Right now I’m specifically trying to find Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, but I’m looking for general search strategies. I’ve tried Amazon and Ebay, but I get so many responses, it’s a little daunting. Are there good places to look for special editions of common works? I’m thinking of something like the special “Leatherette” edition of The Hobbit. Or any good search strategies for weeding out all the $3.99 penguin editions, for example?
Any help is appreciated.
Try
ABE Books; it’s a site where thousands of book dealers list their stock… just type in what you’re looking for and see who’s got it at what price/condition/etc.
Also try Bibliofind. I think Amazon owns it now, but they list only rare or antique books.
Powells Books is one possibility. I don’t know how good their selection is for rare books, but they do have quite a few, and they have a separate “Rare Books” search function on their website.
Personally, I like Bookfinder.
They index 20 or so databases like abebooks and alibris. If you use the extended search, you can specify used/rare and hardcover. (They also have other search criteria such as signed editions, first editions, etc. and you can indicate a price range.)
The results are sorted by price. I did a search for Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra and came up with 170 hits, with prices ranging from $2.30 for an Everyman’s Library edition to $1,800 for an 1896 first US edition with notations written in pen by the original English translator.
(If you read German, there is a special limited edition published in 1908 with a special leather cover and illustrations by two of the leading art nouveau artists of the day for $12,500. Search under Also Sprach Zarathustra.)