July 23, 2001; The Rough Guide to Mandarin Chinese.
2004, Rush’s EP of cover songs, “Feedback”.
I remember it very well. August of 1998.
I wanted a particular novel and my local bookstore (which still exists!) said that it was out of print. I called a used bookstore in the area and the owner told me that he didn’t have it but he would find it for me. He called me back a day later and said that he found a copy with a torn cover that he would sell me for $50. I didn’t want it that bad.
Later I remembered about this “Amazon” that people were talking about. I looked and they had a new copy for $16. Sold.
I called the used book guy and told him about my experience and that he better find a new line of work. He was not impressed.
For me it was the autumn of 1998–I don’t know the exact month, but I decided to buy the exhibit catalog from the exhibit “Nicholas and Alexandra: The Last Imperial Family of Tsarist Russia” as a Christmas gift for my mother.
I tried the exhibit website; they wanted $20 to ship the $50 catalog, and I thought that was a swindle. So I thought I’d try this new Amazon bookseller I’d heard about. IIRC Amazon wanted $5 or $6, something like that, for shipping (this was long before the free-shipping days); certainly it was a damn sight more reasonable, so I placed the order. Arrived really fast, too.
I’ve placed 22 orders this year so far. I think I’m an Amazon junkie.
My first order from August 1999 -
The Wind from Hastings
Morgan Llywelyn
Tales from Watership Down
Richard Adams
Otherland: Mountain of Black Glass, Vol. III
Tad Williams
Irish Magic
Susan Wiggs, et al
Fodor’s 99 Pocket New York City (Fodor’s Pocket Guides)
Fodors(Editor)
- Two books:
**Zen in the Art of Archery **
Eugen Herrigel, Eugene Herrigel
Fighter Combat : Tactics and Maneuvering (I was doing a lot of online combat flight sims at the time.)
Robert L. Shaw
Mine is the same way. It shows my first order in 2009, but I made a number of purchases years before that. If I’m remembering correctly, you used to be able to order from Amazon without creating an account.
March 1998, the book Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady by Greg Mitchell. I just gave that book to the local library a couple of weeks ago.
What a fun thread! My first order was in 1998, and it was for the children’s book *Loretta Mason Potts *by Mary Chase. I had started collecting all my childhood favorites and was thrilled to find this one on Amazon because at the time it wasn’t available at my local book store.
There was a problem loading the old invoice, so I couldn’t tell how much I paid for it.
I always thought that Amazon started in 1994 but the wiki says it changed name to Amazon in 1995, sold its first book in July 1995 and announced that it was open for business on the web in October 1995.
Mine only goes to 2001, but I know I bought some CDs in the 90s. It says my first order was Microsoft Publisher 2002 for $117.
This John Coltrane collection purchased in 2001 (no idea on the price.) Bought it mainly because it got played in my college drawing classes.
The book Mason and Dixon, by Thomas Pynchon, in 1997. I was living in Mérida, Mexico, and was impressed when the package was delivered to my office. I inscribed it thus: “This was purchased in cyberspace, June 1997.” I could tell it was the start of a new era.
It’s still one of my favorite books (haven’t had a chance to re-read it yet, though). Parts of it are really funny. You get used to the circa-1790 language style by about page 20.
Awesome – for both the date of the purchase, and the book itself.
November 1998. I was looking for books for skeptical thinking for my 9 & 11-year old kids.
Maybe Yes, Maybe No : A Guide for Young Skeptics, Dan Barker, et al
How Do You Know It’s True? : Discovering the Difference Between Science and
Bizarre Beliefs, Simon Hoggart, Mike Hutchinson
The Wreck of the Titanic Foretold?, Martin Gardner(Editor)
This is fun to look back at.
On Christmas day of 1999 I bought a copy of The Best of the Kids in The Hallon VHS and the book Ernie: Out of Control (which was the first collection of what later became the comic strip The Pirahna Club).
Apparently I bought the 2000 Baseball Prospectus, which means I was WAY more of a baseball fan in 2000 than I am now. It’s interesting looking through the purchases over the years as to what stupid thing I thought would make me happy, but I don’t even remember owning today.
On March 13, 2000, I bought a copy of the German edition of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow over Innsmouth. Good choice, 16 years younger me!
My first Amazon (.ca) order was in September 2002. I bought some comics:
But my first on-line book purchase was from Chapters.ca in 2001 – an unabridged dictionary that is now gathering dust in my basement.