What's the most you've ever paid for a book?

At Armadillocon, I was on a panel about book collecting with Scott Cupp
and Bill Crider. Scott mentioned a few books that he bought when they
first came out that he couldn't buy now because "there are commas in
the price."

Personally, I've never bought a book with commas in the price. (There
are a few books I would actually consider paying that for now.)

So: What's the most money you've ever paid for a single book?

As for myself: Discounting the money I just put down on a forthcoming
Stephen King ultralimited (which I bought as a dealer to sell, not
keep), the most I've ever paid for a single book was $400 for signed,
very clean Ex-Library copy of Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light off eBay in
2002.

Lawrence Person
Lame Excuse Books
http://home.austin.rr.com/lperson/lame.html

wrote:
At Armadillocon, I was on a panel about book collecting with Scott Cupp
and Bill Crider. Scott mentioned a few books that he bought when they
first came out that he couldn't buy now because "there are commas in
the price."

Personally, I've never bought a book with commas in the price. (There
are a few books I would actually consider paying that for now.)

So: What's the most money you've ever paid for a single book?

As for myself: Discounting the money I just put down on a forthcoming
Stephen King ultralimited (which I bought as a dealer to sell, not
keep), the most I've ever paid for a single book was $400 for signed,
very clean Ex-Library copy of Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light off eBay in
2002.

I reckon the most I ever paid for a book for my own collection was in
the $250.00 range, give or take. I reckon I've spent more on books I
bought for resale, I reckon!

On 5 Sep 2006 09:07:25 -0700, wrote:


So: What's the most money you've ever paid for a single book?

I paid $100+ for a fine copy of "A Flood" by George Moore, published
by the Harbor Press in 1930, because (as near as I've been able to
trace) it was Groff Conklin's first literary endeavor. There have
been one or two others I paid $75 for, but those were replacements of
the signed Carcosa books that I lost when pipes broke.

But I'm notoriously cheap.

Bud Webster wrote:

But I'm notoriously cheap.

Best to stay away from juvenile series book collecting then Bud!
The prices for some of the rarer titles are approaching 5 figures (and
WAYYYYYY out of my league!)
Of course with the advent of online auctions and etailers, the price of
common editions has dropped to next to nothing.
I guess the Lord giveth but mostly taketh away!
--
RWF

wrote:
So: What's the most money you've ever paid for a single book?

Just got it 3 months ago: $275 for Why I Live Where I Live, by Stanley
Elkin (Contre Coup Press, 1983), in wraps, 1 of 30 total copies, signed
by the author & the printer. No other copies available (online) at the
moment.

--Jon Meyers

wrote:
At Armadillocon, I was on a panel about book collecting with Scott Cupp
and Bill Crider. Scott mentioned a few books that he bought when they
first came out that he couldn't buy now because "there are commas in
the price."

Personally, I've never bought a book with commas in the price. (There
are a few books I would actually consider paying that for now.)

So: What's the most money you've ever paid for a single book?

As for myself: Discounting the money I just put down on a forthcoming
Stephen King ultralimited (which I bought as a dealer to sell, not
keep), the most I've ever paid for a single book was $400 for signed,
very clean Ex-Library copy of Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light off eBay in
2002.

Lawrence Person
Lame Excuse Books
http://home.austin.rr.com/lperson/lame.html



I paid $200.00 for a copy of "Vatican Assassins," which I think is the
highest I've gone. There are books I would pay more for if they ever
come up on line, which they generally don't.

wrote:

So: What's the most money you've ever paid for a single book?

Never paid a kilobuck yet, but came close with a treatise on the game
of go, published in 1911, which would make it the second book on the
topic in English, to the best of my knowledge. The book was published
in a total of five numbered copies, of which copy #1 went to the author
of the one previous book on the subject. I believe I paid about
$8-900.00 for it, if I remember correctly.

I may have paid as much or more for a signed first printing of Georges
Perec's La Vie Mode d'Emploi. It was back before as many dealers,
especially outside the United States, were online, and it was much
harder and more costly to work through the few American dealers who had
good contacts in France. I suspect I could get it for a goodish bit
less now, but at the time I was happy to obtain it at all.

chiwito

On 5 Sep 2006 12:42:19 -0700, "The Bobino"
wrote:

Bud Webster wrote:

But I'm notoriously cheap.

Best to stay away from juvenile series book collecting then Bud!

Tell me about it. I'd love to have all the Great Marvel books, both
originals and the Whitman reprints, but most of the good copies I see
are more than I want to spend.

I once saw a nice copy of the C&L _By Air Express to Venus_ in a
complete jacket on Chuck Miller's table at Balticon a number of years
ago for $25, and didn't jump on it, hoping that by Sunday afternoon he
might cut the price.

It was, of course, gone by the end of Saturday. You snooze you lose
in this business, and I snost and lost.

Bud Webster wrote:
Tell me about it. I'd love to have all the Great Marvel books, both
originals and the Whitman reprints, but most of the good copies I see
are more than I want to spend.

I have all the series without DJs, mixed between the originals and the
Whitman reprints.
These books are tough to find.
What amazes me is that for such an obscure series, it remains popular.
I have an informational page:
http://seriesbookcentral.bobfinnan.com/gms.htm
--
RWF

"Some Guy" wrote in message
news:kXoLg.2358$nL2.1758@fed1read02...
wrote:
At Armadillocon, I was on a panel about book collecting with Scott Cupp
and Bill Crider. Scott mentioned a few books that he bought when they
first came out that he couldn't buy now because "there are commas in
the price."

Personally, I've never bought a book with commas in the price. (There
are a few books I would actually consider paying that for now.)

So: What's the most money you've ever paid for a single book?

As for myself: Discounting the money I just put down on a forthcoming
Stephen King ultralimited (which I bought as a dealer to sell, not
keep), the most I've ever paid for a single book was $400 for signed,
very clean Ex-Library copy of Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light off eBay in
2002.

Hmmm the most I have paid was (from memory) $1200 for the the first three
UK hardbacks
in the 'Game of Thrones' series by GRR Martin.

At the time, I was flush with money and though I paid a premium I knew
that as life became
more complicated (ie 13 month old baby that indulgent purchases like
that would become quite rare
so jumped at it to more or less complete my collection of the series.

Cheers
EdenR