Sad Non Sequitur Cartoon

Bradbury's Dandelion Wine And A Look Back At ABE Listings

I have recently been listing for sale a number of books from my personal library. When I started to list Ray Brabury's Dandelion Wine (his first novel, published by Doubleday back in 1957) I discovered that I had kept a copy of the ABE listings for that title. I had done the search in November 2001, before I bought the title from a local, used bookstore.

The comparison between the listings and prices from today versus more than 16 years ago provides indications about how the collectible book business has evolved as the Internet has grown.

In 2001 there were 7 first printings of the title offered on ABE. Prices ranged from $500 for a copy with serious problems, to $975 for the next copy, to $2,000 for the highest-priced copy.

Today there are 21 copies of the first printing up for sale on ABE. Prices range from $250 to $2,250. Several of the lower-priced copies have serious condition problems, or are lacking the dust jacket. In contrast, the highest-priced copy is offered at a price that is $1000 higher than the next copy offered. Most copies online today are priced from about $400 to $1000, depending condition. 

Not only has the title suffered price depression, but the number of copies available has tripled, and there are many more dealers with this title for sale. Of the 7 dealers offering this book in 2001, only three are currently selling online.

It has been quite a roller-coaster ride since I started selling back in 1994.

Holiday Catalogue For 2017

Our Holiday Catalogue, featuring 65 items, will be mailed during the next several weeks. Interested in receiving a copy? Drop me an email at bob@squidinkbooks.com. Several of the featured fiction titles are shown below.

New E-List Added To Webpage

We have added a six page E-List to our webpage. Many Hemingway items and several special Hillerman items, as well as the first 87th Precinct mystery in hardback.

In Memoriam - Timothy Alan Maddox

My oldest son, Tim (46), died suddenly this Mother’s Day evening at Banner University Medical Center in Tucson. 

He was an accomplished artist and a talented gardener/landscaper, who had expert-level knowledge of horticulture and tropical fishes.  He created beauty and generously shared his work and talents.  Tim loved nature, animals, and was fascinated by astronomy.  We will terribly miss his shy smile and wry sense of humor, but also know that he is finally at peace.

Author Philip Roth On Trump

More on The Great Taos Bank Robbery States

Another example – an update in February 2017

Back in October of 2013 I did a post about the states of The Great Taos Bank Robbery, showing that collectors and dealers have mis-identified the first versus second states of this book for many years. Louis A. Hieb published a bibliography of Hillerman books and writing titled, Tony Hillerman: From The Blessing Way to Talking God A Bibliography (Press of the Gigantic Hound, Tucson, 1990). His book has become the definitive reference regarding Hillerman books published from 1970 through 1989. Hieb, however, described the two states of this particular book in reverse chronological order - the details of this inadvertent transposition are described in the 2013 post.

One of my customers, John Van Derhoof of Long Beach, California, is an avid Hillerman collector. He recently bought a copy of The Great Taos Bank Robbery that was apparently a Review Copy. He sent along some photos of this example and I show them below.

Although John’s copy is a bit worn, compared to Dan Stouffer's, shown in original post, it also indicates that the first state of the original first edition of this title was just as described in detail in the original post. The first edition, first state book and jacket were distinctly different than the later state, or perhaps a second printing after 1979, that has been mistakenly considered to be the first state for many years. Note that the first issue of this book has two photographs on the back panel of the dust jacket. Thanks to John for sending along this additional proof.