The Velveteen Rabbit that most people overlook, but that’s a topic for a future blog.)

Some books, especially those regarded as classics, provide lessons for adults and teens through a variety of plot constructions. Some such books, like John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and George Orwell’s Animal Farm, present their lessons in the form of an allegory. Others like, Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, and The Secret Garden deliver their lessons through the experiences of a confused or conflicted youth colliding with the harsh realities of adult life. Still others use historical events, mysteries, dystopian societies, and author-created fantasy worlds to communicate their respective lessons.

The second factor that impacts a book’s value is its personal significance to you. More than likely, that significance comes from who gave you that book and why. This fact came home to me a few weeks ago when my brother- and sister-in-law brought a large box of old books to my wife and me. They wanted us to take these books to our local library where they could be sold in a fund-raising book sale. But first, I decided to look through them one-by-one. That’s how I came across a book titled Baseball’s Greatest Hitters by Tom Meany. It had been given as a gift by Jennifer’s grandparents to her father Richard as a birthday gift in 1951, when Richard was still a boy. I made sure Jennifer returned the book to her dad, knowing it would be far more valuable to him than it would be to a stranger who bought it at a book sale.

I have a few books of my own whose value comes from who gave them to me and the occasion for the giving. At the top of the list is a 1956 edition of Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, which I received as a Christmas gift around 1960. It’s outdated and shopworn but still valuable because it came from my parents, who both passed away more than two decades ago. A Civil War nonfiction book, The Battle of Stones River by Larry Daniel, is equally valuable to me because it was a Christmas gift from my wife Becky and because my great-grandfather fought in the battle as a member of the 6th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Even if I had the chance to acquire the Codex Leicester by giving up my Webster’s dictionary and my copy of Larry Daniel’s book, I wouldn’t do so, because to me, those books have a value that goes beyond their price at a bookstore or auction.