Hyraxia - Latest Comments

Re: The Future of Book Collecting

Joseph — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 10:48:18 -0000

What is the future of book publishing and collecting? None of us can say for sure. I think less print media will be published as
time goes on, and print on demand will be the norm in very cheap formant I
fear. But you know, even that print on
demand copies will probably be collectible.

The more important issue, I fear, is the inherent danger in
putting a technology between 'man' and 'knowledge’. In the past, all a person had to do was take
a book off a shelf and start reading it.
There was nothing between the man and the printed page. You could happen upon books in the street, in
others homes, in offices, wherever. In
the future books will be hidden on disk drives, memory sticks, and memory
cards. Not readily accessible. Not at an arm’s reach. We’ve
put a reader, a computer, a phone, technology, between us and the printed
page. If there is no power, you can’t
read. If your reader breaks, you can’t
read. If you cannot afford a reader or those
downloaded books, you can’t read. That book won’t be sitting there on a shelf
with the spines facing us with their titles; attracting us, interesting us. They will be on an electronic chip. Hidden and I fear even worse, unnoticed.

Re: A Muggins Update.

Muggins — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 05:19:41 -0000

Hi Andrew. Must admit, 'Map of Time' slipped under my radar when it was first published. It was only through the insistence of Rog Peyton that I must read it that brought it to my attention at all. Got no idea of the numbers printed and it's difficult to guess how popular it might become, so assessing its future collectability ain't easy.

I'll be interested to know what you think of Lowell's books. I've tried to figure out why I find them so enjoyable - and I can't. They're not my sort of sf at all, but I buy them, read them and enjoy them. Weird.
BTW - hot news. Yesterday he won the novel form Parsec Award (prizes for podcasts only) for 'Owner's Share', so somebody else likes him. Quite a lot of somebodies, since also short-listed was Scott Sigler who has a very large and near fanatical podcast fan-base.

As for other books mentioned, 'Ready Player One' is a lot of fun, it'll appeal most to the gaming crew and alternative reality fans - and those with a nostalgic bent for the 80s.

The only minor fly in the ointment is that the asking prices for signed copies of the chick-lit tome are rising faster than those for signed Klines. Um. Does this mean that I should read it? Hope not, it might alter my prejudices.

Re: A Muggins Update.

Andrew C — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:13:32 -0000

Thanks Muggins for another interesting post.
I bought a copy of Map of Time from Amazon.co - think I preferred the cover! - and noted it was in its 5th printing already. No firsts seem on offer when I looked.
Will prob have a look at the Nathan Lowell.
Cheers

Re: A Muggins Update.

muggins — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:07:26 -0000

Thanks, Simon.
Just noticed that a certain well-known bookseller of signed 1st editions who over the weekend was offering S/L/D copies of the Diffenbaugh book for £12.99 has today upped the price to £24.99.
Interesting.....

Re: A Muggins Update.

hyraxia — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:46:37 -0000

Thanks as always Muggins for the insightful post.

Re: Apologies…

Simon — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:02:08 -0000

The site isn't going to look like this permanently I hope - just until I can get things sorted!

Re: What Will Happen to the Book Trade? The Future of Book Fairs and the Trade Associations

Simon — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 05:35:49 -0000

It's just a case of being polite Chris, I know that's at odds with your personal outlook though :) and being professional too.

Re: What Will Happen to the Book Trade? The Future of Book Fairs and the Trade Associations

Chris Tokena — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:58:11 -0000

As always dear friends I like to interject...

If people aren't replying/responding it's because what you have to tell them is of no interest to them.

Re: What Will Happen to the Book Trade? The Future of Book Fairs and the Trade Associations

Simon — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:53:48 -0000

It's a shame that that's how it worked out for you Dennis. The associations are there to support the trade and I guess you should've gotten more support.

It varies massively how responsive other sellers are. One dealer I communicate with regularly always responds, usually within the hour, another responds most of the time. Some never respond, which is just rude and it paints a picture of them. Us dealers are all busy but a simple email doesn't take more than a minute to reply to. I don't really have much experience of calling dealers on the phone like you Dennis (I do everything online) but I imagine that's harder to ignore!

Re: What Will Happen to the Book Trade? The Future of Book Fairs and the Trade Associations

DenBob1957 — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:30:12 -0000

I'm glad this came up in my twitter list (thats right I'm on twitter now and following you, does that sound creepy?). I tried to get involved with the vairous trade associations about a decade ago when i started moving into professional bookselling. it was part of the reason I backed out from selling. I wanted to open a brick and mortar store in my hometown just for secondhand books i had a good protion of the stock needed. i ran things online and on the lists and sold books to other collectors i had known from personal acquaintences. It was slow and I was working hard but when I tried to get involved with the trade to become a professional bookseller I just felt like an absolute outsider. It was like applying to join a secret society or big boys club! I would call other dealers and just get ignored basically so just though 'forget it'. I still buy and sell occassionally but am a little untrusting of the associations and the members they support.

Re: What Will Happen to the Book Trade? The Future of Book Fairs and the Trade Associations

Simon — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:17:12 -0000

Hi Chris,

I worry because I think book fairs and the trade associations are important to the trade. They are of use, I just think they need to be vital and that they need to pay more attention to the up and coming traders. Even simple things like replying to emails go a long way in showing the support a trade association needs to give. I can't count how many emails I've had ignored!.

Re: What Will Happen to the Book Trade? The Future of Book Fairs and the Trade Associations

Chris Tokena — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:00:21 -0000

I don't know why you even worry. If the trade organisation aren't of any use to you then why concern yourself?

Re: New Collectables – Allan Mallinson First Editions

Simon — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:08:46 -0000

Thanks for the article Steve, I've added a cheeky little ad in there to a reasonably-priced copy :)

Re: The Big Question of Condition.

Simon — Tue, 31 May 2011 08:14:10 -0000

I do have a number of books that are photographed and catalogued that I haven't listed...I listed one of them once, but soon took it down. I do meet a sale with mixed feelings for certain books, but if I know I can replace them at the sale price with high probability I won't mind. But sometimes I sell a book that I know I'm unlikely to replace, which is annoying! I figure now that taking some of the books out of stock and keeping them is simply just a bonus!

The main problem is is that nearly all books I buy I want to keep!

Re: The Big Question of Condition.

muggins — Sat, 28 May 2011 05:33:06 -0000

Simon, I suspect that you are much more of a dealer than a collector.
How many books do you own that you would really hate to sell, even if you were offered a tasty price? Not counting any super rare volume you may use as an advert to demonstrate the quality of your stock.

I know of collectors who won't even consider selling duplicates of their collectables, though if an opportunity occurs they will use duplicates for swop-trading to obtain a book they can't find anywhere else. If this does happen, it's not unusual for the current market prices of the books being swopped to be a minor factor. The terms of the deal are determined by who wants what the most.

In reality I suspect this is why so many accumulate category 2 books. They tell themselves that these are books that other collectors may want and that they can be sold or swopped to pay for/obtain pricy category 1s when they turn up. Doesn't often happen though, most collectors just flat-out shy away from parting with any book except in special circumstances.

Re: The Big Question of Condition.

Simon — Fri, 27 May 2011 05:43:12 -0000

Interesting response...cheers...

I must say I agree, being a dealer I have to consider with every book the resell value and of course that means that I do have to consider condition on every book. But at the same time I do buy books that I just don't want to sell (I usually do sell them but at a price I can afford to buy again). The former category I buy the copies I can get the best return on. The latter category I buy the copies I'm comfortable with, a lot of the times the books will be good or very good.

Re: The Big Question of Condition.

muggins — Thu, 26 May 2011 15:48:13 -0000

Muggins' Rule: in any collection the books collected will fall into one of two categories.
1. Those books the collector really wants,
2. The books he collects because other people are collecting them.
Over time the books in category 2 will significantly outnumber the books in category 1.
Muggins' Corollary: The quality and condition of the books in category 1 will be improved by replacements when a suitable opportunity arises. Those in category 2 won't be.

Collecting category 1. books - as opposed to investing in or trading in books - is a pretty weird thing to do, when looked at logically. OK, you like an author, but the words are the same in the pbk, the hbk, the limited edition, the half-calf with uncut pages, etc., etc. Yet the lure of owning the less common version tempts us into handing over our hard-earned cash.

And when we have, sometimes we don't even read that copy of the book (this from a collector who has pbk duplicates of most of his collectables so that they'll stay pristine). And so we accumulate shelves of books we haven't and won't open.

Sometimes it's worse - the books aren't even kept on the shelves but carefully packed away lest cruel daylight fade or tan our precious tomes.
Is that daft, or what?

Naturally when buying the choice is determined by a balance between condition and price, but a collector will usually still hanker for the best while settling for the affordable. Mind you, he'll still hopefully search for better copies than he already has being offered for a bargain price. Almost never available of course, but he'll still keep looking. But only for category 1.

Re: What Sells Where?

Simon — Thu, 05 May 2011 10:42:59 -0000

You do know my dear Mr Muggins that the price guides available here on Hyraxia are the Russell guide...alas, you're right though, some prices aren't right, but it is only a guide. But this is a good thing, it adds to the mix. It gets people selling for bargain prices and and others selling too high. It adds an element of flux to the market. This is always good. I sometimes price books low and sometimes high, just to keep in interesting.

I'm totally with you on the book fair issue. The problem for me is that there are too few books of interest to me, let's not just say speculative fiction let's say fiction. The majority of books are antiquarian and satisfy the requirements of an older generation. This is fine in general, as long as the newer end of the spectrum is feeding into the system and helping to move the collective along a bit. For every dealer that retires, a new dealer should come along with a slightly more up to date stock.

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be happening. I've been going to fairs for years and I rarely see anything new. I rarely buy anything.

Re: What Sells Where?

muggins — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 05:13:18 -0000

Ah! We're open for business again.
From the other side (a buyer not a seller), I don't go to book fairs in the expectation of finding out-of-print, interesting or collectable sf, because from experience I've learned that there's never enough on show to make the trip worthwhile. Add in the unfortunate fact that many general dealers and even cataloguers are pretty ignorant about sf, and it becomes not just pointless but frustrating too. So like most genre collectors I hit the web and the specialist sellers. At least they know what you're after.

I bought a copy of Russell's 'Guide to First Edition Prices' a few months ago and flipped through the sf authors. It was not good. Very few sf authors listed and it wasn't clever on prices either. An example - Pratchett's 'Once More... with footnotes' was listed as £45/£15. (I just hope I can find a seller who has priced this book using Russell as a guide.)

Genre is a specialist field - with sub-groupings. It's tiger country for those (buying or selling) who don't know what they're doing. I'm into sf, but I've no more clue about collectable fantasy trends and prices than I do about pork-belly futures. Sure, I can look them up, anyone can, but it can still be hairy, and for sf too (try sorting out values for, say, the various 1st editions of Neal Stephenson's 'Snow Crash', that'll keep you busy for a while).

Some time back the beeb did their Big Read project to find out what people actually read. Turned out that 6 of the top ten most popular books were genre - sf or fantasy. I get the impression that most dealers haven't cottoned on the the implications of this.

Re: What Sells Where?

Chris Tokena — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 05:20:14 -0000

Good to see you back sir! how welcome it was to get a ping on my RSS Reader of a new Hyraxia article, albeit a short one.

I have little experience of selling outside of eBay, so can't really comment!

Re: Bookride – Autograph Anecdotes Part Two

Alison — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:40:02 -0000

I would've found it easy to tell him his book was crap, you should've done that too. He didn't care about you, so why should you care about him?

Re: New Collectables: David Vann

DenBob1957 — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:58:26 -0000

If you haven't already read it Simon, you should read Legend of a Suicide. I haven't yet got Caribou Island - but I agree he could be a good author to watch. Everybody loves to praise Franzen, but he's not a contender for the Hemingway / Steinbeck / McCullers / McCarthy throne

Re: New Collectables – The First Editions of Michael Dibdin

Chris Tokena — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 04:40:35 -0000

The TV program wasn't that great by the way.

Re: Bloomsbury Auctions’s New York Office to Close?

Paulo — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 05:56:09 -0000

This is a shame as the office was literally a stone's throw for me! I had only been a couple of times though.

Re: What to Watch in 2011

DenBob1957 — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 04:28:36 -0000

I can't say I'm looking forward to the David Foster Wallace but as a reader (and collector) of great American fiction I should at least take a look