Are Book Collectors Overdoing it?

Hi,

I got a collecting fever several months ago after someone gave me a 1st
Edition/1st Printing of HP4 OftP UK Children's Edition. Before this, I
was not keenly aware of buying 1st/1st copies of books. I just wanted a
copy to read and keep on my shelf.
After receiving the HP4, I logon to the newsgroups on HP and saw some
post that some versions were being sold on ebay, abebooks, etc at high
prices than new ones.
I was intrigue on this phenomenon. I then searched my bookshelf for
1st/1st copies. True enough, some were hb 1st/1st copies.
I had bought Eragon, HP5, The Amber Spyglass, some Clancy, some
Forsyth, etc. without knowing it!
I then had this fever to go out and buy 1st/1st copies of HP series,
then I wanted signed copies, deluxe editions.
I then realised that these books were being made by demands of
collectors. I asked myself what was I going to do with these special
editions once I bought them. I might be repeating what I did in the 80s
& 90s with comics. I bought them because everyone was saying one day it
was going to worth something big. Well guess what, I could buy a 25
cent comics in a 2nd hand shop for something that was worth $2 in the
90s. That is depreciation not appreciation.
Then I saw a post somewhere that said several decades ago there was
also some children's book that had the saame phenomena as the HP
series. But no one was collecting them now. In short this was just a
fad created by publishers to lure in more sales. Rowling authorized the
creation of both childrens & adult editions of her books to create 2x
prints of 1st/1st. Add to that the Scholastic, Deluxe, TB etc and you
have several editions of 1st/1st.
This is too much for me to collect.

Im not sure the collecting phenomen was created by the publishers as it
wasnt until the third book came out that the collecting craze for HP
really took off. It was at that stage that the publishers started to
publish the de-luxe collectors editions and so they did jump on the
bandwagon.

Also to the credit of Bloomsbury they have printed such enormous
quantities of the First Editions of the 4th and 5th books that they
destroyed the market. Its quite easy to pick up firsts of books 4 and 5
for less than original retail.

It is also clear that the bubble has burst on the earlier first
editions with copies now selling for only 50% of what they were two
years ago.

Dolph

I don't know if collectors are overdoing it, after all most collectors are
fairly obsessive to start with.
But some publishers are sure milking the collector fever with numerous
"collector", "special", "deluxe" and other editions.
Harry Potter comes to mind and, to a lesser degree, "The DaVinci Code" has
jumped on the bandwagon.


--
Bob Finnan
http://bobfinnan.com

Bob wrote:

I don't know if collectors are overdoing it, after all most collectors are
fairly obsessive to start with.
But some publishers are sure milking the collector fever with numerous
"collector", "special", "deluxe" and other editions.
Harry Potter comes to mind and, to a lesser degree, "The DaVinci Code" has
jumped on the bandwagon.

This phenomenon extends to DVDs, with "special" editions, then
"ultimate" editions, then "extreme" editions, and so on. DVD collectors
hate this also. There, the term used is "double-dipping", which applies
in particular to releasing a "bare-bones" version and a year later
announcing a "special edition" with extras. Of course, there the goal
is to get you to buy something again for slightly more content, while
with publishers it seems to be entirely to get you to buy another copy
for its value as a collectible.

(Interestingly, one also sees a parallel to the traditional book
publishing model of expensive hardcover followed later by cheap
paperback, in films which appear as 2-disc sets with all the extras on
disc 2, and then a year later a cheaper single-disc edition comes out.
E.g., MOULIN ROUGE, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.)

Phooey on all of them!

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
I found a kind of party terrorism pervading and oppressing
the minds of our best men. -James Garfield

Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
Bob wrote:

I don't know if collectors are overdoing it, after all most
collectors are
fairly obsessive to start with.
But some publishers are sure milking the collector fever with
numerous
"collector", "special", "deluxe" and other editions.
Harry Potter comes to mind and, to a lesser degree, "The DaVinci
Code" has
jumped on the bandwagon.


Phooey on all of them!


maybe a semi-phooey. the phenomenon can be frustrating,
especially when it's done by a large profitable publishing division of
a larger more profitable conglomerate [as in the examples above].
however, the practice seems most advanced among small and specialty
presses; in many cases trying to get all the revenue sources they can
is the best or only alternative to losing money at a rate which can't
be sustained, leaving both readers and collectors with the one thing
provably worse than too much new product.

besides, we obsessive completists can use a periodic reality
check: collecting everything, or any particular thing, or anything at
all, is not mandatory. the fancy collectors' editions are usually not
firsts, giving them a position in the collecting universe more akin to
lladro figures or "limited" edition lithos than fine antiques. in
theory collectors can opt in or out of that market with less psychic
pain than giving up first editions or other key items.

heck, even reading is not exactly mandatory, although a convincing
case can be made that there is more important personal and societal
value to readers having maximum access to many voices than there is to
having more collectibles. libraries are not dead [yet?] though, and
thanks in part to ms. leeper there is more access than ever to on- and
off-line sources of used books, so readers still have some means of
opting out of the latest special editions.

all, in all, i'd rather have publishers not try to grab every one
of my collecting dollars with overpriced faux-limited
solely-for-the-completist marketing ploys, rather than let me
concentrate on legitimately scarce and bibliographically important
material, but as long as i keep buying both someone will keep selling
them to me, and who am i to blame them for trying?

chiwito
who would, if he could afford it, start a small press primarily to
put out fancy durable parallel
editions of Go books, some for libraries and Go clubs but some
primarily for collectors.

If you're collecting the 1sts and limiteds for investment purposes, I can
only say good luck. If you're doing it because you enjoy it, then welcome to
the club!

There are some authors I love so much that I'll buy (if possible) any
edition any big conglomerate cares to issue, including "super-special
extra-deluxe." Other authors, not so much. Just pace yourself, because,
unfortunately, we all have to eat and drink.

---Mike
http://www.booktouronline.com


wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I got a collecting fever several months ago after someone gave me a 1st
Edition/1st Printing of HP4 OftP UK Children's Edition. Before this, I
was not keenly aware of buying 1st/1st copies of books. I just wanted a
copy to read and keep on my shelf.
After receiving the HP4, I logon to the newsgroups on HP and saw some
post that some versions were being sold on ebay, abebooks, etc at high
prices than new ones.
I was intrigue on this phenomenon. I then searched my bookshelf for
1st/1st copies. True enough, some were hb 1st/1st copies.
I had bought Eragon, HP5, The Amber Spyglass, some Clancy, some
Forsyth, etc. without knowing it!
I then had this fever to go out and buy 1st/1st copies of HP series,
then I wanted signed copies, deluxe editions.
I then realised that these books were being made by demands of
collectors. I asked myself what was I going to do with these special
editions once I bought them. I might be repeating what I did in the 80s
& 90s with comics. I bought them because everyone was saying one day it
was going to worth something big. Well guess what, I could buy a 25
cent comics in a 2nd hand shop for something that was worth $2 in the
90s. That is depreciation not appreciation.
Then I saw a post somewhere that said several decades ago there was
also some children's book that had the saame phenomena as the HP
series. But no one was collecting them now. In short this was just a
fad created by publishers to lure in more sales. Rowling authorized the
creation of both childrens & adult editions of her books to create 2x
prints of 1st/1st. Add to that the Scholastic, Deluxe, TB etc and you
have several editions of 1st/1st.
This is too much for me to collect.