The other day I was in a used bookstore in Central Sq, Cambridge, and found a great gem. It was a 1946 edition of “The Hannes Schneider Ski Technique” by Benno Rybizka. Just a thin volume, but about one of the heros of New England skiing, with great pictures, instructions, and general ambiance, all for $16.
So, what have you found that you are especially proud/fond of?
I found two beloved editions of The People’s Almanac - Vols I & II. I used to love those when I was a kid. I can pick either one up, anytime of day, and get totally involved. Even though some parts are dated, they stand the test of time wonderfully.
I found a first edition of Larry Niven’s Ringworld at a used bookstore in Anchorage, Alaska back in the late 70s. I had him sign it at a convention a few years later. He asked if I knew what I had. Yep, sez I…It’s the edition with the mistake in it! 
One of these years I’m gonna put the sucker on Ebay and see what I can get for it.
I picked up a first edition of Red Dragon for free at an on-base thrift shop back in Mississippi. I didn’t have any cash, they didn’t take debit cards; they just said “Take it”.
I found a German atlas printed in 1916 showing the height of their conquests, plus battle maps and contested areas.
I pored over that for weeks, learning all sorts of things that will never be taught in modern books.
I got the first American Edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion for about a dollar, I think. I didn’t even realize what I had until I saw it for sale for around $70 in another book store!
Mine isn’t in as good condition, but it does still have the dust jacket.
In college, the English Department was getting rid of a previous chair’s stash of books by letting students take what they wanted. I took a handful. One was a first eddition of Klaeber’s Beowulf, which I ended up using in grad school and thereby saved some money. Another was a random art history book I sold for $18 later. And the best was a first edition Sir Gawain & the Green Knight by Tolkein. Yep. It’s in poor shape - spine cover’s coming off - but still worth a chunk. In good condition it was going for $300 BEFORE the LOTR movies came out. Any offers on that one?
I’ve also found countless first editions of my favorite contemporary Southern authors’ books in bookshops in the North. Clyde Edgerton & Margaret Maron don’t mean much to Midwesterners, but they’re priced in the low double digits in the South.
All in all though, it’s just a fluke. I buy what I’m interested in. Not what I’ll make money off of!
The Salvation Army at about 26th and Valencia in San Francisco sells paperbacks for $.50. Every so often, they have a 50% off day. I picked up 8 random mystery and thriller books for $2.00. One of them turned out to be an almost mint copy of Stephen King’s “The Dead Zone,” autographed by the author! I sold it for about 15 bucks on eBay.
Also found a pristine first paperback edition of “Fail Safe” at The Book Nook in Atlanta, Georgia. They had about 2 dozen copies, and one was the first edition I snagged - about 2 bucks, I think.
hrh
Waitaminnit! What mistake? I have signed editions, but <blush, hangs head in shame, stands in corner, nose to the wall>, I’ve not yet read any of the books. He was appearing at a local bookstore, and I bought copies for him to sign, and I really do want to pick up a couple of unsigned copies so I can bend the spine and dog-ear the pages and enjoy the book without ruining the monetary (not the literary) value, but certainly not those of the pristine copies.
What did I miss?!?!
Oooh, I’ve got lots.
I found what turned out to be an autographed copy of the Ray Bradbury special issue of F&SF in Change of Hobbit for I think $2. I didn’t realize it was autographed until I got home, obviously they never did.
When I moved back East I bought a copy of a book listing New York City bookstores. One was primarily a movie memorabilia store, but the book said it had used sf. When I went in they clerk remembered that they had put used sf magazines up on a shelf somewhere. He got them out for me, and I got a bunch of early-50s magazines for $2 each, since they had been priced a long time ago and he didn’t feel like repricing them.
Just last fall I found a bunch of Perry Rhodans for $.20 each. I got 40 of them.
Well, it’s a good deal if you have 50 already.
A first edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, for $8, at New York’s famed Argosy books, of all places! Someone wasn’t paying attention.
The bound editions of Harper’s Monthly from the end of the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination, for about $15 at Bryn Mawr College’s now-defunct Owl Bookstore.
I am a book collector and dealer and I look so often that the emotional value that I used to get is lost. I know where to find most any book I want and see so many at auctions and in used bookstores that I have a pretty good feel for what’s out there in my areas of interest.
My best find was a first American of FOTR with a decent dustjacket for $5. I was a poor college student so keeping it was not an option. I got $450 for it, could have had much more if I had waited. I also found a first of Norman MacLean’s ‘River Runs Through It’ signed by him. The small general interest bookstore was asking $150 which was about a tenth of the market value. I turned it over for about 70%.
I can’t wait until I get to the point where I am not too poor to keep these things.
Well, in the First Edition of Ringworld, Larry (a noted hard-science author) had the Earth rotating in the wrong direction! :eek:
They fixed it in all the later editions.
As Niven says in the intro to (I think) A World Out of Time: “If you’ve got a first edition of Ringworld, hang onto it. It’s the one where the Earth rotates the wrong way.”
My finds:
A copy of the complete Richard F. Burton Translation of The Arabian Nights from the 19th century for $120.
A copy of Fantastic Four #1 for ten cents (No joke!Not a reprint! And it’s in great shape.) I got it about thirty-some years ago, of course, but even back then it was selling for a hefty price.
My mom picked up a first edition The Island Stallion Races, signed by Walter Farley for $.50 at goodwill. It’s worth several hundred dollars.
A first printing of a book of poetry that both myself and an old boss of mine loved… from 1904 I think.
Most of the propaganda that I have collected (a few hundred items) came from used bookstores.
I’m taking an English lit course next semester, and by reputation, the professor is going to assign about 10 different books.
All of which are available through the local used bookstore for maybe one-quarter of what the university’s bookstore charges.
Robin
Sinbad & Me by Kin Platt out of print since 1971. Picked up a copy for $3.
I’ve seen it go over $100.00 on ebay near Xmas time. But the average seems to be 30-50 range.
About 20 years ago, I came across the official guide to the 1876 American Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. They wanted $100 for it; to this day I wish I’d bought it.