I have purchased a Modern First book with original dust-jacket. Per the listing and inquiry with the seller, some “minor repair” works have been done to close the tears, which he states, would not diminish the value of the book by much.

Upon receiving the book and examining the dust-jacket with blacklight, I noticed that the repairs on the tears were on two places, one near the upper most of the spine measuring around 2cm and another on the bottom of the front part covering 4cm.

Per original invoice 20 years ago from Bauman Rare Books, it states the following; “Book fine, rare original dust jacket very bright and clean with only light restoration to spine ends. An extremely desirable and attractive copy.” Despite so, I inquired the seller, expressing my concern about the lengths of the tears and he was adamant that as the work done was “repair” and not “restoration (recoloring, filling in missing parts), the value of the book would not be adversely affected by much;

“It aesthetically repaired minor tears (closed tears no matter the length and never a problem as there’s no paper loss) and importantly will stop further damage and wear, while preserving the integrity of the original jacket. The tear length is less important than the extent of the damage to the paper and detectability.”

I saw the book with similar condition sold at Sotheby’s for the equivalent amount (but the one sold at Sotheby’s had recoloring restoration work done). Do you guys agree with the seller’s assessment? Is there really a difference between repairs done and restorations done on the dust-jacket and the repairs done diminishes the value of the dust-jacket less than the restoration work?

Or should I deem the book not collectible to the hardcore collectors, get refund, and seek another copy in better condition at equivalent pricing,

FIY, the book is the Hobbit 1st Ed. 1st Imp.