James Stephenson wrote: > > James Mountain reacts to my lament about hyperinflated book prices-- > > > Well, justification hey??? How about: THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE WILL PAY!!! > > Is that good enough? > > > > If it were only that simple. Public institutions like a university > research library must answer to the demands of faculty, students, and > the general public, all of whom demand (rightly) that we collect > material necessary for their studies. Rare books and special > collections departments are held hostage by dealers who justify their > outrageous prices with just such "arguements" as James'. A private > collector can "just say no" to high prices; a library doesn't always > have that luxury. > -- > James Stephenson > Rare Books & Special Collections Cataloger > University of Maryland at College Park > Email: js272@umail.umd.edu > - There is something ABSOLUTELY out-of-order in that debate. The General Public want BOOKS, it want TEXTS. The rare-book thing is a constipated trip, and, from a freudian point-de-vue, anal phase hooked. I don't see the point of discussing prices of books in RARA-AVIS. When I can put my hand on any second-hand book of a TEXT I did not previously read, I do. And IT MUST BE CHEAP. Focusing on old and rare books is a way of evading the fact that you are no more able to focus on the text. So fuck the collectors and the dealers, and please LET'S READ ! - # RARA-AVIS: To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" # to majordomo@icomm.ca