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Re: RARA-AVIS: The Glass Key
Gary remarks--
> Bargain-shmargain. I am not blaming you, Pepper or Quill & Brush, but there are just some days when these prices are nuts. If
> I had an answer, I would give it, but I just don't know. I suppose if I had some rarity (but please God, don't make it something
> with a second state dust-jacket) I would price it near the moon, but I think these prices are way out of hand.
Yes, well, you notice that in my original post the word "bargain" was in
quotation marks. Maybe I should have included an emoticon to make clear
that my comments were to be taken ironically.
As an employee of a public institution, I couldn't agree more that
prices for first editions are far out of line with reality. We're faced
with the same budget problems most state-supported organizations face,
and consequently the University of Maryland at College Park has no
budget for rare books purchases. That's $0 for rare books. However,
the library has a mandate to collect "Marylandia"--and that can be
interpreted widely to include books written by authors who were born or
lived in Maryland, like Dashiell Hammett--so we were able to make a case
for _The Glass Key_, and the purchase was approved. It took a signficant
bite out of the Marylandia budget, but it was necessary. If there was an
Otto Penzler facsimile edition we would have bought that instead, but
there isn't. We have Penzler facsimiles of _The Maltese Falcon_, _The
Thin Man_, and _The Postman Always Rings Twice_ on display in our
current "hard-boiled" exhibit and they're great. But they are *only*
facsimiles, and they lack the intrinsic values of original editions--for
a special collection, they may *only* be good for exhibits. Researchers
are seldom satisfied with facsimiles and reproductions; after all, like
Gary said, if it was just for reading a paperback would be just as
good. Believe me, it hurts to shell out $750 for any book, even if it's
priced at far less than the market value--but sometimes we have no
choice.
I would love to attend the panel discussion on inflated prices for
"hypermoderns" (which _The Glass Key_ is patently *not*); how can anyone
justify charging $500+ for such recent firsts like _Booked to Die_?
--
James Stephenson
Rare Books & Special Collections Cataloger
University of Maryland at College Park
Email: js272@umail.umd.edu
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