Comments on Bookride: Books as Investment

It's funny, but just a few days after first readin...

2009-12-02T03:44:34.880Z

It's funny, but just a few days after first reading this post, I bought a signed first of Dunning's "The Bookman's Wake" in a thrift store for four dollars. Fate, I tell you.

Al(!) here: I'll give you one to put away for 2012...

2009-11-24T22:36:31.508Z

Al(!) here: I'll give you one to put away for 2012: MICHAEL GILBERT: Even Murderers Take Holidays. Published in May 2007 by Robert Hale in an edition of 750 copies. Hardback. 18.99.
Try and find one. (But not after I've dug around in your basement for a chance of a £4.00 review copy! Although, thinking about it, Robert Hale never send out their books for review so no luck there then.)

Thanks Edwin, Bob et Al. Edwin you did well to avo...

2009-11-22T20:21:38.397Z

Thanks Edwin, Bob et Al. Edwin you did well to avoid Fowles, he hasn't totally tanked but has proved a flat investment. I remember all the fuss about 'The Collector' back in the 1970s and it can still be had for about the same price as then; same goes for 'The White Hotel' and "The English Patient"--there must be quite a few like this. What I need to know is an author who will double in the next two years--how about a novel about a vampire at the London Olympics?

Yeh, a collectible has to be a nice object unless ...

2009-11-22T11:41:43.407Z

Yeh, a collectible has to be a nice object unless the book is really scarce. Poor paper, lingering smells and stains will make handling the book a distinctly unaesthetic experience.

A lot of the paper used in the 80s and 90s was rubbish - the production people were under so much pressure to reduce costs that some times you would end up with books that had to be pulped after they arrived. I remember one author telling his publisher, 'you can sell this book in any market you like as long as it's not an English-speaking one'.

Re Bob's point, I have all of the Flashman series inscribed to me and most of the Aubrey/Maturin and Dalziel/Pascoe series, but also keep the paperback versions for reading, which is how you define collectibles you really want to own I suppose.

As for investment, I remember being told to buy as many John Fowles firsts as I could afford at about the same time someone told me to give up my company pension and go private. Disregarded both experts, thankfully!

The first Colin Dexter novel "Last Bus To Woodstoc...

2009-11-21T23:43:34.818Z

The first Colin Dexter novel "Last Bus To Woodstock" was printed on paper that browned as it came off the rollers. ALL copies now look pretty dreadful and at some not too distant stage in the future the paper will start to fragment and fray
(Hmmm...Fragment and Fray...sounds like a King's Road perfume parlour) and self-destruct.

The storage of the books is also the problem ,like...

2009-11-21T10:47:56.627Z

The storage of the books is also the problem ,like wine books gather damp and dust,alot of dealers i knew have attempted to cash in their pension,only to find mildrew has ruined the books,althought the shed didn't help.
Also the investors have driven the condition inspection to silly lenghts,does any
1st edition collector read the books ? surely fingermarks damage the book ?