We do buy on line, as do some of our colleagues. Here's some people to avoid unless you will settle for only a reading copy at a bargain price, Read their response-to-questions statements:
Thrift Books | Green Earth Books | Motor City Books | Atlanta Book
Company | Blue Cloud Books | Yankee Clipper Books | Books Squared
Thank you for your email. We appreciate your interest in our companies.
Although we would love to physically search for and check every item
asked of us, it is nearly impossible due to our immense inventory and volume of email. All information that is available to
us is listed with the item. We list all of our books by exact ISBN
match. You should be able to find complete details on a particular item by going to the item's detail page and looking
under the "Product Details" or "Bibliographic Details" section of the
item listing.
You're awfully gentle, Phil. Do a search for Hemingway first editions, limiting the date to pre-1935. You'll find what appear to be some amazing bargains from some of the sellers mentioned above, as well as from "Pro Quo Books" and "Better World Books" -- Scribner's editions with dates which (if accurate) can only be first edition hardcovers, for as little as a dollar! (plus $10 postage, of course.)
ReplyDeleteThe giveaway? Many of these listings bear 13-digit ISBNs, which weren't real prevalent before 1935.
Add a buyer's note to your order, stating "We only want this book if actually published 1926" (1929, 1930, whatever) "as stated in your listing."
They won't care. They'll ship it anyway, and it'll turn out to be some sloppy post-1968 paperback reprint. Squawk, and at least some of the time they'll tell you to just keep the book, promising some form of refund. Of course, if you fall for this & don't return within 30 days by trackable shipping method, the Web site through which you bought will no longer enforce its refund policy.
Do they just have some idiot computer program, which fills in the blank "publication date" space with the "first edition date" in every case?
Maybe. Powell's Books, the well-known giant bookstore in Portland, currently has a very reasonably priced copy of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" listed on ABE ... published by "Barnes & Noble" ... in 1818.
You can look it up.
-- Vin
p.s. -- and watch out for "Constable" first editions of the R.D. Wingfield "Inspector Jack Frost" novels from several U.K. bulk sellers. They'll ship you TV tie-in editions published by BCA (Book Club Associates) "by arrangement with Constable." Nice enough books that may be worth the price of lunch, but NOT the pricey Constable firsts they're listing.
You're awfully gentle, Phil. Do a search for Hemingway first editions, limiting the date to pre-1935. You'll find what appear to be some amazing bargains from some of the sellers mentioned above, as well as from "Pro Quo Books" and "Better World Books" -- Scribner's editions with dates which (if accurate) can only be first edition hardcovers, for as little as a dollar! (plus $10 postage, of course.)
ReplyDeleteThe giveaway? Many of these listings bear 13-digit ISBNs, which weren't real prevalent before 1935.
Add a buyer's note to your order, stating "We only want this book if actually published 1926" (1929, 1930, whatever) "as stated in your listing."
They won't care. They'll ship it anyway, and it'll turn out to be some sloppy post-1968 paperback reprint. Squawk, and at least some of the time they'll tell you to just keep the book, promising some form of refund. Of course, if you fall for this & don't return within 30 days by trackable shipping method, the Web site through which you bought will no longer enforce its refund policy.
Do they just have some idiot computer program, which fills in the blank "publication date" space with the "first edition date" in every case?
Maybe. Powell's Books, the well-known giant bookstore in Portland, currently has a very reasonably priced copy of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" listed on ABE ... published by "Barnes & Noble" ... in 1818.
You can look it up.
-- Vin
p.s. -- and watch out for "Constable" first editions of the R.D. Wingfield "Inspector Jack Frost" novels from several U.K. bulk sellers. They'll ship you TV tie-in editions published by BCA (Book Club Associates) "by arrangement with Constable." Nice enough books that may be worth the price of lunch, but NOT the pricey Constable firsts they're listing.