Bookfinder.com Report 2010: Several Books I Have Sold From the List

My first post from outside of the home office, I write this to you from a bookstore in San Francisco, where it has been raining on my girlfriend and I for the past two days.  Despite the wet conditions, we have managed to do a pretty fair job of exploring the city on two feet (with one umbrella) and I finally mustered the courage to figure out the bus system, which is actually quite easy in conjunction with Google Maps and the local NextMuni website.  I don't know how my parents traveled around in a foreign lands for so many years without a smart phone.  I have been relying on GPS on the road for book scouting missions for so long now that I felt entirely lost without it as soon as we stepped out of our hotel.

San Francisco seems like a great place for bibliophiles (and foodies!).  William Stout Architectural Books absolutely overwhelmed me and made me green with envy.  I wanted just about everything in that store, but settled for a reference volume on Photo Books.  Tarah and I were both oohing and aahing over a book she found on the shelves entitled Exceptional Treehouses.  The basement had a wonderful selection of Graphic Design books, with a shelf specifically on book design.  They also had in stock nearly every single book mentioned in the reference volume I mentioned in a previous post: http://www.kristianstrom.com/2010/10/very-specific-flashpoint-vintage.html       

This morning we ate a delicious brunch at Ella's in Presidio Heights and then took a bus through Haight-Ashbury to Golden Gate Park, where there was a book fair in progress (thanks to a chance reading of a post on the IOBA Forum by Chris Volk at BookFever- thanks Chris) .  I got the chance to meet a few local dealers, and made a modest purchase of a signed Chip Kidd book from Noemi at OpCit, along with a reading copy of his Book One: Work: 1986-2006 (Bk. 1). 

Enough of the travelogue, let's get to the point of this post:

After an initial study of the 2010 Bookfinder.com Report of the 100 Most Sought After Out-of-Print Books of the Year, I have put together a short list of several titles I come across quite often, along with several that I will be on the lookout for from now on, including one that weighs in at over $1,000.  Click on the title to view images of the books on Amazon.

3 titles that I have sold several copies of:

1.  The Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt: last sold in June 2009 for $125, prices of this out-of-print knitting classic have continued to rise since then.  I am due to find my next copy any day now.

2.  Hell, I Was There by Elmer Keith.  This title includes several of my favorite flashpoints: Big Game Hunting, Guns, Cowboys and Ranching.  I have routinely sold copies in the $75-100 range.
3.  I Go Pogo by Walt Kelly.  I come across books in Kelly's "Pogo" comic strip series all the time, and they are always a sure sale at $25 and up.  Look for them in paperback, and place a premium on condition.

3 books that I will now surely be on the lookout for:

1.  Holy smokes!  Keep a keen eye out for Ferdinand Pecora's Wall Street Under Oath: The Story of Our Modern Money Changers.  Apparently this falls under the category of scarce out-of-print business and investing books with a cult following of customers with deep pockets.

2.  The Lovely Reed: An Enthusiast's Guide to Building Bamboo Fly Rods by Jack Howell



3.  Just in time for Halloween: In A Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting by Ray Garton.  An appropriate selection for this time of year.  An out-of-print and still sought after account of the supernatural, available in Hardcover and Mass Market Paperback, most likely in the Horror or True Crime section.  On a related note, I have sold several MMPB copies of Gerald Brittle's The Devil in Connecticut in the $25 range.  As of this writing, several "new" copies have been discovered by a bookseller in California.  Someone interested in arbitrage may be wise to inquire as to the quantity available, purchase the lot, and re-list them at a premium on Amazon and Ebay(around $100 apiece I'm thinking, with a slight financial risk involved of course).  The sellers' description also includes a nice summary of what makes this particular book desirable.

Here is one final book I've come across plenty of times which is, unfortunately, coming back in print next May.  Copies of the older editions still fetch three figures, although they may sit on your shelves for a bit longer after it is reissued, so pick up or sell your existing copies while you can.

The Official Preppy Handbook, or the only Sure Thing I know of in the Humor section

For those of you who know me well, forgive me for beating this one to a pulp.  For the booksellers who have recently started following my blog, and posts on the BookThink forums you can thank me later for this tip.  How about after you sell your first copy?

This out-of-print cult classic, originally published by Workman Publishing in 1980, has always been in high demand.  Due to the recent publication of editor Lisa Birnbach's bestselling 2010 follow-up, True Prep, this title is extremely hot and in high demand right now, so sell your copies at a premium while you can.

Fortunately, I have been stockpiling paperback copies since the late 90's (it is one of my all-time favorites, I shudder to think about how many copies I have passed out as gifts) including a signed copy and a relatively scarce copy of the 1st Printing- OK, so my price for these two are a bit optimistic, but can you blame me?

I routinely sell copies of the paperback for $40 and up.  They are typically found heavily creased and well-loved, so copies in Fine or Near Fine condition can fetch a premium.  Terapeak tells us that the average fetched price on Ebay over the last 90 days is around $45.  I have sold plenty of copies via Amazon, ABE, Alibris and one copy via Biblio as well.  I always include some humorous excerpts from the front cover in my description, and make sure to refer to its' out-of-print cult classic status and plaid binding.  ("The first guide to The Tradition, Mannerisms, Etiquette, Dress Codes, The Family. How to Be REally Top Drawer. The Legacy of Good Taste, Proper Breeding and the Right Nickname.")  Like much of the clothing featured in this satiric portrait of the preppy lifestyle, this book will never go out of style and should always remain in high demand as long as it remains out-of-print.

Make sure to keep your eye out for the Gift Edition (Hardcover in a Slipcase), which will easily fetch 3 figures.  I also just happen to own unused copies of the Official Preppy Scrabook and the Official Preppy Jigsaw Puzzle, which I have never seen elsewhere.   

The best thing about finding this book in the field?  The plaid pictorial wrappers make it extremely easy to locate in a crowd.  So next time you pass by the humor section at a sale without taking a glance, think again.  And don't forget to read a few chapters before you sell it so that you know what to name your next child/dog, where to send them to boarding school and how to be absolutely top drawer.

For any non-booksellers who read my blog and own and/or happen to find a copy, I will always have a standing $10 order (or $15 in store credit) for any copies of this book (in Good condition or better) that you are willing to part with. 



Groupon: Local Discounts for Saavy Shoppers

What good bookseller wouldn't want to save 50% on lunch at their favorite local cafe?  Or get $56 worth of movie tickets for $20, only to take their family to see "The Lovely Bones" get butchered in its adaptation to the big screen?

Check out Groupon: http://www.groupon.com/r/uu2546129

For anyone who doesn't know or has not heard of Groupon yet, let me be the first to tell you.  Also, let it be known that I am a sucker for coupons, and am the only male I know of who cuts coupons out of the Sunday paper and organizes them into a snazzy filer that I can clip onto my grocery cart.

It is a super awesome website that features local merchants who offer significant discounts for a limited time.  For example, our local bookstore offered a "Groupon" (referring to the community/Group aspect of buying Coupons) for $10, which would get you $20 worth of merchandise.  Needless to say, I snatched up 5 of them and gave 5 away as gifts, and have been eating like a king at lunchtime ever since.

Today's deal was for Doc Green's, one of my favorite Salad/Wrap places in Wichita.  I was sad to hear that I missed the Groupon for my local movie theatre, as the emails were being redirected to my Spam Folder for several weeks.  Make sure you check yours if you are already using Groupon.  I hope to get my business/website featured on the site in the near future.  In the meantime, I will just keep stocking up on the good deals. 

The website has different offers available for different geographical areas, so make sure to check out the deals in your Metropolitan area: http://www.groupon.com/r/uu2546129

What is the best deal you have found on Groupon so far (assuming you are already using the site)?

A Very Specific Flashpoint: Vintage Graphic Design and Typography Books by Eastern European Authors

Yesterday afternoon, in between bookscouting destinations, I stopped for lunch at my favorite bookstore in town, Watermark Books & Cafe.  I had a Seasoned Readers coupon for 25% off, so I decided to add a book to my "Books about Books" reference shelf.  After perusing the Art & Design section for awhile I spotted the volume you see above- Bibliographic: 100 Classic Graphic Design Books. 

I thumbed through the oversized volume over sandwich and a coffee, and realized that I had sold quite a few of the books mentioned over the course of my bookselling career.  Instead of bombarding you with a slew of Graphic Design titles, I have decided to focus on a more specific niche of Graphic Design books to look for, and which I have sold several times over. 

Without further delay, here is today's very specific Flashpoint: Vintage Graphic Design and Typography Books by authors with Eastern European sounding names.  Below is a sampling of some of the authors, specific titles and a link to their product detail pages on Amazon, which include photographs of the dustjackets which you should make room for in your bookscouting memory.

Laszlo Moholy Nagy's Vision in Motion.  Published in 1947, still in demand in 2010.

Brodovitch (Masters of American Design).  Purchased at a garage sale for $5, sold on Amazon for $150.

Ladislav Sutnar- pick up anything you find with his name on it.  Unfortunately there is no image available for Design for Point of Sale, a book I have sold three times in the past three years for three figures.  Also look for Visual Design in Action.  I have sold most copies without their dustjackets, so it would be worth memorizing what it looks like with and without the jacket.

And finally, Gyorgy Kepes' Language of Vision.  The softcover does not command as high of a price, but should still be a quick seller in the $20-25 range.

Feel free to add other Graphic Design authors or titles to this list in the Comments section.

A Sure Thing in Online Bookselling: Volume 2

Chances are that your mother already has a copy of this vintage cookbook.

Betty Crocker's infamous "Pie Cover" Cookbook is one of the most commonly found books in the field.  I consistently find it at estate sales, garage sales, church sales, library sales and in bookstores, and more importantly, it consistently sells in the $50 range.

Condition is obviously a premium on most cookbooks, especially well-loved and often used ones like this one, published by The Golden Press in the early 70's and featuring over 1600 recipes. 

The book can be found in a hardcover format or 3-ring binder format (view here).  The best way to identify it is the circular, pie-wedge style of the front cover.  There are many comparable copies with a rectangular illustration, which do not command the same price.  Make sure that there are no missing pages and that you describe any dampstaining in your item description, and you will see this book sell anywhere from $39.95 to $75.  I will also add that I once came across a shrinkwrapped copy of the original edition which sold for $200 via Amazon last year.