BBC Radio 4

A couple of days ago on BBC Radio 4's "You and Yours" program they had
a feature which posed the question "is the internet causing
antiquarian books to be over-priced?" The interviewer had bought a
copy of a cookbook by Elizabeth David for £50 on ABE, and asked
bookdealers to value it for him. It was sans jacket and was slightly
foxed, and two other similar copies were available on ABE for the same
price.

Bernard Shapiro and Peter Harrington both dismissed the book a
"second-hand" rather than a "collectable" copy and suggested a value
of £5-£10. However, the interviewer then called at the Oxfam bookshop
on the Charing Cross Road (where he had previously explained they sold
all their decent stock through ABE) and the book was valued for him at
approximately £40.

The implication of the feature was clearly that two established,
reputable book dealers who knew their business gave a low value, but
novices on the net ludicrously inflated the prices.

Any thoughts . . .

Regards,

F.B.

On 15 Jan 2004 10:19:00 -0800, (Fred
Baudelaire) wrote:

A couple of days ago on BBC Radio 4's

Good programme this afternoon, "Rare Books, Rare People".
One of the main topics was a rare Hemingway, "Three Stories and Ten
Poems", where "pristine condition" for $30,000 went to $70,000 at
auction for "pristine condition with unprinted glassine wrapper".

If you go to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml#r
you can listen to it over the web.

Well, firstly its Bernard Shapero and maybe not Peter Harrington (who sadly
died earlier this year), perhaps his brother Adrian or a very late airing of
a recording.

However neither of the Harrington brothers can be questioned for their
knowledge of books on every level - they started on a Chelsea market stall
and progressed to producing some of the greatest catalogues and possessing
incredible stocks from pounds to tens of thousands of pounds.

Cheers,

Tom L-M

On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 22:46:12 -0000, "michael adams"
wrote:

Whether this is germaine in this instance may be a moot point.

I think you mean "germane" here.

"To germaine" is a verb, meaning to spout high-handed arrogant rubbish
in a public forum. You and Yours does indeed do this regularly.