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Books you regret not buying

Started by Cursus, October 19, 2017, 09:37:55 PM

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Cursus

Are there any books (secondhand or otherwise) that you regret not buying when you had the chance, and which are now too expensive or rare to get hold of?

The photo books thread reminded me that I hesitated for rather too long over a copy of John Davies' The British Landscape (priced below a fiver) in one of the local charity shops, which had of course gone by the time I'd changed my mind, and which is usually fairly silly money secondhand.

Serge

I wish I had bought a couple of dozen copies of Krautrocksampler that I could give to people who love the music as much as I do. If I'd known that Copey wasn't going to keep it in print, I would have done.

lgpmachine

My brother recently told me he saw a book of Nigel Kneale scripts (Year of the Sex Olympics, The Road and The Stone Tape) on eBay a while back, signed by Kneale, for about £50.  Unsigned copies usually go for more than this, and although he didn't have the money, he still regrets the missed opportunity.  I wish he'd told me as I love Nigel Kneale's stuff too and would've bought it for him.

Cursus

Quote from: Serge on October 19, 2017, 10:06:23 PM
I wish I had bought a couple of dozen copies of Krautrocksampler that I could give to people who love the music as much as I do. If I'd known that Copey wasn't going to keep it in print, I would have done.

Good call. That's one I keep hoping to stumble upon at a reasonable price.

studpuppet

Quote from: Cursus on October 19, 2017, 10:17:02 PM
Good call. That's one I keep hoping to stumble upon at a reasonable price.

In the meantime: https://monoskop.org/images/2/21/Cope_Julian_Krautrocksampler.pdf (missing pp98-99)

There was talk of reissuing a few years ago, but I think Copey felt that there were loads of inaccuracies that he wasn't interested in re-researching.

Serge

Yeah, he's spoken about being embarrassed about the mistakes in it, and not having the inclination to rewrite it to correct them, which is a shame, as I don't think it matters particularly, the whole point is that his enthusiasm for the music is so infectious that it makes you want to check out the records straight away, which is what the best music writing should always do.

I believe that 'Japrocksampler' is still in print, and the Copendium, which are both great, but I did get asked for 'Krautrocksampler' at least once a week when I worked at Rough Trade. And I always (over-optimistically) keep an eye out for it when I'm in charity shops, so I can buy it for one friend in particular that I know would dig it. Like charity shops wouldn't know what gold-dust it is and price it at £50 or more.....

I have just remembered that when I was working in Putney sometime between 2000-2002, I would go into the Ottakars in my lunchbreak sometimes, and remember looking at a copy of 'First Person', the autobiography of Vladimir Putin, which I thought looked interesting, but never got around to picking it up, reasoning that it would be likely to stay in print. Of course it didn't. Now I know I could very easily pick up a copy from Amazon, but that's just not the right spirit, and I just have to hope that I can pick it up in a second hand shop one day.


Bhazor

In college I was making decent pocket money selling old books and games through Amazon. One day my local Scope had a whole shelf of hardcover D&D books (player handbook, Pathfinder rulebook, Monster Manual etc) for 2 quid each. I was an overly tight jerk and wanted to check what price they were going for before I forked over my cash. Turns out they were selling for 50 notes each. By the time I got back to the shop the day after only one book was left. I estimate I lost about 400 quid.

greenman

Not buying a whole stack of The Karakoram by Shiro Shiraihata at Pilgrims bookstore in Kathman last time I was there rather than just one, would have had to leave some clothes behind to get them home but it would have stopped them going up in smoke when the place burnt down, could have had them for £30 each and there worth about £200 each now.