FA: Complete works of Alexander Dumas, hardcover (closes Dec 27)
 

This is a complete, hardcover set of the works of Alexander Dumas, published in 1906 by P.F. Collier & Sons, New York.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=160192052992

FA: Complete works of Alexander Dumas, hardcover (closes Dec27)
 

John David Galt wrote:

This is a complete, hardcover set of the works of Alexander Dumas, published in 1906 by P.F. Collier & Sons, New York.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=160192052992


Apropos our other discussion, this is an example of how not to sell on eBay.
The seller does not know how to describe book condition at all, so the buyer is
taking a sight unseen chance. The publisher is Colliers, a reprint company, a
fact the seller probably does not know; yet, the opening bid price is $125. In
all likelihood, this auction will not establish the minimum price for the books
since no buyer who knows books will bid.


Francis A. Miniter

FA: Complete works of Alexander Dumas, hardcover (closes Dec 27)
 

On Dec 20, 12:41*pm, "Francis A. Miniter"
wrote:
John David Galt wrote:
This is a complete, hardcover set of the works of Alexander Dumas, published in 1906 by P.F. Collier & Sons, New York.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=160192052992

Apropos our other discussion, this is an example of how not to sell on eBay.
The seller does not know how to describe book condition at all, so the buyer is
taking a sight unseen chance. *The publisher is Colliers, a reprint company, a
fact the seller probably does not know; yet, the opening bid price is $125.. *In
all likelihood, this auction will not establish the minimum price for the books
since no buyer who knows books will bid.

Francis A. Miniter

That is true. Also, the premier U. S. Dumas set (the
legendary "Edition de Medicis, of course) was published
by Dana Estes in Boston in the 1890's. It has 47 or 48
volumes (I have seen "complete sets" listed with both
figures), and apparently only 1,000 numbered sets were
published. When a set shows up in very good condition,
it lists for many thousands dollars, because most of the
sets that have not been broken up long ago reside in the
best libraries and collections.. The Colliers set that he
was referring to is a "reading set" and unless that is all
you require, you would be well-advised to stay away from
it and wait until you can afford an Edition de Medicis.
Frankly, the Collier set pales in quality of manufacture
and in price in comparison to the Edition de
Medicis. The last time I checked,there was only one
set listed on the entire Internet,and that was by a dealer
asking $10,000 for it, and claimed to have a complete
set "of 45 volumes," so he was one or two volumes shy of
a complete set.

[Memo from the upstairs office.]

FA: Complete works of Alexander Dumas, hardcover (closes Dec 27)
 

On Dec 21, 1:13*am, Bill wrote:
On Dec 20, 12:41*pm, "Francis A. Miniter"
wrote:

John David Galt wrote:
This is a complete, hardcover set of the works of Alexander Dumas, published in 1906 by P.F. Collier & Sons, New York.

Sad Footnote: Since I had not checked recently
to see if there were any complete sets (or even
any near-complete) sets of the Edition de Medicis
set of Dumas' translated works, published by
Dana Estes, I decided to see if Abebooks or
AddALL had any listings. I could not find
anything close to a complete set. Last year
there were two, but this time all I found
were people trying to sell one, or at most a few,
volumes, mostly in less than fine condition.
So, even you have the $10,000, you are out
of luck on this one. Maybe you had better
consider that Collier's set...

FA: Complete works of Alexander Dumas, hardcover (closes Dec 27)
 

Well, there you go. He got two bids, and sold the set. Obviously, it
filled someone's need...

FA: Complete works of Alexander Dumas, hardcover (closes Dec 27)
 

On Dec 29, 11:37 pm, wrote:
Well, there you go. He got two bids, and sold the set. Obviously, it
filled someone's need...

Yes, maybe he did get lucky... The first bidder has not bought a book
on ebay in the last 90 days (unless they didn't receive feedback - a
possibility). They had bought at least two purses (one for $660.00)
during this period so disposable income was not a problem for them.

And the winning bidder? A member of eBay since Nov. 11, 2002 with a
total of TWO previous auctions and ONE feedback point! Maybe I'm
cynical, but that makes me suspicious. Barnum was surely right.