Books, and values...

pdcawley on 2002-03-10T10:33:58

So, we have a problem. We've got n yards of bookshelving and n*3 yards of books. And no way to increase the amount of shelving without moving house.

So, reluctantly, we decide that we'll have to part with some of the books. This is painful, but if you go at it quickly enough it is possible.

So, next trick is to break the pile of non keepers into hardback and paperback; paperbacks can go to the charity shop, hardbacks we'll see about selling. So off I go to have a look on ebay for the prices of some stuff, see if selling them will be worth the trouble.

And I realise that, back in the late 80s and early 90s when I was buying sf in hardback as it came out, I made some handy choices (and a few real clunkers). Mona Lisa Overdrive, the Gollancz edition, £50; Equal Rites, which I remember steeling myself to pay £10 back when I was a student, £100; Fall of Hyperion (which I have signed, with a sketch by Mr Simmons), $100; Prayers to Broken Stones, not first edition, but signed $largish_amount. Now the question is, can I bring myself to part with them. After all, they're all in print and it's the words that count.

---

If you really want them

autarch on 2002-03-10T16:10:22

put them in boxes and store them. Only 6 months ago did I finally move to a place big enough to really have all my books. Of course, they're mostly in boxes scattered around my work room, but they're here.

And I should give a shout out to my parents for storing several hundred of them for me for about ten year ;)

Re:If you really want them

pdcawley on 2002-03-10T16:34:22

Many of them have been in boxes for over four years and I've not been refering to them. And, to be honest they aren't 'fine books', they're just first editions of books by authors that have since become remarkably popular. The 'keep or sell' question is really a question of whether I'm betting that the author's popularity has peaked yet; if it's still on the way up, then the books are going to keep beating inflation, but if they've reached a plateau then I might as well sell now as in a few more years. If I want to reread them I can pick them up for a (comparative) song in paperback.

The book I've got that's surprised me most is the DC/Graphitti hardback edition of Alan Moore's The Watchmen which I'd thought was something of a dud purchase during the boom in comic prices (the comics themselves were doing much better than the book) seems to have kept creeping up in value while the bottom has fallen out of comics prices (judging by ebay anyway).