9.01.2005
Book finds
My wife is constantly harping on me for purchasing way more books than I can possibly read. I admit, I can not pass a library booksale, book fair or used book store without loading up on dozens of books.
I have made some good finds in the past couple of years. I found an autographed copy of a Tom Stoppard play valued at two hundred dollars for only a dollar at an antique store in central Virginia. The funny thing about that book is that it was in a box out on the element-exposed front porch of the store. I've also found signed copies of books by Sister Helen Prejean and Richard Ford.
Usually it is not until months after I've purchased the book that I realize that there is something special about the book. That's what's just happened to me recently.
In the beginning of the summer I took the kids to the Concord library sale hoping to stock up on a year's worth of reading for cheap (fifty cent paperbacks). I was hoping to fill a box or two. As can be expected, the place was packed, the front lawn of the library was muddy, I was holding one child and pushing another in a stroller, and they started to get rambunctious after about twenty minutes. I was also on a budget from my wife - anything over twenty dollars and I was going to get a talking to. I managed to wheel over to the foreign language section - found a small book by Solzhenitsyn in Russian. I don't really like Solzhenitsyn, but it's only fifty cents, what the heck. I also found a box of anthropology books - paydirt!
Fast forward a few months and I finally get around to trying to read the Solzhenitsyn book. I start it, it's kinda boring, but I leave it on top of my toilet so's I can plough through it while doing my bidness.
I had never heard of this story, "Dlia Pol'zy Dela", and it was on a small American academic imprint. As I sometimes do with books I am unfamiliar with, I decided to look it up on addall (the used bookstore database), to see if it was worth ten bucks or so. Oh my word, was I way off.
The book was listed as super-rare, a category i was unawared of. I thought rare was like unique - it is either rare or common. But this book is superrare. There were four listings for this book - with prices from $1250 - $1500. And the condition of my book is better than those listed! Needless to say, but I have never owned a book worth more than a thousand bucks. I took that book off my crapper right fast.
It is now going into my safety deposit box until Solzhenitsyn kicks it.
My wife is constantly harping on me for purchasing way more books than I can possibly read. I admit, I can not pass a library booksale, book fair or used book store without loading up on dozens of books.
I have made some good finds in the past couple of years. I found an autographed copy of a Tom Stoppard play valued at two hundred dollars for only a dollar at an antique store in central Virginia. The funny thing about that book is that it was in a box out on the element-exposed front porch of the store. I've also found signed copies of books by Sister Helen Prejean and Richard Ford.
Usually it is not until months after I've purchased the book that I realize that there is something special about the book. That's what's just happened to me recently.
In the beginning of the summer I took the kids to the Concord library sale hoping to stock up on a year's worth of reading for cheap (fifty cent paperbacks). I was hoping to fill a box or two. As can be expected, the place was packed, the front lawn of the library was muddy, I was holding one child and pushing another in a stroller, and they started to get rambunctious after about twenty minutes. I was also on a budget from my wife - anything over twenty dollars and I was going to get a talking to. I managed to wheel over to the foreign language section - found a small book by Solzhenitsyn in Russian. I don't really like Solzhenitsyn, but it's only fifty cents, what the heck. I also found a box of anthropology books - paydirt!
Fast forward a few months and I finally get around to trying to read the Solzhenitsyn book. I start it, it's kinda boring, but I leave it on top of my toilet so's I can plough through it while doing my bidness.
I had never heard of this story, "Dlia Pol'zy Dela", and it was on a small American academic imprint. As I sometimes do with books I am unfamiliar with, I decided to look it up on addall (the used bookstore database), to see if it was worth ten bucks or so. Oh my word, was I way off.
The book was listed as super-rare, a category i was unawared of. I thought rare was like unique - it is either rare or common. But this book is superrare. There were four listings for this book - with prices from $1250 - $1500. And the condition of my book is better than those listed! Needless to say, but I have never owned a book worth more than a thousand bucks. I took that book off my crapper right fast.
It is now going into my safety deposit box until Solzhenitsyn kicks it.
