Second-hand book sales - reveal your gems!

I was at the local library recently and they have book sales.

Some are donated books, and others are "old stock".

But flip, the avid bookworm can find some treasure there.

The last I found, which I really enjoyed was Charles Messenger's History of the British Army (1997).

Flip what an Easter-egg!

I once wanted to pilfer it; now I own it!

Then there was Tarot for Dummies (Amber Jayanti, 2001).

None of those were more than R20!
That's the South African price for a tequila shot.

I'm running out of shelves.

What were some of your favorite books?
Yeah books you once wanted to steal.
But now you got it second hand, for next to nothing.

OK, age marches on with the books ...

But it seems crazy, because YOU know the worth of that book.
It's in the charity bin for R10, but to you it's "Wowie"!
I would have paid ten times that!

What was your literary Easter-egg?

Albert Einstein had 3 pictures on the wall of his study. The pictures where off Englishmen Issac Newton and Michael Faraday, and Scotsman James Clerk Maxwell:-

Michael Faraday's "Chemical History of a Candle" is one

of the most profound experiences I have ever had

reading a book. I came into my life through an Amazon

gift card, at just the right moment in my studies of

the future and past of science. When I was questioning

the condition of education in America, and pondering

why people here treat children like idiots, instead of

fostering their natural curiosity.



This edition of the Oxford Christmas lectures was from

just one such talk, given to the Children of the Nobility

who came for the Christmas party. They would be left

with the Oxford Don who would teach them the cutting

edge of science.










wikipedia / The Chemical History of a Candle

At the end Faraday demonstrates publicly for the first

time ever, how electricity can be used to weld platinum.



Mike Grouchy

When a little old lady takes a book out of a box.

And it's just the book you fantasized about since childhood.

You watch closely what she does with it.

That's right bitch.

Just put it back, and move away from the book.

Nobody gets hurt.

Going to have to go with one of my favorite finds. it's an older copy of "Shadowland" by Peter Straub. It's pretty whether now in this condition it would end up in recycling. Instead I decided to turn it into artwork maybe multiple mixed medium compositions.

a reply to: halfoldman
After haunting second-hand bookshops for at least forty years, I have a number of examples on my shelves.
I'm currently in the middle of re-reading my way through an 18th-century edition of the Spectator, eight volumes in octavo. That cost me £50. It occurred to me at the time that this was cheaper than eight modern paperbacks of the same size would have been.

I once picked up a copy of William Law's "Serious Call". It was in the new section of the shop, but it had been sitting neglected on the shelves for so long that it was still priced in "old money"- that is, the pre-decimal British currency. The price was marked as six shillings, I think. Inflation had made this a trivial sum in decimal money, but the proprietor just resigned himself to saying "I suppose that's what we'll have to charge".

One reason for bargains is that bookshops tend to set prices for book collectors rather than book readers. Books that are signed, or first edition, or in good condition, are given premium prices, and those that don't meet those standards are marked down. I once picked up for ten pence a full copy of the Canterbury Tales, because it was "1 volume of incomplete set" (Chaucer's works, I suppose) and the front cover was missing. It had all the words, though.

Another is that charity shops in this country, especially Oxfam, have expanded their operations from clothes to books. They have been undercutting the market and driving the traditonal second-hand shops out of business. They don't need high prices to make a profit, and the volunteer staff don't know enough about books to recognise the ones which could command higher prices. That's how I was able to get hold of Winston Churchill's "World Crisis", in two volumes. I had seen it marked as £80 or more in a traditional shop, but Oxfam only charged me £10.

It's sad what the charity shops have done to second hand bookshops.

I used to love visiting the plethora of second hand bookshops that were all over the place. And now they're all gone, just charity shops.

a reply to: halfoldman

I picked up a 1958 paperback copy of George Orwell's 1984 last year for £00.10.
I read it in one night, couldn't put it down even though I've read it a few times in my life!

big hardback copy of 'Libra', Don DeLillo's novelization of Lee Harvey Oswald's life, for a dollar.

paperback of 'The Mothman Prophecies' for less than a dollar. also a paperback of 'Who Fears the Devil', a collection of John the Balladeer stories by Manly Wade Wellman.

First edition of 'On the Track of Unknown Animals' for $7. I almost didn't buy it cuz I thought it was too much!

several old Addams Family books for about a dollar each. My Crowd, Creature Comforts, some others.

a reply to: halfoldman
Bought four plays recently, all second hand.

1. Six Characters in Search of an Author- Luigi Pirandello
2. Man and Superman- Bernard Shaw
3. Hapgood- Tom Sotppard
4. The Threepenny Opera- Bertold Brecht

My all time second hand gems are:
The Satanic Verses- Salman Rushdie
Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable- Samuel Beckett
Strait is the Gate- André Gide

This one must take the cake for me.

My dad found some discarded books while walking my wolf-brother (the doggie, OK).

And he brought back this one book, which I have thoroughly commandeered by now.
I just really needed the toilet and something to read, and saw on the top of the pile: On Combat: The psychology and physiology of deadly conflict in war and peace (Lt.Col. Dave Grossman, 2004).

I just saw a lot on PTSD (helpful for my thesis), and his warning on gun violence.
Training young males with video games, without the military discipline.
Conditioning the mind without making a warrior.
He warned strongly against this.

And today, between gym and my study session I go into the bookshop.
And what do I see in my favorite military section?
The very same book.
And guess what it costs new in SA?
Yeah it's R560!

So people obviously still want or need it, but flip am I lucky, I got it for free!

www.goodreads.com...

I leapt into this thread, ready to reveal all my gems, and then noticed that I did all that eighteen months ago.

a reply to: DISRAELI

I see you mentioned Chaucer in your earlier post.

That one is a standard for anyone who wants a BA in English.

Most people can't wait to sell their Canterbury Tales when done.
Hooray, it's gone - let's get a crate of vodka!
Yeah, and some book-shops rip the cover off, just to let students know it's a dated edition.
Like most university textbooks you're supposed to buy the latest version, although it's exactly the same as the previous ones (just the page numbers are different, so you might not be on the same page as your Professor).

College textbooks - one of the biggest money-making scams ever.

Are you scared brother?

Sure.
Yeah, I am.

But, when a book comes your way like that, it is fate.

I could have used Lt.Colonel Grossman's book to comment much on the latest shooting tragedy in the US.

But then I think, the American people are in pain right now.
Don't come crashing in now as an outsider.
Let them have their conversations first.

But, let him who has eyes get a copy of this book - On Combat.
That man knows what he's talking about.

a reply to: DISRAELI
Self-realization via the Internet.

Who would have thought?

I must say, I did find Foucault's ... just a minute ...

Discipline and Punish: The birth of the prison.

OK the first ten pages are riveting (pass the bucket), but the rest could put you to sleep.

Migrated to Jane Austen.

Not sure, should I, shouldn't I?

No ways dude, rather do not.

Besides, things have changed a bit since then.
Women are gonna jump on you, whether you like it or not.

In twenty years, I'm gonna tell all on CNN, and how they molested me.

It's a conversation we really need to have!

Oh my hat Little Doris by Charles Dickens.

The most inappropriate book title compared to the sheer size of the book I've ever seen!

More like big fat Doris.

AC/DC had a whole lot of Rosie, well I had sufficient amounts of Little Doris.

Oh flip brothers, the book sucked.
And then they made a movie out of it.

Just don't think the movie helps for a book review.
They changed some things.

Little Doris - both the movie and the book conspire to turn your fantastic day into one that sucks.