What's with fairly recent Modern Library prices?

I know some regular posters (and, no doubt, some lurkers here) are
interested in Modern Library editions, which I enjoy immensely. I'm baffled,
however, by the prices commanded by recent Modern Library editions. Fairly
recent ML editions of books by Anton Chekhov, Edith Wharton and even the
Good Doctor, Hunter S. Thompson, are going for astronomical prices on line.
One would think their books were hypermodern first editions.

Would anyone know if the situation is a case of low supply or high
demand? I can't imagine paying $100 or more for a ML edition that's less
than a decade old.

Many thanks in advance,
Gene Mierzejewski

In article ,
"Gene Mierzejewski" wrote:

I know some regular posters (and, no doubt, some lurkers here) are
interested in Modern Library editions, which I enjoy immensely. I'm baffled,
however, by the prices commanded by recent Modern Library editions. Fairly
recent ML editions of books by Anton Chekhov, Edith Wharton and even the
Good Doctor, Hunter S. Thompson, are going for astronomical prices on line.
One would think their books were hypermodern first editions.

Would anyone know if the situation is a case of low supply or high
demand? I can't imagine paying $100 or more for a ML edition that's less
than a decade old.

Many thanks in advance,
Gene Mierzejewski




Gene,

I haven't noticed the trend you're talking about. There have been a
number of early, scarce ML titles in dust jackets that have sold at
fairly high prices, but not excessively so.

- Scot Kamins

Scott,

To help pay off the bills from my older daughter's wedding a year ago and my
younger daughter's college education (which included a stint at Oxford
University last summer), I've been selling off much of my 40-year-plus book
collection at Amazon.com. To arrive at the prices I ask, I check not only
third-party sellers at Amazon but also price listings at abebooks.com,
alibris.com and addall.com.

Some of the prices are not surprising, such as those for the Arkham House
editions and specialty science fiction and fantasy titles I picked up in my
youth in the late '60s and early '70s. (I had a chance to buy a mint copy of
Lovercraft's "The Outsider" for $100 at a SF convention's hucksters room in
1970, but $100 might as well have been $100,000 for me back then.) I haven't
begun to list these books for sale yet.

While I've been stunned by the popularity and/or asking prices of some
general titles I've listed, I've been floored by the prices of recent Modern
Library editions. On the websites I mentioned above, at least a dozen of my
books are listed with heftier than expected values, including several at
$100+. I (almost) can understand the rage for hypermodern first editions,
but the thought of hypermodern Modern Library editions will fry one's brain.

And it's not BS. I've sold several ML titles at Amazon for sums beyond my
wildest dreams, topping out with a copy of Hunter Thompson's "Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas" for $75. I doubt if my first edition of "Fear and
Loathing on the Campaign Trail" would do so well (although I'd really have
to be desperate to list that book).

So I'm still baffled why recent Modern Library have hypermodern first
prices.

Thanks again, Scott

Gene Mierzejewski

Gene,

I haven't noticed the trend you're talking about. There have been a
number of early, scarce ML titles in dust jackets that have sold at
fairly high prices, but not excessively so.

- Scot Kamins

"Scot Kamins" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Gene Mierzejewski" wrote:

I know some regular posters (and, no doubt, some lurkers here) are
interested in Modern Library editions, which I enjoy immensely. I'm
baffled,
however, by the prices commanded by recent Modern Library editions.
Fairly
recent ML editions of books by Anton Chekhov, Edith Wharton and even the
Good Doctor, Hunter S. Thompson, are going for astronomical prices on
line.
One would think their books were hypermodern first editions.

Would anyone know if the situation is a case of low supply or high
demand? I can't imagine paying $100 or more for a ML edition that's less
than a decade old.

Many thanks in advance,
Gene Mierzejewski

In article ,
"Gene Mierzejewski" wrote:

While I've been stunned by the popularity and/or asking prices of some
general titles I've listed, I've been floored by the prices of recent Modern
Library editions. On the websites I mentioned above, at least a dozen of my
books are listed with heftier than expected values, including several at
$100+. I (almost) can understand the rage for hypermodern first editions,
but the thought of hypermodern Modern Library editions will fry one's brain.

I've also seen MLs listed at preposterous prices, Why anybody would pay
that much is beyond me, since most newer ML titles are on eBay at
frequent intervals for reading copy prices.

And it's not BS. I've sold several ML titles at Amazon for sums beyond my
wildest dreams, topping out with a copy of Hunter Thompson's "Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas" for $75

You got lucky. It happens.

I remember just after Thompson died that MLs -- nearly all reprints --
were going for top rates, but just for a couple of weeks when idiot
speculators realized that recent MLs are printed in seriously high
numbers

So I'm still baffled why recent Modern Library have hypermodern first
prices.

There is no good reason. Sometimes people are just stupid.

Scot Kamins wrote:
In article ,
"Gene Mierzejewski" wrote:

While I've been stunned by the popularity and/or asking prices of some
general titles I've listed, I've been floored by the prices of recent Modern
Library editions. On the websites I mentioned above, at least a dozen of my
books are listed with heftier than expected values, including several at
$100+. I (almost) can understand the rage for hypermodern first editions,
but the thought of hypermodern Modern Library editions will fry one's brain.

I've also seen MLs listed at preposterous prices, Why anybody would pay
that much is beyond me, since most newer ML titles are on eBay at
frequent intervals for reading copy prices.

If you used Addall.com frequently, you would not
'be surprised by preposterous prices. With a great
many contemporary first editions, it is common
to see someone asking anywhere from $75 to
several hundred dollars for a book someone
else is trying to sell (in identical condition)
for $20 or less. When I check on a book
in Addall and get my listings in descending price
order, if I see there are 95 copies listed for
sale, and the highest priced one is listed at
$300, then I immediately realize the book is
not worth much, and scrolling down the listings
usually proves me right, because if there are
95 copes listed starting at $300, there there are
going to be many in the same condition at far
lower prices. On the other had,
if there are THREE copies listed beginning
at $300, then the book might be valuable.
As far as someone trying to sell a book for
several hundred dollars when there are many
dozens of copies on sale, including what looks
like the identical book for ten or fifteen dollars,
then it is hard to conclude anything other than
that the person at the top of the descending
price list is looking for those suckers who
are supposed to be born every minute...Face it
folks, there are some shady operators out
there.

[Memo from the upstairs office.]

I've been a book collector since the dinosaurs ruled Earth (or so it
seems), so I can see and -- especially -- smell B.S. when I come across it.
When I check prices at abebooks, alibris and addall, I ignore any whacky
high prices that are listed. I want to sell my books at a fair price, not
hope that some idiot will pay 15 times the value of a book because a website
told him or her to make the purchase. I usually find an equitable
collector-to-collector price. My goal is to find a good home for a good
book.

A friend of mine retired about 20 years ago and sold his book collection
of about 700 harcover titles -- nearly all first editions -- for a buck
apiece to a local shop. I swore then that would never happen to me and it
hasn't, thanks to Amazon.com.

As for Modern Library titles, I'm not sure they are wanted or needed.But
I like 'em.




wrote in message
oups.com...

Scot Kamins wrote:
In article ,
"Gene Mierzejewski" wrote:

While I've been stunned by the popularity and/or asking prices of some
general titles I've listed, I've been floored by the prices of recent
Modern
Library editions. On the websites I mentioned above, at least a dozen
of my
books are listed with heftier than expected values, including several
at
$100+. I (almost) can understand the rage for hypermodern first
editions,
but the thought of hypermodern Modern Library editions will fry one's
brain.

I've also seen MLs listed at preposterous prices, Why anybody would pay
that much is beyond me, since most newer ML titles are on eBay at
frequent intervals for reading copy prices.

If you used Addall.com frequently, you would not
'be surprised by preposterous prices. With a great
many contemporary first editions, it is common
to see someone asking anywhere from $75 to
several hundred dollars for a book someone
else is trying to sell (in identical condition)
for $20 or less. When I check on a book
in Addall and get my listings in descending price
order, if I see there are 95 copies listed for
sale, and the highest priced one is listed at
$300, then I immediately realize the book is
not worth much, and scrolling down the listings
usually proves me right, because if there are
95 copes listed starting at $300, there there are
going to be many in the same condition at far
lower prices. On the other had,
if there are THREE copies listed beginning
at $300, then the book might be valuable.
As far as someone trying to sell a book for
several hundred dollars when there are many
dozens of copies on sale, including what looks
like the identical book for ten or fifteen dollars,
then it is hard to conclude anything other than
that the person at the top of the descending
price list is looking for those suckers who
are supposed to be born every minute...Face it
folks, there are some shady operators out
there.

[Memo from the upstairs office.]

In article ,
"Gene Mierzejewski" wrote:

As for Modern Library titles, I'm not sure they are wanted or needed.But
I like 'em.

Are you insane? Of course they're wanted and needed!!!!!

----Scot Kamins
Webmaster, Dogeared.com (soon to be ModernLib.com),
Home of the Modern Library Collector on the Interne

Scot Kamins wrote:
In article ,
"Gene Mierzejewski" wrote:

As for Modern Library titles, I'm not sure they are wanted or needed.But
I like 'em.

Are you insane? Of course they're wanted and needed!!!

He made some good points in a thoughtful
post, but I did not go along with that comment
either, nor understand why he would make it.

By the way. most serious collectors of
Modern Library editions want books
published no later than the mid-1960's
and they want their books to have dust
jackets. Unless they merely want reading
copies, that is, and if they do they are
not serious collectors in the first place.
By the way, does anyone know of
a good Modern Library collectors'
website which has a great many pictures
of Modern Library covers prior to the
mid-1960's? I noticed posters
here touting various Modern Library
sites, but the ones I have visited were
sadly skimpy regarding cover photographs
of older Modern Libraries. They only
had a few such pictures, whereas they
should have had several hundred.

[Memo from the upstairs office.]

----Scot Kamins
Webmaster, Dogeared.com (soon to be ModernLib.com),
Home of the Modern Library Collector on the Interne

"Gene Mierzejewski" wrote in message
. ..
I know some regular posters (and, no doubt, some lurkers here) are
interested in Modern Library editions, which I enjoy immensely. I'm
baffled,
however, by the prices commanded by recent Modern Library editions. Fairly
recent ML editions of books by Anton Chekhov, Edith Wharton and even the
Good Doctor, Hunter S. Thompson, are going for astronomical prices on
line.
One would think their books were hypermodern first editions.

Would anyone know if the situation is a case of low supply or high
demand? I can't imagine paying $100 or more for a ML edition that's less
than a decade old.

Many thanks in advance,
Gene Mierzejewski

-----------------------------------------------------------
Reposted so as to help clear some of the rubbish from the
listings and cache, which may otherwise deter casual readers

"Scot Kamins" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Gene Mierzejewski" wrote:

I know some regular posters (and, no doubt, some lurkers here) are
interested in Modern Library editions, which I enjoy immensely. I'm
baffled,
however, by the prices commanded by recent Modern Library editions.
Fairly
recent ML editions of books by Anton Chekhov, Edith Wharton and even the
Good Doctor, Hunter S. Thompson, are going for astronomical prices on
line.
One would think their books were hypermodern first editions.

Would anyone know if the situation is a case of low supply or high
demand? I can't imagine paying $100 or more for a ML edition that's less
than a decade old.

Many thanks in advance,
Gene Mierzejewski




Gene,

I haven't noticed the trend you're talking about. There have been a
number of early, scarce ML titles in dust jackets that have sold at
fairly high prices, but not excessively so.

- Scot Kamins

-----------------------------------------------------------
Reposted so as to help clear some of the rubbish from the
listings and cache, which may otherwise deter casual readers