Excellent advice - it’s all about digging in, finding deals and haggling your heart out! There is nothing cooler than flipping a book of lesser value up to get into a book of greater value - especially if you can package a few books you know are valuable but you don’t particularly care for in order to get a real prize. I clawed together pretty much my entire collection that way.
I will admit I’ve been bit* by the bug. I started with Discworld, got all the hardcover copies (library bound Eric). Then moved on to my SF collection, which is now several hundred hardcovers. They are all books I want and will keep–I don’t care about signed copies or first editions; many of mine are book club and former library copies–and I’ve spent a couple hundred at Brodart to have covers for all the DJs. Now I’ve started with UK editions of all the Discworld books, and it’s really getting nutz: I have a spreadsheet of all the different versions/releases with current best price, etc. It’s kinda sad–I should be playing guitar instead, or spending time with my kids. I only sell books because a) I ended up with duplicates or b) I need to support my habit, and I found something at a bargain price.
Hence my question about getting Pterry to sign something. What item(s) would increase the most in value by virtue of having a signature? Fine first edition? Anything?
So here’s a related question: Is it rude to ask an author to sign a book and then sell it? I have a signed copy of “Achilles’ Choice” (Niven) which appears that Larry signed as some sort of mass marketing campaign–at least it has a “Signed by Author” sticker on it, which makes it seem rather less than personal.
I don’t want to insult Mr. Pratchett, but I really don’t care about signed copies and I know many people do (i.e. they’re worth more). Also I have 8 kids so I can’t afford a hobby that doesn’t support itself. I gig to support my guitar habit, and I’m hoping to sell a few books to support my book habit.
- I know it should be “bitten” but that didn’t roll as nicely.
Sounds like you’re having fun and that is what matters most. I don’t know Discworld stuff, so can’t advise regarding what items would jump in signing. Hanging out in www.bookfinder.com and eBay and looking up the titles you are thinking about and monitoring prices, descriptions, etc. is an easy way to get a basic grounding on values, things to look out for, etc. (Don’t trust listings as the end-all, be-all - they are like a Wiki entry: a decent starting place but not to be fully trusted).
Collecting books is a personal thing - choosing to sell a book is your call. I bought a book - a first edition of Jerzy Kosinski’s Being There, which had an ownership name written in - Dominick Dunne, the writer for Vanity Fair. I wrote to him care of the magazine to inquire as to the connection (the signature looked right, so I was pretty sure) and he wrote back confirming that he remembered owning the book and selling boxes of books at a point in his life when he needed money.
I sold the book at a premium because I had the Association Letter. Such is life - I needed the money, which is something Mr. Dunne apparently appreciated 
And I hear you about doing what you can to generate money. Since I am also into both books and guitars, there is always a balance - both in terms of generating initial funds in the first place and then distributing them. Lately I have found myself trading some firsts to get into some excellent guitars.
If you want to drool from both sides of your mouth - i.e., see cool books AND guitars from the same place - look up David Brass Rare Books and Fretted Americana instruments. Both are owned by David Brass, a wry Brit living in SoCal. Shrewd, sells top quality stuff at premium prices (ahem, “priced ahead of the market” ;)). He really focuses on quality photos, descriptions, etc - so the Collector’s Porn factor is high…
As Wordman said, books are personal for a bunch of us. I have some copies of books that I would never sell, no mater how badly I needed the money. the two firsts of Pterry’s TCOM and TLF for example.
On the other hand, I have sold signed copies of Tulsa by Larry Clarke for rent money when I needed to, I had no real connection to the book, or the photographer. Books tend to get under your skin. but that is something you’ll find as you collect more and more.
As far as signing just for resale, I’m pretty sure the Authors are okay with that. They have to know that a certain number of books signed at any event will end up on ebay or craigslist.
There was a guy at the signing for Making Money in Denver that had EVERY book in Pratchett’s Bibliography. Even Where’s My Cow. Terry was very gracious and signed each of them, but then anounced that from here on out he would only sign three books per customer.
Have fun collecting, and welcome to the club. You may not be that attached to books right now, but watch out. It is insidious and the bug will get you!
Let me point out that there are as many types of book collecting as there are books. It doesn’t have to be about high prices and first editions and intact dust jackets.
I’m more of an amasser of books than a proper collector. I have some small collections that are true collectibles. I have all 92 Gnome Press books ever issued with one exception. Gnome Press was an early SF press that published early books by Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, and every other big name in the field. They went out of business in the early 1960s. At that point they sold off their inventory for a dollar a copy - and couldn’t get it. People started collecting the books because they loved the authors and the cool covers and the history of the field. Prices were reasonable. I found five books for $5.00 each in 1980 and that’s what started my collection. Like WordMan I have an associational copy. I bought a mint inscribed copy of I, Robot for $200. The guy who sold it became SFWA’s attorney but at the time needed the money for law school. The increase in the value of that one book is more than I’ve paid for the other 90. But that’s luck and holding on to a good thing for a very long time.
I know I’m going to go to used bookstores whenever I encounter one. I invent little collectibles to give me something specific to hunt for. Right now I’m picking up Dell mapbacks and 1940s digest magazines. Nobody else really wants them and their condition is often poor, but it makes stumbling across them in a store that much more fun.
Halfway in between is my collection of 20th century American Humor. You can’t hope to find an interesting first edition of Benchley, Thurber, or Perelman in an ordinary bookstore. Humor is another field that few people collect. I get first editions of those on the internet. However, there have been thousands of humor books published, some by famous comedians, some by total unknowns. I can almost always find a few new firsts to add to my collection. Heck, I have over 100 humor anthologies. Can anybody else in America boast that? Maybe not. That’s cool, to me at least. And I just realized that one of my totally obscure digests, Knickerbocker 50, is *The Playboy’s Handbook (A Frolic Volume for the Gentleman) * a humor anthology edited by William Allen Brooks. That’s the kind of find that makes collector’s heads spin around, even if nobody else in the world cares. Cost me 35 cents. It’s probably worth 85 cents. But it was much more fun to find that ordering a Star Bridge, signed by both James Gunn and Jack Williamson, over the internet.
That’s what collecting is. The investment goodness is a nice long-term reward that usually, though not always, pays off. If that’s all collecting was, I’d rather buy bullion. At you you can make soup with it if the economy sours. 
Oh, I’ve already been got. I have it under control, tho’–I can quit any time I want.
I have about 350 hardcover F&SF books, including a few trade paperbacks. Then I have about 70 Discworld hardcovers, including Cow, and the Quizbooks, and After the King (Troll Bridge short story) and Legends (Sea and Little Fishes short story), and two of the Mapps. I’m hooked, no doubt about that.
But on the bright side, I mostly go for $1.99 copies with free shipping, so I’m not spending as much as I would if I were hooked on, say, cocaine.
BTW, it’s lovely chatting with you all. Thanks for your patience with a beginner. Anything I can do in return? Need any parenting advice?
Oh, and speaking of drooling. A friend of VeryCoolSpouse does bookbinding as a hobby (have I mentioned this before?). Because of her love for VCS, she is going to rebind my favorite, Small Gods, in leather with gold inlays and etc. I will certainly have Pterry sign that one, and I won’t be selling it. Whoo-hoo!
Well, Denver does have one of the largest Craft Brewery populations in the country…
so - whats the proper storage/display for books? Mne just go on the shelf… how does one protect the truly rare/collectible?
For me, while its unlikely I’ll read much of what I’ve bought (simply no time, I’m ammassing a collection for my children’s children so that they can have them - or something when I am finally retired) - I figure a book is worthless unless its intended to be read - some of my more collectible I have paperback ‘reader’ copies of…
All good - I’m stuck on BlackBerry at the airport so can’t type long. 'Xap nice history - thanks. NCUN cool on the binding.
As for care, the rule of thumb is that books find comfortable what humans do - so be sensitive to extremes in temp and humidity. Avoid bookshelves against outside walls - interior walls are dryer and mold/foxing is really the biggest risk (aside from the obvious NO direct sunlight). Oh and Brodart cello dustjacket protectors are a must - buy 'em online (and but extra because you’ll screw up the first few - practice on no-value books ;))
All I got for now…
Excellent suggestion. I’ll have a beer in your honor while I’m on the gig this evening.
Well, speak of the devil and there he is, right in your mailbox.
I bought a hardcover copy of Eric on-line, it was described as Ex-Lib, so it was cheap ($100 instead of $300) and I decided it was worth it. It arrived and it’s rebound. I really wanted the original cover, dang it! How hard should I ding the seller about this? Sure an Ex-Lib isn’t worth as much as a Fine copy, but I suspect a re-bound copy should be even less. How much less?
Thanks!
Are you playing out tonight? I have tomorrow off, so I could get out.
Lemme know with PM
NCUN my short answer? Not sure but if I were you I’d push for a refund. I don’t know the book or its scarcity but anything that far off from your understanding of its condition is not okay. This assumes that the seller stated it was ex-lib but not that it was rebound…
The seller is being quite gracious–offered a full refund, and since I didn’t pay shipping, that’s fine. I still want a copy, though.
Excellent - that’s cheap Collector’s Tuition right there!
Good luck on getting a better copy - 'twill happen.