Rags to Rifleman
- Thread starter wahcheck
- Start date
Because it's rare and out of print and in somewhat of a demand.
YOU just created more demand, price just went up by 10%.
Don't know where you can borrow a copy from though, I'm sure if there is someone close to you has it they would lend it to you. Maybe with a deposit in case you drop it in the toilet or something.
You could try an inter-library search, that's probably your best bet for reading it, if any library has a copy that hasn't yet been stolen.
As far as buying one to own, you just need to keep watch on ebay and do a google search for copies for sale frequently.
My signed copy is very hard to read, the different signatures, or groups of folded pages, appear to have different print fonts on them. I worked in a book bindery for 27 years and I can't imagine how something like this could have gotten out the door but it did, somehow.
Good luck!
ps: As to why it's so expensive and hard to find, I really don't know. I've bought, sold, traded, and collected books for over 40 years and I'm not sure why this particular book is so rare. It sold well enough to go into two printings. I have no idea how many copies were printed, I'd say the first printing wasn't very large and thus, the second should have been much larger. It's got to a point where used/rare book dealers have become aware of the demand and keep the price up.
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Lol ... that would certainly "red flag" it.
I would think it would be a brown flag... oh, now I've gone and made the thread gross. Quick, need to steer it back on topic... I heard good things about that book.
I just looked on Amazon and it's $244.95 used. I'm assuming that is "pre-toilet" ... WTF?
If Bob Jewett doesn't post in the thread in the next day or so, you might consider shooting him a pm. Bob keeps a much closer eye on the used/rare billiard book market than I do these days. We were discussing the availability of Billiards: Hustlers and Heroes, Legends and Lies, and the Search for Higher Truth on the Green Felt by John Grissim and Bob posted a whole bunch of links to reasonably priced copies when the copies on Ebay were approaching $275.00. {that's the second best book after McGoorty, in my opinion}
I've found gold nuggets in the street, so to speak! I looked for a hard cover copy with dust jacket of McGoorty for about twenty years, then walked into the local used book store and they had one for $2.98! I think I dropped my wallet twice
I found a copy of Allen Ginsberg's The Fall of America at a yard sale for $.10 and sold it for $40.00. You just have to know what it is you're looking for and look.
Actually just got off the phone with Buddy and told him about the prices of the book and suggested he look into doing a small run of 50 to 100 and sign them and put them out there. I know they are not gonna be the 1st edition so hopefully won't affect collectors. He said he is going to make some calls this afternoon and see what he can do. JUSt FYI
Kobachi
Scarred but Smarter
50-100 would sell out in minutes. Tell him he needs to do like 1000.
Well I figured since the prices were so hi Keep them in demand and sell them for more than a usual price. Signed and numbered, dated etc. Maybe he can sell them for $7 apiece. He might be ablke to use the money as his wife if very sick right now. Which ever maked him the most money right now would be good.
If the going rate for the book now is over $200, and gets that much, $7 for a new limited run is way too low. I'm sure even at $20 it will sell, especially if signed. Maybe more. $40, 50? It's not the value of the paper or publishing, a run of 100 or 200 at $50 would not do much to the collector value of the older ones and as long as it was "one per customer", those that picked up the new run would still have a collectors item that would sell for $100 almost overnight when all 100 were sold. A run of 1,000 or more may dilute the value a bit though.
But we're talking about the people who have the originals, not about Buddy. For him I'm sure 1,000 at $10, 15, 20 will be better than 100 at $50.
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I don't know much about printing, but 100 seems to low a qty for any professional printer to even blink at.
I think the way to go now for small time authors is online.
I think the way to go now for small time authors is online.
Id pay $40 for a copy of it in a heartbeat. $200+, not so much...