Comments | booksellers: In defence of substance.

anik in booksellers

In defence of substance.

Aug 12, 2005 11:33

Since the new/used issue is sparking a bit (!) of debate, I thought I'd toss out a favourite quote of mine for general discussion ( Read more... )

specialty bookstores, co-worker, bibliophile / book recommendations, valuation, antique, second-hand, rare, chain

Leave a comment

Back to all threads

vkacademy August 13 2005, 05:34:26 UTC

I just want to say I LOVED The Liar. Best of all his books, IMHO.

Books are to be used, shared, given, resold, etc. Some books ARE works of art: old text with hand-tooled leather and illuminated manuscript. But by and large, I treat my books the way a child treats her toys. With love and abuse.

dragatheimpaler August 13 2005, 12:29:04 UTC

I do not own a "respectable" book collection. As a dealer in fine books, we have to fight our urges as collectors to stay alive. Sometimes, being sneaky devilsh characters that we are, we will price a book higher than we think we should actually get for it just to enjoy it longer. I can't say I've actually done this, but I've certainly seen it happen. I indulge my collectors fantasies in my patrons book collection for whom I am his "rare book assistant" but have none of my own. I think the most valuable book I actually own is only $75 to $100. I will admit to having a small collection on Balkan history (large by most stores standards) that is quite simply worth more to me than I could actually get for it on the market, but I don't own any great stuff prior to WWII because it's so unusual in English, that I can't rightly afford it. At any rate, the collecting urge and the reading urge are two wholly different beasts. Collectors of any ilk are weird birds, driven by the urge to "possess". Otherwise, wouldn't your local library be the ( ... )

orangemike August 15 2005, 15:43:40 UTC

I will admit to having a small collection on Balkan history (large by most stores standards) that is quite simply worth more to me than I could actually get for it on the market, but I don't own any great stuff prior to WWII because it's so unusual in English, that I can't rightly afford it.

Really? The market hereabouts is pretty slow in that field.

dragatheimpaler August 17 2005, 23:52:01 UTC

Here too, which is why it's worth more to me than I could get for it.

And yeah, anything decent pre-WWII or especially pre-WWI can get spendy as it's kinda rare.

anik August 13 2005, 17:43:42 UTC

Studies have shown: Stephen Fry is brilliant.

The Liar was my first Fry and I occasionally had to put it down and run around the room squealing like a mad toddler, I enjoyed it so much.

My roommates found this disconcerting.

Back to all threads