GoKawiilIf you wanted Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird back when it first released in the summer of 1960, a hardcover copy would have set you back $3.95. J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring came out a few years before; Houghton Mifflin didn’t print the price on the jacket until 1961, but when they finally did, the flap asked potential buyers to part with five whole dollars.
Cash register at Powell’s. Photo by Quinn Daedal .
Meanwhile, the current price of a hardcover book? They commonly run around $28, $30, or higher. The price for The Idea Machine is $34.95 (naturally, a steal at any price).
It’s crazy how the prices of books have gone up, and it’s impossible to avoid people complaining about the hikes, whether in discussion forums, social media, or other publications. “We’re in a book affordability crisis,” Book Riot announced in October, and memes like this one, recently posted on X, garner millions of views.
But this is hogwash. Let’s all just breathe into a paper bag and do a little math, starting with nominal prices.
To Inflate a Mockingbird
Yes, the original price of To Kill a Mockingbird and Tolkien’s Fellowship were just $3.95 and $5. But those are nominal values. When we factor inflation, the picture changes dramatically. In today’s dollars—and you can run this exercise yourself—those cover prices would look more like $43 and $54.
But, of course, they’re nowhere near so high. I’ve got a hardcover of To Kill a Mockingbird right here by my elbow printed in 2023. Cover price? $27.99. So, while the nominal cost of books has gone up, factoring inflation, it’s nowhere near as high as we should expect. In fact, while not immune, books have been remarkably resistant to inflation.
Along with countless other goods and services, the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks the cost of “recreational books” year over year as part of the Consumer Price Index. And guess what? $20 worth of books in 1997 would cost you a skosh less today: $19.49. “Recreational books experienced an average inflation rate of -0.09% per year,” reports the CPI Inflation Counter website.
Now compare that to housing, healthcare, or admission to sporting events, movies, and concerts—all of which have actually trended higher than general inflation. In the adjoining chart, books represent the only flat line.
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