Sunday, October 21, 2012

Flea Market Pick Ups


     The flea market is about ten minutes away from my house, but is only open on Saturdays and Sundays. There is a similar one in Bonita Springs about forty minutes away, so I may go there as well next month.

     I have had good luck in this particular swap meet before. It's not uncommon to just walk around randomly and get lost as the lanes are small and the booths are not in any order whatsoever. I followed a sign for beer (which I tend to do), and it lead me to the store above which had about six to eight booths rented out for books. One guy owned it, he said his name was Chris. I think I have ran in to him before at garage sales but I could be mistaken about that.

     What beer did I have you ask? A dark one. It was still early morning after all and I had quite the walk in front of me.

 
 
     This is the picture I took when "Chris" came up to me and told me all the books are $1.00 each, or six for $5.00, even the hard backs. I asked him about the Fantasy/Sci-Fi, and he pointed me to a booth dedicated to just that. All the books seemed to be in good shape, just dusty. Having walked around and seen three other places similar to this with absolutely nothing I wanted, I knew I would be buying something here.
 

    
     I picked out twelve books and stood where I saw Chris earlier for him to collect my money.. except he was not there. I waited for a while, about 15 minutes really. I sipped my beer and walked around and spotted something special in a different place, and made my way back to Chris where he appeared and took my money. I spent $15.00, which is a lot for me anywhere. I did not haggle the price which I so frequently do.

 
     There are my three bags of books, and my wonderfully cold 20 ounces of liquid love. This particular plywood table was empty, and so were the next 30 or so after that. Season in Florida hits hard, and when it does all the tables and space at the swap meet will be rented out. Right now, I'd say the whole thing is about 50% empty. At this point I was wondering if I had sprained my ankle, so I decided to leave and take pictures of my haul.
 


     Fourteen books total. Not bad! I'm not normally buying hardbacks as they take up too much space, but I really could not resist.. (From Left to right, starting at top left)

1) Tanar of Pellucidar - Edgar Rice Borroughs
2) Nine Tomorrows - Issac Asimov
3) Second Foundation - Isaac Asimov
4) Prelude to Space - Arthur C. Clarke
5) A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
6) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - James Kahn
7) The Many Worlds of Science Fiction - Ben Bova
8) I, Robot - Isaac Asimov
9) A Science Fiction Argosy - Damon Knight
10) The Robot Novels - Isaac Asimov
11) Magician - Raymond E. Feist
12) Spearwielders Tale - R.A. Salvatore
13) Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone - J.K. Rowling
14) The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov

     Two stand out here in my opinion.


     The Harry Potter book was the one that I saw while waiting around doing nothing, wanting to check out and leave. I, robot was the first book that I saw when he directed me to the books in the first place. He had six dollars on Harry and of course I, robot was a buck. Yes, the harry potter is a first edition, American printing, possibly a later printing based on the price on the flap: $22.95. The first edition/first printing copies are $16.95 on the flap. Just awesome condition and will photograph well for eBay. Yes I will sell it, I own two earlier printings already. I can probably get $75.00 for it. I, robot is a book club edition (BCE) version of the first print, and was put together around 1965. The book is just in perfect condition. I could not believe my luck when I saw it. A quick search of eBay and the lowest I saw this book was at around $60.00. Score!

    I picked up the other books, most of which are BCE's, just to round out the five-for-six dollars thing Chris had going on. I always buy any early white cover Foundation novels because they sell really well as a set and I know a guy looking for them. I don't have any excuse for the Indiana Jones book; I just really like early movie adaptation novels. They were long, had full color photos in the middle and were just cool for me as a kid. Had to get it. Did I mention that beer was cold?

   
     My son helped me take the pictures. He loves his dad's books, especially ripping the back covers off. Overall a successful trip, picked up two scores worth about $120.00 together, one of which I will sell to make back my money on this trip. Bonita flea market next week?

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