# $1500 for one book! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1500-for-one-book/150521 "2003-01-23T20:15:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1500-for-one-book/150521/1 "2003-01-23T20:15:46Z")
My library is missing its copy of the 1912 volume of the New York Times index. (Apparently some ‘Titanic’ fans felt they needed it to remember when the ship sank.) The publisher who owns the rights to it wants $1490 for a replacement volume. Now I’m used to expensive prices for reference works, but is this item so difficult to reprint that it would cost nearly $1500? ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1500-for-one-book/150521/2 "2003-01-23T20:23:17Z")
It’s not JUST a matter of how much it would cost to reprint it. There is value associated with the fact that it was printed in 1912. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1500-for-one-book/150521/3 "2003-01-23T20:27:21Z")
But I doubt that the publisher is doing anything more than rebinding some photocopies of pages. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1500-for-one-book/150521/4 "2003-01-23T20:32:34Z")
$1500 fro a book? Is it an autographed copy of the Bible? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1500-for-one-book/150521/5 "2003-01-23T20:38:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*$1500 fro a book? Is it an autographed copy of the Bible? \*\* I have no idea why this reference book is that expensive, but $1500 is cheap once you start getting into first editions… ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1500-for-one-book/150521/6 "2003-01-23T21:38:22Z")
Maybe the pages are made out of compressed cocaine. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1500-for-one-book/150521/7 "2003-01-23T22:18:06Z")
Why don’t you go to a different library and get that book? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1500-for-one-book/150521/8 "2003-01-23T23:16:17Z")
The library is going to try to find one from a used book dealer. Those are only about $300. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1500-for-one-book/150521/9 "2003-01-25T03:16:45Z")
And the whole thing will be a moot point in a few years. [ProQuest](http://www.il.proquest.com/products/pd-product-HistNews.shtml) has digitized the NY Times(and the Wall St. Journal, etc.). Some University libraries have it available. Some very large city libraries also. You can search electronically the database from 1851-1999 for the NYTimes. That’s the way the dates for words,phrase, etc. are being antedated so well today. Scary.