DO YOU HAVE A BOOK QUESTION?

[manor_house_books]

Hi all, pippy_oak here, posting under my brand new user name. Hopefully, Richard will pin this thread, as it seems a nice tidy place to pose specific questions about a book (Is it a 1st edition, what's it worth, where to find it etc. etc.) Don't just come here with a question. If you think you have the answer, then let's hear it.

Or we could just mooch around and learn a few things.

Cheers

Paul

[sigmapsidelta]

Sorry, didn't mean to push.

I just find it hard to believe that I can only place one copy of the second impression, and that's my copy. What happened to the entire first impression?

The authors are both well known individually.

Still, its a wartime publication. So it could have been made scarce through enemy action. Were we still being bombed in 1943?

[patgal4]

I am changing tack here but need your advice - Manor House. Picked up an old copy of The Shropshire Haunts of Mary Webb by W Byford-Jones, 2nd edition 1948, Wilding & Son Ltd. Problems - fly-leaf is missing and approx a halfinch strip of the decorative map endpaper has obviously been removed at the same time. The d/j is intact with original price of 9/6d but has three closed tears. There is marginal foxing to outer edges. Apart from all that the book is sound and a great read. In this condition is it worth putting on?

[sigmapsidelta]

Seems to get about $20 on ABE with a worn Dw.

Could it be ex-lib and the missing bit of the FEP is where the date sheet was attached?

[manor_house_books]

I don't see why it shouldn't sell for a modest sum.

Stress the Shropshire connection, and if you could pick out some key places referred to in the text to include in your title.

From what you have said, the condition is Fair to Good with the faults described.

[patgal4]

Thank you once more Manor House et al.

[bookchewa]

I'd love to know what a First Edition actually is and by what criterior that fact is established?

[bookchewa]

I would not recommend ABE to my worst enema.

[sigmapsidelta]

Check a few other threads, Chewa.

The means of identification have been posted numerous times.

[sigmapsidelta]

Or, better still, describe what you have and somebody here will tell you whether it is or not and how to tell.

You hum, mate, and we'll play it.

[bookchewa]

As a useful rule of thumb one must remember publishers have been churning out crap since the printing press took off...refer to Lichtenberg in the 18th century,and just because its old and in mint condition doesnt mean it is worth the paper it is printed on...classics are Arthur Mees, Hammertons, Odhams educate the peasants type of books..value comes in who wants it and who will pay on the day. Just cos its a Biggles doesnt make it resalable! There are books printed today which will not sell a single copy at publisher's price yet others you would be lucky to be able to buy at £1000 a copy. This again has always been the case. Edwardian Art books would have cost an artisans wages for a decade, similar publications today still subscribe at £20000 a unit. At the bottom of the bucket one must ask is reselling the item really worth the £2.99 you'll achieve after all the hastle of listing and sending! We have done 10000 trades and all we've discovered is that to run a business on ebay will bleed you dry...it's like feeding a hungry caterpillar, always more food (stock) needed (= more bills) and ALL books have a limited margin even if its 100% and negligible profit after ebay take their cut and paypal even take a cut of the cost of postage. Ebay is definitely NOT the place to sell books. NOR is ABE with its hyper inflated prices. Take a low sell price at a car boot sale but you will make a bigger % profit.

[sigmapsidelta]

Oh, I dunno.

I think my record, so far, is well over 10,000% clear. And a boot sale provided one of them. Bought a book for 25p - pretty battered, stained boards, spine panel absent - and it sold on eBay for £262.00

Mind you, it was a serious rarity - if you're a P.G. Wodehouse collector.

But I've watched such percentage points accumulate many times on eBay.

Maybe you're paying too much for your stock.

[sigmapsidelta]

Caught this blighter of a thread half-way down page 3!

Now, a question.

'A Royal Affair and other stories' by Guy Boothby, published by F.V. White & Co. in 1906.

The title is listed in his biblio. But I can't seem to find a copy for sale or one that has sold.

Anyone any ideas?

. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Whomever you may murder, there's no police like Holmes.

[ok-mrs-bee]

Maybe I should transfer my question from jassauctions thread. It's being ignored, over there! 😞

[manor_house_books]

Chips are missing bits of dust jacket. Was that your question?

[sigmapsidelta]

Not sure what Mrs Bee's question was.

Mine is post 111.

:-)

. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Whomever you may murder, there's no police like Holmes.

[manor_house_books]

Guy Boothby...

Don't know about this title, but he does sell on ebay, mainly in the US. Under completed listings, there is a German translation of one of his books which sold for £120.

If it doesn't owe you much, I should try a punt at a fiver, and see what happens.

[al610]

In reply to the original post...."Yeah...how come my books don't go for far more than I was expecting?"
lol..ad infinitum

[sigmapsidelta]

Thanks Manor House - 'tis done.

Now we'll see.

. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Whomever you may murder, there's no police like Holmes.

[sigmapsidelta]

It has a watcher. Is that you?

. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Whomever you may murder, there's no police like Holmes.

[ok-mrs-bee]

How on earth do you find out if an item has a watcher? I thought the seller was the only one who knew that.