The bookselling racket (was: Collecting Dictionaries)

In article .com,
xerlome wrote:
Wildwood wrote:

[xerlome]
I also plan to
leave my collection in trust to a library for public use,

Or, as is becoming more and more common, the donated books will be
sold at a Friends of The Library sale... probably to book dealers on
preview night.

I've thought about that, which is why i decided it would have to be a
trust. It would be an actual legal contract which would disallow
anything like that. It would stipulate exactly how the books would be
handled and under what circumstances they could be removed and to
where, etc.

ER Lyon

And you really expect to find a library which will accept your collection
on such terms?
Matthew Hill

"xerlome" wrote in message
oups.com...
fundoc wrote:

Sorry man, I didn't realize you were clinically ****ing insane. Do carry
on.

If you really believed that, you would not have said so here.

Really. Where would I have said it? In your spaceship?

At least most people wouldn't.

Have you considered the idea that someone who lives in his car subsisting on
wild berries so that he can spend his meager garlic farmer earnings on out
of date dictionaries that he scouts up at the Goodwill might not be the best
judge of what "most people" would or wouldn't do?

xerlome wrote:

Wildwood wrote:

[xerlome]

I also plan to
leave my collection in trust to a library for public use,


Or, as is becoming more and more common, the donated books will be
sold at a Friends of The Library sale... probably to book dealers on
preview night.


I've thought about that, which is why i decided it would have to be a
trust. It would be an actual legal contract which would disallow
anything like that. It would stipulate exactly how the books would be
handled and under what circumstances they could be removed and to
where, etc.

Well, unless you give them a *lot* of money to maintain the collection
as well, the chances are they'll refuse the bequest. (There has been
much discussion of this at science fiction conventions regarding how to
dispose of collections.)

Call a couple of your target libraries and ask them before assuming this
will work.

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
Civilization is a movement, not a condition;
it is a voyage, not a harbor. -Arthur Toynbee

Allison Turner- wrote:

Marry me?


-Allison
oh, wait. wrong newsgroup.

:-) I certainly would, only bigamy is too weird even for me.

- Todd T.

on 4 Jan 2006 08:46:20 -0800, Todd T stated:


Allison Turner- wrote:

Marry me?


-Allison
oh, wait. wrong newsgroup.

:-) I certainly would, only bigamy is too weird even for me.

My friends call it polyamory, though even with a different
name it isn't legal. But it isn't really my thing, either.


-Allison

Told you i'd get back to you ! I've got Mom to bed and it will be a
while before she needs help to the bathroom.

Todd T wrote:

With the emergence of eBay, lots of folks of all stripes are
trying to augment their income, and looking everywhere
for stock to offer.

Yup, it's quite natural, perfectly understandable. I get this picture
in my mind of all these people scrambling around. I'm probably a big
fool for not getting in on it. I do run around for stuff for myself,
at least, competing with the middle men, eliminating them in my
equation. I could probably be a middle man myself and make money to
buy even more. I don't blame people for thinking i'm crazy not to.

One result is people selling stuff they know nothing about,
for ridiculous prices in both directions, and with incorrect
descriptions etc.

Yup. I sent detailed information to the eBayer who's selling that
so-called "original 1828 Webster" quite a few days ago, but i checked
and the same phoney description is still posted. So, if i had beat
him or her to this item, *i* could have posted it and told everyone
what a trashy item it is. (Just kidding, since people don't seem to be
able to tell.)

You would be selling your knowledge of
dictionaries, along with the books themselves. Like millions of honest
folks, you would be trying to solve a lack of sufficient funds by
trying to earn money for a service you can offer.

I should be a dictionary consultant. Do you think i could make a
living doing this ? I could explain the relative virtues of the
different dictionaries, discuss users' special needs, and match them up
to just the right one ! I'll need a shingle.

If your point is that anyone who thinks in these terms is worthy of
resentment, and that any attempt to better one's financial state must
perforce harm others and be immoral, then I do not see the point of
complaining about this little part of the system, when it's only just
like the rest of the system that apparently embitters you.

Oh, there's something wrong with the whole world, seems to me. You may
be right, i should be talking about more critical issues. But not here
in the book collecting group, do you think ?

It may seem otherwise, but i don't actually feel personally resentful
or morally judgmental. I have a whole bunch of ideas i feel like
expressing, it comes naturally. I can't expect everyone reading my
diatribes to "get it" that i like to get into these issues with people
in this way. Hey, i just sort of barged in here (if there's really any
validity to the "virtual" allusion) and spouted off in your group. You
have been remarkably easygoing about it, stayed with it, and come up
with more cogent arguments than anyone here, in my opinion. Like the
following:

If a book dealer trying to get the most return is immoral, is
buying only cheap copies unfair to the book dealer who is barely
getting by? Should buyers, as a social boon, seek these out and buy
their stock for whatever they ask and forgo bargains? Logically,
what's the difference?

Good insight ! Why shouldn't we want to support the struggling dealer
as much as any other struggling person, if it comes down to an issue
like that ? Removing the element of preferable prices when value
(cost) is not added, this is logical.

I do sense your humility. I'm being serious. You don't find fault,
you make allowances. You like to trust in others, even to do and know
things for you. You are willing to pay. You accept your lot without
complaint or blame. You are more content with this world than i am.

Sure I trust others to do and know things for me. What the hell is in
books, after all, if not knowledge being passed on from others?

Quite true !

Doesn't mean I trust anyone who comes along, but otherwise life would
be overwhelming. It's availing myself of what is out there for me, not
meekly letting the world steamroller me.
You mistake appreciation for how something benefits me for complacency.
I don't take my position because I prefer not to think, nor to please
book dealers. I take it because I have thought about it considerably.
I get more out of book collecting by acting this way than I would by
refusing to.

I really appreciate your telling me all this ! If you think i'm being
condescending in saying this, be assured i am not. You are articulate
and you communicate well. I'm not knocking anyone else when i say
this, i just particularly like your style.

And you put up with it when i played with the picture that your writing
conjured for me:

If your post is a fair indication, i would imagine you have little
quarrel with the Patriot Act.

How *do* you feel about this issue, if you don't mind telling me ?

And when our society slides into
totalitarianism, you'll take it quietly in stride, preferring not to
make waves, and probably go unnoticed living pretty much the same life
you do now. I, on the other hand, will probably be dead, or else in
prison for trying to buy the wrong books.

I love the way you responded to this !

I guess my post is not fair indication. The picture you paint of me
being a vanilla straight-arrow milquetoast is pretty funny to me; of
course, you don't know me.

That is so true. I have long realised that it is unlikely or rare that
people can know each other through this medium, or even to know we are
who or what we say we are. For all i know, you are fiction, but i
like the way you present yourself:

Is it OK for a long haired heavy metal fan
who reads weird fiction, favors legalized marijuana and gay rights and
wilderness preservation and gun regulation and votes Democrat 2/3 of
the time to disagree with you on economics, or must I ruffle every
societal feather to earn my wings? I do make a pretty poor liberal,
but I'd make a really lousy Nazi.

You can disagree with me about anything !

What weird fiction are you talking about ? Do you like Barth, or is he
too tame ?

Anyway, i know that in a discussion, when people stop really engaging
with substance, and start making wisecracks, and calling someone crazy
or a troll, whether they actually believe it or not, the thread is
probably pretty much finished. Just as well for me, as i probably
don't have so much time anyway. Thanks for hanging in there, Todd, and
reply if you like. Hope to talk to you again.

Really, i've enjoyed talking with everyone, thanks for all your
replies.

ER Lyon

Would you tell me how to get the £ sign on the keyboard ?

michael adams replied:

Use a UK keyboard - hardware, set the keyboard to UK English - software
and then use [shift] 3. ...

Thanks. Some years ago, i had a long list of commands, some way of
using shift, alt and/or ctrl + keyboard characters, which produced many
alternative characters, including £. (Can't find it.) I don't know
if it was part of Windows, but i recall that i didn't need to add any
software or hardware. The fact that my word pad will take the £ says
it's in there.

ER Lyon

John R. Yamamoto-Wilson wrote:

xerlome wrote:
No, no, now wait a minute here ! I don't need to think it over, i know
right now, and the answer is no ! No ! Doggone it !

Wildwood commented:
*yawn* Performance art is so much more fulfilling when it's on stage.

Actually, it's a movie. If you're American, I'm surprised you didn't
recognise it (George Bailey [James Stewart] refusing to sell out to
Potter in It's a Wonderful Life, 1946).

Thanks ! I have never quite learned or accepted the apparent reality
in these internet discussions that humor (at least when i attempt it)
is very often missed or mistaken.

ER Lyon

on 5 Jan 2006 00:07:05 -0800, xerlome stated:

Would you tell me how to get the =A3 sign on the keyboard ?

michael adams replied:

Use a UK keyboard - hardware, set the keyboard to UK English - software
and then use [shift] 3. ...

Thanks. Some years ago, i had a long list of commands, some way of
using shift, alt and/or ctrl + keyboard characters, which produced many
alternative characters, including =A3. (Can't find it.) I don't know
if it was part of Windows, but i recall that i didn't need to add any
software or hardware. The fact that my word pad will take the =A3 says
it's in there. =20


Just so's y'all know, that symbol that I assume you are
seeing as a British Pound sign comes across on my mac as
a question mark. Until I reply, that is. Now, above,
it's three characters: =A3.

I know that in the word processing field, what you always
want to do is find the "insert symbol" command, and search
the available symbols (either in the typeface you're using,
or in the symbol font - no other obscure fonts). I don't
know that usenet, however, will work that way. Unless
someone comes up with a complete revamp of usenet, you're
stuck with the ASCII set. Speaking of which, is there no
BritPound sign in ASCII?

-Allison

Just so's y'all know, that symbol that I assume you are
seeing as a British Pound sign comes across on my mac as
a question mark. Until I reply, that is. Now, above,
it's three characters: =A3. [...]
Unless someone comes up with a complete revamp of usenet,
you're stuck with the ASCII set. Speaking of which, is
there no BritPound sign in ASCII?

xerlome's post contains three lines in the header which tell
newsreader programs more intelligent than yours to interpret
the =A3 as a pound sign. Those lines are

: Mime-Version: 1.0
: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
: Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Works fine with my newsreader (MT-NewsWatcher on MacOS 9.1).
I've never heard of the newsreader you're using (Direct Read
News 4.64) and it doesn't look like I'm missing much.

I am impressed that xerlome managed to get such sensible
behaviour out of Google Groups. On the few occasions when
I've used it, it just made me want to bash my head through
the screen in despair.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
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stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557