Paperbacks

On another thread, it was suggested - rather strongly I thought - that a
paperback with a few pages falling out is totally without any value.

As a first consideration, a paperback thirty or so years old is still held
together by rather poor glue. A small application of glue along the spine
where the pages are loose takes care of that quickly. As some paperbacks
are worth considerable sums and do indeed have a value, it only makes common
sense to repair a book damaged by years, not by use. Casting it off as of
no value is rather silly...

In addition, some writers started off in paperback and then progressed to
hardcover. Their earlier books were not reprinted and the initial paperback
runs were modest. To have an overview of their work, one must look to the
earlier paperbacks and some of these are rare in any condition. Those
certainly still have a value, even if only reading copies.

I do not profess to know as much as one here, but I have bought paperbacks
for over $50 and sold them, damaged or not, due to the scarcity of the
material and the value to a bibliographer or scholar. Certainly some
science fiction writers have scarce works in paperback. Ken Follet and
Nelson DeMille both started in paperback and examples of there early work is
very hard - and expensive - to find. (One of Nelson's early books is really
rather good; the rest show a developing writer trying to learn his craft.
No value? Hardly).

My market is universities. To be complete, the works of a writer have to
include the early paperbacks not simply the later hardcover. A university
will easily pay good money for a badly damaged paperback - if it is the
missing book to a complete set.

I have four books to my credit and only two of those came out in hardcover
for economic reason determined by the publisher. I do wonder if a certain
type here has *anything* to his credit...

Willow

On Sat, 20 May 2006 03:46:27 GMT, "Pangarune Corner"
wrote:

On another thread, it was suggested - rather strongly I thought - that a
paperback with a few pages falling out is totally without any value.

[snip]

Okay. Even granting that your reasoning is sound, a significant
amount of the value of a book AS AN ARTIFACT is in its condition.
Loose-but-present pages don't subtract from the value of the text, but
collectors want whole books, not shaken or binding-challenged books.

AS A COLLECTOR, given a choice of a book with loose pages that is
otherwise vg (I know, I know, but just go with the premise for now) or
a copy in lesser condition but with the binding intact, I would
certainly opt for the second copy. I'm not a binder, so the chances I
could do that kind of repair is slim; I can glue an entire page block
back into a paperback cover - and have done so many times with Lancer
titles from the 1970s - but rebinding on the level of a few loose
pages is beyond me.

Now, were I only concerned with the value of the book's contents, ANY
complete copy would do, even if it were handed to me loose in a
shoebox. But for something I want to put on my shelf alongside the
really nice copies, nah.