The price of collecting
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- April
- 16
Well, I just agreed to pay $30 (plus shipping) for a book to round out one of my series.
I’m sitting here wondering if I’m as nuts as that sounds. In this day and age, with money tight, is it worth it to pay twice the price of a new book for something that, if one is exceptionally lucky, can be found for 50 cents at some tag sale? Or for free, if one has the proper hangdog look and the book is old and probably smelly and may have some green (or whatever) splotches on the spine?
I guess that depends on what kind of collector you are. And I’m the kind who likes to own all the books in a series, and read them in order.
I’m not in the class that will casually drop $1,000 for a first-edition whatever. I buy old books to read them, so the condition and printing order isn’t all that important to me, provided the tome will stay together long enough for me to enjoy the story. And I’ve noticed that once I’ve bought a book, my chances of seeing another copy (in better condition) increase astronomically, so I can always replace a really ratty copy of, say “The Harvester” by Gene Stratton Porter with one in better condition eventually.
But pickings these days are getting slim for old novels, and I debated about a minute before deciding I’d rather have the $30 copy of “Dorothy Dale’s Strange Discovery” (1914) while I had access than wait for another to pop up at a cheaper price. I really shouldn’t complain. I bought most of the other books in the series for about $3 each, not counting the first three I got for $1 at a tag sale last summer.
I figured the satisfaction of completing the series was worth the cash. And I’m thankful the sellers didn’t ask $50 for the book. That price might have been a deal-breaker. I think.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 4:34 pm by Randi Weiner.
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i too like to own all the books in a series and read in order. But not at such a steep price. But it depends.
In the future, contact some local public libraries and their Friends bookstores. New Rochelle, for example, has a great selection plus an entire basement of books (914-632-7878, ext. 35). The folks who run the Friends bookstore in New Rochelle seem to know every volume that they have. If they don’t have it, they’ll keep an eye out for it and let you know if a copy comes in. Mamaroneck also seems to have a well-stocked Friends bookstore.