# Them some damn expensive monsters! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 19, 2002, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-some-damn-expensive-monsters/99047 "2002-03-19T15:11:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-some-damn-expensive-monsters/99047/1 "2002-03-19T15:11:42Z")
OK, so there I am on [BarnesandNoble.com](http://BarnesandNoble.com), ordering things for my sister (who got a gift certificate for Christmas, but doesn’t have a computer). Turns out the stuff she chose (by browsing our local B&N store) was less expensive online, so she had a few bucks left over. OK, call me horrible, but I decided that I would try to find a cheap little book to buy for myself with the leftover money… I’m a little bitter, you see, about ALWAYS having to be the Designated Internet Flunkie in my family (for example, EVERY TIME my mom is taking a trip, she will call me at work and keep me on the phone for half an hour searching online for plane tickets for her, then end up calling a travel agent anyway because she’s afraid to actually _purchase_ the tix via the internet), so I decided I deserved a little “tip” for my services. And it was only, like, six bucks… But I digress. Anyway, there I am at B&[N.com](http://N.com), and I decide to see if maybe they have _One Monster After Another_, a book I LOVED! as a kid (I mean, I’ve only got six bucks to work with, and kids’ books are cheap…). Turns out it’s out of print, but I can get it from a dealer via the B&N site, so YIPPEE! Off I go a-clickin’ to the list of 11 available “dealer copies” of _One Monster After Another_, thinking, “Well, if I have to pay $25 or $30, I’ll still get my little six-dollar discount…” Oooh, and as it turns out, I can get a hardback copy… **FOR THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS.** :eek: :eek: :eek: OK, granted, that’s the hardback price, and the highest hardback price at that, but $375 for a children’s book originally printed in 1974??? That’s, like, a hundred dollars a page!!! I screamed so loudly that my boss came running in to make sure I wasn’t being attacked by garden moles… So I basically had to explain to him that I was putzing around on the internet instead of working. Yep, I’ll be getting that promotion any day now. Maybe it’ll allow me to afford that book… Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-some-damn-expensive-monsters/99047/2 "2002-03-19T15:20:54Z")
Isn’t this what Ebay is for? Three copies listed - [http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1524028969](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1524028969) > [@](#): > > MERCER MAYER One Monster After Another 1st ed > Item # 1524028969 - ONE MONSTER AFTER ANOTHER BY MERCER MAYER COPYRIGHT 1974 FIRST EDITION. Great childrens picture book full of fantasy. Golden Book oversized hardback. Measures 10 1/2" by 12". It is very clean. A little wear on the edges of the cover, corners and spine. All tight and complete. The front cover does not lie perfectly flat. This is a scarce book…hard to find. - 15.99 currently The other two copies are 9.50 & 4.99 ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-some-damn-expensive-monsters/99047/3 "2002-03-19T15:32:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\*Isn’t this what Ebay is for? > > \*\* Yes, thanks, **astro**! I should have mentioned that I went STRAIGHT to ebay afterwards (forgetting even to look for another book to buy at B&N with my six dollars)! I’m still twirling a little, though, over the $375. Anyway, thanks again! I do love ebay. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2002, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-some-damn-expensive-monsters/99047/4 "2002-03-21T00:29:40Z")
EBay is “da bomb.” I found my mom a mint condition hardback copy of her favorite childhood book “Silly Pilly and his Rollerskates” (which my brother and I had of course destroyed when WE were children.) Total cost: $3.50 plus shipping. Look on mothers face when she opened it: Priceless.