"Bookfind of the century" sells for $2.23M
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"Bookfind of the century" sells for $2.23M
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Re: "Bookfind of the century" sells for $2.23M
#2The punchline here is that the book is full of the author's own copy-edit notes for a hypothetical 3rd edition of the human anatomy book.
I didn't get a clear indication from the story whether anyone thought it would be worth pursuing finishing that project and publishing a new edition.
Re: "Bookfind of the century" sells for $2.23M
#3One big reason I go to estate sales is to perhaps one day find a treasure like this; unfortunately many a rich home has either very few books or if they do have books they are mostly junk (estate sales being homes of older folks, the book selection invariable is heavily loaded towards WW2 history) or not of interest to me (coffee table books, cookbooks, etc.)
My biggest find so far? Four volumes of the six volume set of Scribner's Sun Rise Edition for $10 apiece: https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Sun-Rise-Edition-6-Vo....
Re: "Bookfind of the century" sells for $2.23M
#4Anyone trying to score like this has better luck buying a lottery
Re: "Bookfind of the century" sells for $2.23M
#5Wow, I love how the physical copies of Fabrica are as interesting as their author and their historical context and importance to Western medicine.
Another interesting copy is the one bound in human skin at Brown.
Re: "Bookfind of the century" sells for $2.23M
#6"As much as such prices might set a gold digger's heart racing, they are not usually what motivates book collectors, whose relationship to their objects of desire is varied and complex. At a Boston fair in October, I heard a dealer with an impressive selection of dust jacket art say, "Don't judge a book by its content." However tongue-in-cheek, this twisted aphorism exposes the curious fact that many collectors don't actually read their books." https://gwern.net/doc/psychology/collecting/2008-01-18-aliso...
Re: "Bookfind of the century" sells for $2.23M
#7Wow, I love how the physical copies of Fabrica are as interesting as their author and their historical context and importance to Western medicine. Another interesting copy is the one bound in human skin at Brown.
Another interesting copy is the one bound in human skin at Brown.
Shouldn't that be at Miskatonic?
Re: "Bookfind of the century" sells for $2.23M
#8One big reason I go to estate sales is to perhaps one day find a treasure like this; unfortunately many a rich home has either very few books or if they do have books they are mostly junk (estate sales being homes of older folks, the book selection invariable is heavily loaded towards WW2 history) or not of interest to me (coffee table books, cookbooks, etc.) My biggest find so far? Four volumes of the six volume set…
How do you identify a valuable book? Are there some 1000 well known valuable items you keep in mind? Or are you looking inside every jacket hoping to find an author's signature on a 1st edition? I assume the price of a false positive is low (ie I'll buy these dusty books for $20), but sounds like a lot of legwork.
I imagine it is definitively less sexy than the Ninth Gate
Re: "Bookfind of the century" sells for $2.23M
#9One big reason I go to estate sales is to perhaps one day find a treasure like this; unfortunately many a rich home has either very few books or if they do have books they are mostly junk (estate sales being homes of older folks, the book selection invariable is heavily loaded towards WW2 history) or not of interest to me (coffee table books, cookbooks, etc.) My biggest find so far? Four volumes of the six volume set…
How do you identify a valuable book? Are there some 1000 well known valuable items you keep in mind? Or are you looking inside every jacket hoping to find an author's signature on a 1st edition? I assume the price of a false positive is low (ie I'll buy these dusty books for $20), but sounds like a lot of legwork. I imagine it is definitively less sexy than the Ninth Gate
A first edition from any reasonably well known author from 50 years ago or before is automatically pretty valuable as a basic rule of thumb. Especially if it’s the authors first or second book.
Re: "Bookfind of the century" sells for $2.23M
#10Wow, I love how the physical copies of Fabrica are as interesting as their author and their historical context and importance to Western medicine. Another interesting copy is the one bound in human skin at Brown.
Another interesting copy is the one bound in human skin at Brown. Shouldn't that be at Miskatonic?
Apparently, for a time, it was in vogue for medical students to have a medical text rebound in the skin of their human cadaver from their autopsy class.