FIRST FUNTEST ENTRY!

My first pick for a possible winner
in Palmy's DJ Funtest compares
two first editions of Kerouac's
"On the Road".

Addall shows a hardcover first
addition listed in near fine
condition by Royal Books
at $12,500, and a similar
edition with no dust jacket
(actually a facsimile d.j.,
which is the same as none)
for $640.

Dust jacket value: $11, 360.

Note: The signed first editions
cannot be included, for the obvious
reason that they skew the results.
Also, for the "no d.j." entry, I
by-passed two listings
that were a couple of hundred
dollars higher, because, ironically,
they were not in fine or near-fine
condition.

Hmm.. I am starting to sense
a winner here. In fact, I may have
a Winner's Certificate printed up
to hang in a place of honor in
the upstairs office...

[From the upstairs office]

Sam wrote:
Okay...here's one that I've longed for ...."Tarzan of the Apes" by
Burroughs. Addall has four listings for a first edition with dust
jacket for $55,000 (all four listings are by Heritage, of which I am
sure that 1 is a repeat). Printer's Row has an inscribed 1st without
dust jacket for $8,500....which makes this dust jacket worth $46,500.

I discovered "Tarzan" when I was 8 and his series of books got me
hooked on serial reading.

I just verified this, and I am forced to admit
that I haved moved down to a distant second
in the DJ Funtest. Actually, you could
throw out the inscribed edition (for purposes
of the Funtest) and by doing so you would
likely find a d.j.-less copy priced lower than
$8,500, which of course would mean that
the "Tarzan of the Apes" d.j. is worth even
more $46,500.

You have given us a tough challenge here,
but I have a few ideas regarding a possible
even stronger entry...

[Memo from the upstairs office.]

This topic was discussed on here a few years ago and makes interesting
reading:

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/rec...0640a4ec3630b6

http://tinyurl.com/qwwq6

Stan
Giltedge Books, UK

wrote:
This topic was discussed on here a few years ago and makes interesting
reading:

In all due respect, sir, THAT is a typical
"desiccated bean-stalk" response if I have
ever seen one. This is a FUNTEST,
currently being held. Exactly how
does anything -- be it dust-jacket prices or
anything else -- having been discussed "five
years ago" have bearing on the DJ Funtest?
Far be it from me to trouble you with any
radical notions, but in the book business,
a good deal happens in five years. What
is "interesting" regarding this contest is the
question of whether or not anyone in the
group will be able to best Sam's entry...

[Memo from the upstairs office.]

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/rec...0640a4ec3630b6

http://tinyurl.com/qwwq6

Stan
Giltedge Books, UK

Another favorite might be "The Sun Also Rises"....
First Edition with dust jacket......$125,000 for sale by Reed Orenstein
First Edition without dj................4,500 for sale by Quill & Brush
Value of dust jacket...................$120,500
Winning the Funtest....................................pricele ss

I just noticed a "minor" glitch with addall's search engine. If you
use "hemingway , first edition, price descending", the highest priced
book shown is Old Man and the Sea at $19,000.
But if you "hemingway, sun also, and first edition", then you get the
$125,000 copy. I don't know why it doesn't pop up with fewer
conditionals, but it doesn't.

Sam wrote:
Another favorite might be "The Sun Also Rises"....
First Edition with dust jacket......$125,000 for sale by Reed Orenstein
First Edition without dj................4,500 for sale by Quill & Brush
Value of dust jacket...................$120,500
Winning the Funtest....................................pricele ss

This one will have to be held in
abeyance. I did the Addall
search the way you described
it (in your following post), and all
I came up with was a $25,000
copy listed by Bauman Rare
Books. This may be a matter
of different Addall servers, because
we had a situation like this a couple
of weeks back regarding the Dr.
Wertham book. By the way, are
you sure the copy you found is
not inscribed? If so, it can't be
accepted as an entry. Anyway,
at the moment you are still
ahead in the Funtest because
of your "Tarzan of the Apes"
entry, which I could verify.
Once I am able to validate
your new entry, I will move you
farther ahead on the leaderboard.

[Memo from the upstairs office]

I'm using Mozilla Firefox and it still comes up (no mention of a
signature) However, it does come with the custom made chemise and
halff-leather slipcase


Hemingway, Ernest 125000.00 ILAB Reed Orenstein Rare Books (ABAA)
New York Scribner"s 1926, First Edition Near Fine- Black Cloth Near
Fine- A very nearly fine copy in a near fine First Issue dust jacket
with "In Our Times" on the cover. A suberb copy with bright gold title
labels on the spine and upper board in a totally original, unrestored
first state dust jacket with just minimal edgewear and some overall
darkening. Light toning to the pages, as usual. One of the nicest
copies to come onto the market. Housed in a custom made chemise and
half-leather slipcase.

Hmm, that's interesting. You're right; it comes up with 'sun' in the title
but not with the generic hemingway search.

I wonder if each database (in this case ILAB) does its own indexing. It may
be a coincidence, but ALL of the ILAB entries for this book which do appear
in the generic search have the European title (Fiesta) with the American
title (The Sun Also Rises) in parentheses. The 'missing' entry which isn't
found in the 'generic' search doesn't have the European title, and since
ILAB is a European database maybe there's a connection. Added evidence is
that there's a $25,000 copy of this book at Bauman, also listed on ILAB but
lacking the title 'Fiesta', which appears and disappears in the same manner.

Just a hypothesis, but with two ILAB books lacking 'Fiesta' in the title and
both exhibiting the odd behavior it may well be correct.

Chris