Dust Jacket Collector Posted 14 November , 2019 Share Posted 14 November , 2019 47 minutes ago, David Filsell said: Incidentally my tally of Germans Great War books translated into English has just topped 130 and the hunt continues! I don’t think I have more than a few dozen. I’ll draw up a list - I’ll show you mine if you show me yours! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigNap15 Posted 14 November , 2019 Share Posted 14 November , 2019 1 hour ago, David Filsell said: Not mentioned so far I think has been the cost of postage from the US. High starts to describe it. Up until fairly recently postage from there was very reasonable. I think that there was special price for book / package postage which seems to have been done away with and replaced by price on weight. I used to buy English translations of German Great War books quite often from the States, now it's almost impossible to get them at a decent price even after a hard haggle. I think another price factor is the dwindling number of high street book dealers and the consequent high pricing of those who remain in business and established dealers pricing higher as because of lack of competition consequence. Charity shops, particularly the large Oxfam shops often have bargains and the odd rarities from time to time. Incidentally my tally of Germans Great War books translated into English has just topped 130 and the hunt continues! Hi Dave - you make a very good point about postage from the USA. I buy a few books from Abe books and the ones that sell from the USA often have crazy prices for shipping to New Zealand like US$75. So there is no way I would ever buy a book from them If I spend a bit of time I can often find the same from from the UK at more more reasonable prices and even from a USA seller on Abe. I have often written to some of these US Abe sellers with crazy postage and they write back saying its not their fault but its the prices set by the warehouse/distribution site! So I write back and tell them they need to find a better warehouse distribution site as they are losing sales! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 14 November , 2019 Share Posted 14 November , 2019 David-Try looking for the same book from the same seller on Alibris- they do consolidation flat rates to the UK. Many sellers list on more than one site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 16 November , 2019 Share Posted 16 November , 2019 Thanks to both of you for the interesting comments. I will try Alibris? Regards David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 18 November , 2019 Share Posted 18 November , 2019 On 16/11/2019 at 15:13, David Filsell said: Thanks to both of you for the interesting comments. I will try Alibris? Regards David David- Make sure it's Alibris.co.uk-or it won't make sense. Happy hunting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 18 November , 2019 Share Posted 18 November , 2019 Mr V, Noted, Thank you. regards David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muerrisch Posted 18 November , 2019 Share Posted 18 November , 2019 All booksellers hope for a clutch -if not a large herd-of customers with more money than sense. Alas, I am still waiting. There is nothing fixed about the price of a book- the price structure for books on ABE,etc is completely tautologous. The notion that if some idiot prices a book at £5000 when it has never sold for more than £5 does not mean that seller no 2 will achieve success by undercutting and pricing their copy at a bargain,discount, yabba-dabba-doo price of £4995. The second half of the old phrase-"Great minds think alike" comes into play......"while fools follow blindly" I have suggested before that as the publisher of the book was P.S.King, then some of the scarcity must be attributed to the destruction of the remaining stock when King was bombed and burnt out in 1941-before being bought by Captain I.R.Maxwell,MC, the bouncing Czech. I still wonder that there must be some sort of story about why King published it-their main market for a century was social sciences and political-so there may have been some connection between A.N.Other at P.S.King and Dunn. Alas, I have no idea what the situation is regarding surviving papers of Captain J,C.Dunn but if they are out there somewhere, then it might be worth a look. The King end of the publishers file was,of course, toasted. Re. TWTIK: my understanding is that it was privately published and only 500 copies printed.The copy to have is surely that owned by Frank Richards and presented to him by Dunn. I am not telling. No, not me. Another nice volume to have would be GTAT presented to Dunn by RG, with marginalia, not all complimentary. I know where that is too, and its not under my bed either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 19 November , 2019 Share Posted 19 November , 2019 13 hours ago, Muerrisch said: Re. TWTIK: my understanding is that it was privately published and only 500 copies printed.The copy to have is surely that owned by Frank Richards and presented to him by Dunn. I am not telling. No, not me. Another nice volume to have would be GTAT presented to Dunn by RG, with marginalia, not all complimentary. I know where that is too, and its not under my bed either. Just out of curiosity-when are you next away from home on holiday and what alarm systems do you have? Where can they be switched off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muerrisch Posted 19 November , 2019 Share Posted 19 November , 2019 Unfortunately I have neither, but have had access so as to take photos ..........I am not really a book collector, I am an information collector. Thus my British Army manuals, orders, regimental standing orders, King's and Queen's Regs etc etc. The original Barrack Room Lawyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 19 November , 2019 Share Posted 19 November , 2019 2 hours ago, Muerrisch said: Unfortunately I have neither, but have had access so as to take photos ..........I am not really a book collector, I am an information collector. Thus my British Army manuals, orders, regimental standing orders, King's and Queen's Regs etc etc. The original Barrack Room Lawyer. As a bookseller, most people don't read books- they are companions to be conversed with as and when. Good thing to. World would be a miserable place if we had to read all the stuff. I now have an image of you as sinister and threatening- nothing regarding army manuals can be more sinister or threatening than Harry Andrews in "The Hill"- "Double off Staff and get me a copy of the KRs" ....... "who's the ringleaders then? "EVERY FIFTH MAN" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 19 November , 2019 Share Posted 19 November , 2019 Just glanced at on-line offers of my Canadian Army book. Quite a few listings for new copies at around cover price (£19.99) or a few quid under, and a couple of very optimistic ones of around £50 - plus a delivery charge of £2.79. Several second-hand copies at £12-13 and, astonishingly, two new copies at £5.54 and £4.00 with free delivery. The former vendor is an "Amazon drop shipper" (one who allows a third-party to fulfil orders to customers on their behalf ), the latter is Amazon itself. Presumably Amazon stocked a few copies and is now selling off cheaply those that haven't sold. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resurgam13 Posted 20 November , 2019 Share Posted 20 November , 2019 There are only two copies of one of my books on Amazon, both paperback, priced at £411.25 and £1,033.92 (plus postage) - both, I assume drop-shippers, and the lower figure comfortably in excess of the royalties I received for writing the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barkalotloudly Posted 20 November , 2019 Share Posted 20 November , 2019 Purchased a copy of "The war the infantry knew " for a tenner from my local library tatty binding but for that price I had a leather binding put on interesting enough it seems to have some annotations by somebody who was there not Dunn I might hasten to add!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muerrisch Posted 20 November , 2019 Share Posted 20 November , 2019 That is a naughty tease ... do tell please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 20 November , 2019 Share Posted 20 November , 2019 3 hours ago, barkalotloudly said: some annotations by somebody who was there not Dunn But bhere are annotations on many books, vide the late Joe orton and Kenneth Williams. Do you mean that they seem to be by someone informed and present at the events described??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 20 November , 2019 Share Posted 20 November , 2019 23 hours ago, Moonraker said: Just glanced at on-line offers of my Canadian Army book. Quite a few listings for new copies at around cover price (£19.99) or a few quid under, and a couple of very optimistic ones of around £50 - plus a delivery charge of £2.79. Several second-hand copies at £12-13 and, astonishingly, two new copies at £5.54 and £4.00 with free delivery. The former vendor is an "Amazon drop shipper" (one who allows a third-party to fulfil orders to customers on their behalf ), the latter is Amazon itself. Presumably Amazon stocked a few copies and is now selling off cheaply those that haven't sold. Moonraker There are 5 copies listed on Ebay from the same seller- £5.32 a pop if you buy more than one, delivery included. The seller is in Peterborough and is an Amazon front. Yes, Amazon keep a large core stock of books likely to be demanded, -it saves time ordering in from publishers. They always have odds and sods kicking around as stock gets written off. Highly likely that Amazon got it on "Sale or Return"-so,alas, no royalties will be forthcoming. Amend you Christmas shopping plans accordingly........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fellop Posted 20 November , 2019 Share Posted 20 November , 2019 I found The War the Infantry Knew paperback version by Abacus, 2004 print, clean and in very good condition for £1.50 in a charity shop. Also Blindfold and Alone the 2002 paperback print; I already have the 2005 paperback print, for £2 in another charity shop but they only charged me £1 because I had purchased something else at the time. I find charity shops a good source of WW1 books however like many things weeks or months pass with nothing then I can pick up half a dozen books over a few days. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barkalotloudly Posted 20 November , 2019 Share Posted 20 November , 2019 But bhere are annotations on many books, vide the late Joe orton and Kenneth Williams. Do you mean that they seem to be by someone informed and present at the events described??? certainly do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 21 November , 2019 Share Posted 21 November , 2019 18 hours ago, barkalotloudly said: certainly do Ooooh! Is it is likely to break the received wisdom of TWTIK?? For instance perhaps a diary entry saying the writer cannot sleep because of all the other around him writing-up diaries............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muerrisch Posted 21 November , 2019 Share Posted 21 November , 2019 "This new quack is a bit of a cad and a charlatan, flaunts his DCM from the Boer War, and worms his way into the good books of every CO." Something like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 21 November , 2019 Share Posted 21 November , 2019 Or.."Could you stop your scribbling, the Germans are in the trench" (RWF-Really Writing Furiously?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 22 November , 2019 Share Posted 22 November , 2019 I must admit that I love annotated copies of books, particularly those written by veterans who felt they "knew different". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 25 November , 2019 Share Posted 25 November , 2019 Just bought on eBay a non-WWI book, out of a choice of a dozen copies. Quite a few priced at £3 or so, about the same proportion at £7-8, and several at £17-21, these from large-scale book vendors, one with 1.59 million transactions. The most expensive was a well-worn ex-library copy. Just surprised the experienced sellers would list items at such unrealistic prices. (The book was a best-seller when it first came out.) Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 26 November , 2019 Share Posted 26 November , 2019 19 hours ago, Moonraker said: Just bought on eBay a non-WWI book, out of a choice of a dozen copies. Quite a few priced at £3 or so, about the same proportion at £7-8, and several at £17-21, these from large-scale book vendors, one with 1.59 million transactions. The most expensive was a well-worn ex-library copy. Just surprised the experienced sellers would list items at such unrealistic prices. (The book was a best-seller when it first came out.) Moonraker All book prices-in the secondhand/antiquarian arena- are subjective. It is a tautologous structure based on what others have done, condition of other copies, ego, vanity, poverty and desperation. There is no factual or scientific basis to it at all. On the other hand, the browser's view of what a book should cost is just as much subjective as the view of the vendor. Happy browsing- Just think of all the different prices out there for books about Salisbury Plain and the Great War . Have a good day!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 26 November , 2019 Share Posted 26 November , 2019 ... Just think of all the different prices out there for books about Salisbury Plain and the Great War ... In one case, from £5.99 post free to £21.99 + £1.71 for brand new copies, the former being about half what my publisher would charge me! Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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