Derek Lyons wrote:
> (The Bibliographer) wrote:
>
>>or university library. You can then photocopy the entire work, if you
>
> A damm good way to destroy the book by damaging the spine.

If you want a book to scan (or copy) it then a 200 USD used book is
overkill - the 20 USD ones are much better.

>>If you wish to purchase a copy for your own collection, ABEBOOKS,
>>one of several online booksearch services. lists eighteen available
>>copies, with some, indeed, at inflated prices. Among those at
>>reasonable cost may be mentioned:
>
> Of course many of those at your 'fair price' are in far worse shape
> than Forrest's copy. (And virtually none of the copies on ABEBooks
> are from known reliable dealers, which means you may not get what you
> are paying for, even at reduced prices.)

I've been using abebooks and bibliofind extensively over the last couple
years, and have always received what I've ordered. They may not be
known reliable dealers, but the traders there _are_ bookstores of some
kind, and want to stay in business.

>>Check ABEBOOKS, BIBLIOFIND, and several other online booksearch
>>services. You may well find the work for which you are searching
>>at a quite reasonable price. In any case, you probably can get a
>>good idea of the fair market value of all but the rarest titles.
>
> Book search services are utterly unreliable when it comes to
> determining fair market value - unless you have a great deal of
> experience in pricing books.

But they _do_ get you the cheapest books. Which is important when you want
books not for themselves but for the information they contain.

And they _do_ have instant price comparison, which is a good thing. And
abebooks has a "tell me when a book with these criteria comes in" which is
very very useful.

I know that there are stores out there who sell used reprints of King's
American Dispensatory at more than 300 USD a set (2 books) - when that
same reprint is still available brand new, from Eclectic Medical
Publications, at USD 285. (Search abebooks for author:lloyd and titel:
dispensatory to see two such bookstores. These two are as honest as used
car sellers - that is, if they can get away with screwing you they will.
Alwyn Books in particular is consistently overpricing their wares - I even
emailed them a couple years back, when they first sold the Dispensatory
for more than it costs new.) Fair rate for that 1984 reprint would be
around 250 USD, tops.

Which is why I just nod when told about dishonest pricing practises of
used book sellers.

Henriette

--
Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed
Best of RHOD: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/rhod