Did I spend too much on a book?
November 29, 2009 7:22 PM Subscribe
Did I spend too much on a book? $325 for a very good hardcover 1st Edition UK (Picador) Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy?
About a year ago I became a huge Cormac McCarthy fan and decided to get as many of his 1st Editions as possible.
I recently bought Blood Meridian for $325 before even reading it. The day I bought it over eBay I went to the local book shop and bought the paperback (so I wouldn't damage the hardcover) and have read half and absolutely love it.
After reading half of the paperback I'm not sure I'd ever want to sell it.
Would it bother you if it was the UK edition?
Will the price of the book go up considering the popularity of Cormac's Pulitzer winning fiction novel The Road, The Road Movie recently released in cinemas and the fact that their making Blood Meridian The Movie?
Would you sell it?
Did you enjoy this book?
About a year ago I became a huge Cormac McCarthy fan and decided to get as many of his 1st Editions as possible.
I recently bought Blood Meridian for $325 before even reading it. The day I bought it over eBay I went to the local book shop and bought the paperback (so I wouldn't damage the hardcover) and have read half and absolutely love it.
After reading half of the paperback I'm not sure I'd ever want to sell it.
Would it bother you if it was the UK edition?
Will the price of the book go up considering the popularity of Cormac's Pulitzer winning fiction novel The Road, The Road Movie recently released in cinemas and the fact that their making Blood Meridian The Movie?
Would you sell it?
Did you enjoy this book?
As a lover of Cormac McCarthy and die-hard bibliophile, here is my advice: if you can ever sell a collectable book for enough money to buy 50 new books, do it.
posted by banannafish at 7:32 PM on November 29, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by banannafish at 7:32 PM on November 29, 2009 [1 favorite]
the basics of book collecting.
A UK edition of this book will never be worth much compared to US version because I believe US was printed first (this is only a belief made from a tattered memory of reading somewhere, I could be wrong).
Fyi, book collecting is a bit of a mug's game, until the book has gotten expensive. Concentrate on the value to you rather than the market value. You would probably be shocked at how low the value for most collectible books actually is.
posted by smoke at 8:16 PM on November 29, 2009
A UK edition of this book will never be worth much compared to US version because I believe US was printed first (this is only a belief made from a tattered memory of reading somewhere, I could be wrong).
Fyi, book collecting is a bit of a mug's game, until the book has gotten expensive. Concentrate on the value to you rather than the market value. You would probably be shocked at how low the value for most collectible books actually is.
posted by smoke at 8:16 PM on November 29, 2009
Depends on the condition of the book, and it's dust jacket. Not having the jacket can halve the value of the book. Many publishers have codes to denote what printing the book is. You might check out abebooks.com to get an idea of what sellers are offering it for.
posted by JABof72 at 8:17 PM on November 29, 2009
posted by JABof72 at 8:17 PM on November 29, 2009
I just watched all the Antique Road Shows available on the PBS website. :) That's something like 40 hours of appraisals.
If you're collecting books you almost always want the first edition in the country of first print. This is called the "true first edition". Since Blood Meridian was published by Random House, New York, that's the one you want. The one you bought could be called the first UK/British/English edition, and is worth less.
Of course, there's an exception to every rule. This first American edition of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is worth a lot because of its extreme rarity, even though it isn't the true first edition.
posted by sbutler at 10:52 PM on November 29, 2009
If you're collecting books you almost always want the first edition in the country of first print. This is called the "true first edition". Since Blood Meridian was published by Random House, New York, that's the one you want. The one you bought could be called the first UK/British/English edition, and is worth less.
Of course, there's an exception to every rule. This first American edition of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is worth a lot because of its extreme rarity, even though it isn't the true first edition.
posted by sbutler at 10:52 PM on November 29, 2009
If it's worth $325 to you and like having it on your shelf, then you did not spend too much. As other said, collecting books is very rarely a hobby which is going to make you money. Do it because you love having them around.
posted by sophist at 11:24 PM on November 29, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by sophist at 11:24 PM on November 29, 2009 [2 favorites]
Did you have the money to spend? Did you/ do you love the book? Yes? Then you did not spend too much. Will you get back (at some indeterminate future date) the money you spent to acquire the book? Only time will tell but if that's your criteria for the soundness of your purchase, well a quick 'googling' would suggest that's pretty cheap.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:23 AM on November 30, 2009
posted by From Bklyn at 1:23 AM on November 30, 2009
I love that book. And while I favorited banannafish's comment on general principle, I would probably never sell that copy, either, unless I really, really needed the money.
posted by rokusan at 3:32 AM on November 30, 2009
posted by rokusan at 3:32 AM on November 30, 2009
£2000 here: abebooks.co.uk
depending on your version , then looks like you might have a bargain, that said, its also £100 here: abebooks again
posted by daveyt at 3:36 AM on November 30, 2009
depending on your version , then looks like you might have a bargain, that said, its also £100 here: abebooks again
posted by daveyt at 3:36 AM on November 30, 2009
After reading half of the paperback I'm not sure I'd ever want to sell it.
Seems like there's no reason to worry too much about it in that case. The only person who could really answer this would be someone with the relevant expertise who could physically inspect the book for its true condition. Unless this was really a financially irresponsible decision (i.e. you're failing to pay off piles of credit card debt) keep it and enjoy having your collection.
However, it does sound like you are making pretty substantial purchases maybe without completely understanding what you are buying. You might make a lucky purchase in this way by jumping on a particular deal but you're a whole lot more likely to get ripped off. Study up first, buy second.
posted by nanojath at 12:10 PM on November 30, 2009
Seems like there's no reason to worry too much about it in that case. The only person who could really answer this would be someone with the relevant expertise who could physically inspect the book for its true condition. Unless this was really a financially irresponsible decision (i.e. you're failing to pay off piles of credit card debt) keep it and enjoy having your collection.
However, it does sound like you are making pretty substantial purchases maybe without completely understanding what you are buying. You might make a lucky purchase in this way by jumping on a particular deal but you're a whole lot more likely to get ripped off. Study up first, buy second.
posted by nanojath at 12:10 PM on November 30, 2009
£2000 here: abebooks.co.uk
Those things are fake. I could find you every book I ever wrote or contributed to, none of which are worth more than their cover price, with equally inflated listings. I have no idea what the purpose of that shit is, but don't take any information from outrageously high listings for supposedly "rare" books on abebooks--it's noise, not signal.
As others have said, if you're going to collect books with an eye to their market value, it would behoove you to find out what that market value is. If you're going to collect books you like by authors you like, it doesn't matter to you what they're worth on the market, does it?
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:17 PM on November 30, 2009
Those things are fake. I could find you every book I ever wrote or contributed to, none of which are worth more than their cover price, with equally inflated listings. I have no idea what the purpose of that shit is, but don't take any information from outrageously high listings for supposedly "rare" books on abebooks--it's noise, not signal.
As others have said, if you're going to collect books with an eye to their market value, it would behoove you to find out what that market value is. If you're going to collect books you like by authors you like, it doesn't matter to you what they're worth on the market, does it?
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:17 PM on November 30, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dfriedman at 7:25 PM on November 29, 2009