On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 22:45:39 GMT, Jim Bianchi wrote:
>On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 12:13:11 -0700, Slipstream wrote:
>>> If I had a buncha books and wanted to sell them, first I'd seperate
>>>them into book club editions and regular editions. I'd take the regular
>>>ones to bookstores and at least get an estimate (or some booksellers
will
>>>come to your house to give an estimate -- phone and ask).
>>
>>What are book club editions?
>
> When a hardcover book is offered by one of the many book clubs, the
>format is changed in minor, but recognisable, ways. On one of the title
>pages it may say 'book club edition,' or somesuch. Now please don't ask
me
>why such a volume is not as valuable to a used book dealer, but they are.
>I've done much the same thing as you -- taken a crate of books to several
>used book dealers, only to be told that most of them were book club
editions
>and as such were worthless. Go figure..
Ok. I just came from a local used bookstore, where I asked the guy
why book club editions are of less value than first editions. He was
unable
to give a satisfactory answer except that some people will treasure a
first
edition more than a book club edition. Equate this to automobiles: a
'real'
427 cu in Cobra built in the early 1970s will cost significantly more than
a
copy assembled from parts last year. Same car, and the newer one is likely
better since tech has made great strides since the late 60s, but still..
How to recognise a book club edition. There are several ways,
depending on the publi****ng house. As I said above, some will just have
"book club edition" printed on the title page. If it has a dust jacket,
there will be no price printed anywhere on the first edition version,
whereas there *may be* a price printed on a book club copy. Remove the
dust
jacket on a suspect book. Turn it over and inspect the back cover. On some
there'll be a small impression -- a diamond shape, square, or a circle --
on
the bottom of the cover next to the spine. If it's there, that is a bce
(book club edition.) Again, depending on the publisher this may be missing
and it could still be a bce. Then there is format. Book club editions are
generally shoddy when compared to a first edition of the same work. They
will probably be smaller (long dimension) than their counterparts. And so
on. There is no one single way to tell.
--
jimbo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"There are only 10 kinds of people in the world;
those who understand binary, and those who don't."
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