Thrift Store Pick Ups, Sunday Edition

     My wife wanted to take a trip to Lowe's, and I told her the only way I was going to go there was if I could hit a thrift store. I knew the Family Thrift Center on the main road was 50% off today, so we popped in there real quick. It opened at noon, so we listed to music in the car while we waited.

     I made it to the books and my wife went to clothes to find some dress/work pants for me. I saw The Forgotten Realms books on the first shelf I came to and did not recognize the titles, which is pretty common with the newer Forgotten Realms titles. Most of the books are written under a fictional name, so you never know if that author is good or not. I had to have those. Not worth anything, but I will read them. The Modesti novel I had no idea why I grabbed it. Once it was in the cart, there was no coming back out. I did pass on two Ebberon books because they just looked cheesy to me. About twenty minutes later, I found the Tolkien book and the Redwall book.

     Huge fan of Brian Jacques growing up, loved the whole series. I think the first one I read was Martin the Warrior. Before my mother became a successful author, she was management at a Barnes and Noble and would bring me home any book i wanted.. stripped of course. I didn't really care, I just wanted to fill my head full of fantasy. The Tolkien book is built like the bible, its large and thick with thin pages. It does not look like it, but I would guess it is 750 pages at least. I have unfinished tales books that are much older, but i wanted to check this one out. The Redwall book I knew was something special right away. I have never sold one before as I have mostly paperbacks, but I pay attention to what they go for. A few months ago I saw an American first edition hard cover without the dust jacket go for $50. I bought all five books above for the low price (with 50% off) or $5.00. I quick check of Ebay shows me that there is one other one for sale right now that is a later printing for the low ball price of $65.00.  Not bad for $1.00. Better picture below:

     Overall it has been a good weekend. I have spent under my $10.00 that I set aside for myself, and came out $200+ ahead. I have had few weekends that have been better than this one! I'll share some stories later on about some great finds I've made if I have time to write them.

Paperback Exchange Manipulation

  
    The above image is pretty close to what my local Paper Back exchange looks like, but with about 10,000 more books in a smaller space. Mine is called, "The Book Rack." I think it's a chain because there are about three of them within 20 miles or so. Most of the science fiction and fantasy are at the one closest to me, for obvious reasons.

     In my last pick up post i mentioned reselling books and this is pretty much what I meant: I will buy books that are .10 a piece that are not romance books (Danielle Steel, Fabio cover books), political or biography, and children's books. These books they will not take because they just have so many. I'd say 75% or more of the customers of these places are old ladies reading romance novels. As I had mentioned earlier, the economy is not what is was, so the owners of these places work the counter. They have changed the rules as well; once upon a time you could get 100% store credit for all trade ins, and now you get 50% which is not that bad. With over 5000 science fiction and fantasy novels to sell, I can always find something I want.

     Prices of the books are almost always half of the cover price, unless they are old, then they are $1.50. So 50% off here is needed if you're looking to pick up books you will not be reselling later. The lady that owns The Book Rack near my house is super knowledgeable about rare and valuable books and has almost certainly out of boredom looked all the old books up on eBay, and sold them.

 

    The above picture is what angers me about paper back exchanges. Fucking stamps. They stamp the book where the hell ever, typically inside the front cover, but not all the time. Several times I have seen stamps over the dedication or sometimes in the actual writing of the introduction... it's hit or miss. Sometimes the people who shop here bring the book from another exchange, in which case there will be three or four stamps. For shits sake. I can see your formula, it's half the cover price. I can pretty much figure out what is half.

 

     I don't mind a stamp, honestly. Just put it somewhere that will not affect the value. Sometimes I stamp my books when I loan them out. I have a library kit and program on the computer for just such a thing. I won't do it to a book I'm intending to sell on the other hand.

 

     In conclusion, try not to rip off you're local exchange, but feel free to pick up as many books as you can when out garage selling. Look for the best deals in bulk and bring them in for some credit. Get a good large credit going so when you see that whole series on her shelf you never noticed before you can pick up the whole thing for half price. In comparison, I always have more than $100 on credit at any time. I often give $20 or so away at a time to friends to use if it gets any higher than that.

First Edition Hunt: Neuromancer

 

     This is one of the few books I've sold and had no replacement. I owned one that was given to me as a gift when i was 18 from a family member. I put it in a box in a storage area that later got a little bit of water on it from a tropical storm. (massive storms hit here about once a year) The other copy i got at a paper back exchange for about a dollar, but later picked it as one of the books i would sell when i had to raise money to move about 5 years ago. A long story short, but my wife had to stay home and watch after my son, who had recently been diagnosed with Autism. Sad story, but i needed money to downsize, and had spent the remainder of my savings on medical bills. Sold my vintage game collection to a mutual collector from upstate Florida, and sold about ten of my medium-high level books to make up the difference. This was one of them.

 

     Few paperbacks have the distinction of being a a true first edition with no hard cover counter part. There are first edition hardbacks, but they came out a few years after the paper back and should be discounted on that fact. I sold my copy in "good" condition for around $150.00 on EBay. The book market declined some since then, or leveled out.. i guess. The economy was better then, people had more money to spend on books. A similar book now can go from $75-$125 on a good day. The cover is unique, but has nothing to do with the book really. It's the book the coined the term "Internet", "World Wide Web", "Virtual Reality", and so on. One of his bests for sure. Signed copies of this book easily hit $500.00. One auction i saw was well over $1000, because before he signed, he dated the signature, and said something to the effect of. "Hope to see you on the 'Internets' in the future." - 1984.

 

     I have a few books signed by him, Mona Lisa Overdrive and some other book he wrote recently that my mom sent to me. She found it at a Dollar General store in Arizona. Being an author and book collector herself, she spotted it right away and called me.

 

     Anyways, uncommon to rare book, easy to spot in a paperback exchange, and getting more scarce as time goes by.

 

**UPDATE** Found the original pictures I took when I sold my copy on eBay. I took them in my bathroom! 

First Edition Hunt: Eyes of the Dragon

     I'll make this one quick: Use the above picture to determine a first edition Eyes of the Dragon. It's easy, just take off the dust jacket and find the gold dragon emblem. Also the red on the cover will be pretty blood-red and vivid. Of course look for first edition confirmation in the first few pages or so, but keep in mind that's not the best indicator. (Book club edition books)

Garage Sale Saturday 1 - Pick ups

     I was driving home from work on Friday around 3pm, and saw a sign at the local Salvation Army rec center on Macgregor Blvd here in Fort Myers advertising a community yard sale in their parking lot for Saturday morning. I got up extra early to get down there with high hopes to find some good books.

     I brought my wife and son with me since it was so close to the house, my wife looking for Christmas items, and games/toys for my son. With in five minutes I had found a few things:

     Some ancient Ultima PC games, and one Commodore 64 Ultima game in the box with all the manuals, cloth maps and so on. In the same dirty storage bin i found Baulder's Gate for PC, and a "RPG Collection Set" that has 7 CDs inside... including all the Might & Magic games, Quest For Glory games, and Ultima games. With DosBOX I know I could get the games to work on a modern PC. Also found the first Might & Magic for Commodore 64/128, with tons of home-copied back up disks, saved games, and even some cheats. He also through in Riven (sequel to Myst on cd rom)Receipts for everything was still in the boxes, and the tip books were still sealed. All for $3.00. Ebay price: $130 - $150. I could easily get $30 for each of the boxed games, $10 each for the maps, and $10 each for the loose games. Tip guides sealed could get $10 to $20 each.

At the table right next to that table, i spotted boxes of books. Mostly political books which I could resell, some bibles and Michael Crichton books which i could not resell for .10 each. In the bottom of one box I found:

 

I recognized the first edition cover right away, although I have seen non-first editions with same cover variation. I have never owned a first edition in hard cover, but a few paperbacks which have the same cover, but in black. Very collectible, King's first fantasy novel, and a really good read if you missed it. I paid .50 cents, which is a pretty good deal. Ebay price: About $25 on a bad day. Paper backs I can normally get the same price for if it is in REALLY good condition.

 

The rest of the day was pretty much a bust. My wife bought some super hero socks from a "Sock Lady." A sock lady is a woman who for some reason has a thousand pairs of new socks and sells them for fifty cents a pair and drives a Lexus. You will see the sock lady at most flea markets. Also got my son a Wii game called M&M Adventure or some such. Went to about 10 garage sales after that and found exactly nothing. old people are coming back down to my part of Florida, we call them Snow Birds. The first thing they do is throw out all their old people shit. Broken telephones, radios, a box of old Beringer white Zinfandel corks, a box of 20 year old pens, and so on. Rinse and repeat. I live in a highly populated higher income area along a river, and you would think these old bastards would throw out some good stuff. You would think.

 

One sale in particular had all the items I mentioned above in the same sale including decks of old liquor playing cards, chipped glasses, a box of cords, three broken printers, a box of open tissues and more. The printers, obviously broken has a price of $30 each on them.

 

Not a bad day really. Not going to sell the book, as I needed that for my collection. The games I'm going to offer to a friend who is really into old PC games, if he does not want them, then Ebay. I may make $100 after everything is said and done on a $3 investment.



How do I tell if it is a First Edition?

The publisher may actually state the words ‘first edition’ or ‘first printing’ on the copyright page. Another common method of identification is the number line – that’s a line of numbers on the copyright page. Usually, if a one is present in the line then it’s a first edition. This style has been used since World War II.

The line sequence could ascend or descend or even have no discernable order depending on the publisher. All of these sequences below are first editions.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
(All first editions)

Sometimes the number line is also accompanied by the words ‘first edition’, but be careful because some publishers leave on the words ‘first edition’ even when the book is in its third printing and that fact is reflected in the three in this number line.

First edition
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(Third printing)
This number line below identifies a second printing printed in 1975.
75 76 77 78 79 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

If you find that the date on the copyright page matches the date on the title page, then it is probably a first edition. Most 19th century publishers placed the date of publication on the title page but that practice faded out after 1900 and the date became appearing on the copyright page.
Some publishers make no statement at all about first editions but booksellers learn to identify firsts by other methods – for instance a particular piece of copy on the dust jacket or a mistake in the book’s text itself that is corrected in later editions.

(From ABE Books)

First Edition Hunt: Sword of Shannara

The Sword of Shananananahannara. I think I spelled that right.

 

  The Sword of Shannara is arguably one of the best fantasy epics of our age. Huge.. sprawling descriptive environs, acts of pure heroism, high adventure in a low fantasy setting. Brooks owes everything of the initial sale to the Brothers Hildebrandt for the best artwork ever seen on a hard cover novel in years. Look at the fold out on the same book:

 



     Just awesome. You want to be there with them. In my opinion, some of the best fantasy artwork out there. I suppose that's why the first edition of this novel in hard cover goes for so much money. Mint eBay prices commonly go for about $250, and one in serious ugly condition goes for about $125. But of those currently on eBay, I only see two real first edition books. I'll tell you how you can tell the difference.

     There are book club versions of the same book also listed as "First Edition" when you open the title page to check the copyright. There was a version released in the UK also sold as the first edition, this one has the price listed as 6.75.. pounds. The real price on the first edition is $12.95. And the one telling sign you have a first edition is.. drum roll please...

 

     There is a dark red "TB" on the front of the book when you take the dust jacket off. I'd say about 1 out of 100 so called "First Editions" has pictures of this. When I request if a picture of the symbol is available, almost right away the post is either taken down, or the person has no idea what I'm talking about, like I'm making something up. I have sold one such first edition for just over $200, and I have one more in my collection downstairs that I would not sell. I also have a first edition paper back which are not so rare, but are big and great to have. It was given to me by a childhood friend and was one of the first fantasy novels I've ever read.

 

*Edit* Terry Brooks use to sign his books with just his first name. He also liked to leave you a little message in the book. Signed copies go for around $400, 500 on a really good day.

 

*Edit #2 1/12/15* Lot's of comments keep pouring in about the value of their book. Depending on printings, condition, and other factors, these prices do change. See below:

1. Advance reader copies are more rare than a first edition but can be in varying degrees of quality, and some are signed. $250-$300 for an unsigned advanced reader copy is not unheard of. Signed easily over $500 if you can verify the signature.
2. Book club editions are nearly exactly the same as a first edition, but go for around $20-$30. Book club editions are not rare and printed all the way in to the 90's regardless of the date on the book.
3. Second, third and fourth printings of the first edition drop heavily in price as the print run increased as more printings were ordered. Keep cutting the price by 50% for each printing after the first.
4. The second edition has a very different appearance than the first, with white lettering and a cropped cover picture. $40 is a safe bet for a second printing first edition, with a signed copy going for around $75. Looking at ebay now I see a few for more than I just stated, but I'm sticking to the value I just put on it.
5. The TV show just came out, so the demand of these of books has increased slightly. If the popularity of the show gets to Game of Thrones-esk levels, you will see a 20% increase in value of the early printings.
6. Paperback first editions were printed after two or three printings of the hardcover over a year after the first edition/first printing. The initial print run was pretty large, but i can't find any information online about it. The book was oversized, with a stiff cardstock cover that is easily yellowed and damaged easily. It has the fold out cover art and maps included. New condition, $25, used maybe $15-$20. I think these are under valued as many of these books get tossed in the garbage being as they get beat up easily.
7. Late reprints have no collectable value unless limited edition, or signed.
8. Boxed sets have almost no collectable value, but are really cool to have. Early boxed sets were mail order paperbacks similar in appearance to the first edition and are awesome. Yes, awesome.

Edit: 11/26/23 - A blog viewer, MKN, emailed some great pictures of his newly acquired first edition, pictured below:

Scanning ISBN bar codes. Does it save time?

     A quick low resolution video of me scanning some books into the Collectorz.com program. Easy to use for sure, but each scanner is different I found out. My scanner adds a junk character, like "`" or "~" before the numbers, so each one must be deleted individually. I found that scanning the books in to a text editor first helps, so I can highlight and delete them all at once. I use a Symbol STB4278 scanner, which is the wireless blue tooth version. The base is USB, and i keep it upstairs on my main computer and use the scanner downstairs. The scanner runs about $100, and the cradle (gasp) about $175. I use mine for work related purposes so it's a double use item for me. You do not need drivers installed for this scanner to work.

     Does it really make entering books in faster? Yes and no. I'd say about half of the books I own have a scannable ISBN on the inside cover of the book. The actual UPC or barcode on the back of the book does nothing when entering books, otherwise this would be much faster. I have to delete the junk character, copy and past each number. I have a laptop downstairs with the book program on it, but the last time I used a laptop to do this, the hard drive took a dump while i was entering books, and i had not exported the library file for the whole month. Never again. Desktop or nothing for me. All in all, it beats hauling armloads of books up and down the stairs.

     I have a program on the Ipad called Splashtop. If mirrors anything on you're desktop to the Ipad. I do use this when scanning just to make sure things are going in okay, and i can make little adjustments here and there without running up and down the stairs. I highly recommend this. Below is a video of me playing World of Warcraft on Splashtop so you can see how it works.

A few pictures.. of some of the books I own.

     I'm down to four book cases now. What use to fit in six, now has to be condensed in to four, as the other two were very old Walmart bookcases that could no longer take the weight anymore. They basically disintegrated in the last move. All the screws that held them together would no longer hold firm to the particle board stuff they were made out of.

     What you are looking at is about 2,200 books. I know it does not look like it, but each shelf has two or three layers of paperbacks, with books crammed on top of them. Just the top shelf alone on the very left bookcase has 77 books on it now. The books in the book case equate to about 75% of my total collection. I do not keep them organized. I tried a while ago to keep them together, but it's much too hard. I buy too many, take some out to read them or enter them in to the Collectorz.com book database. It's the best book database program out there, allows you to use a scanner and so on. I'll post a quick dumb video of me scanning in bar codes later.