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Re: RARA-AVIS: The Glass Key
> From: "DOUGLAS GREENE" <dgg100f@hamlet.bal.odu.edu>
> To: rara-avis@icomm.ca
> Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 12:13:21 EST
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: The Glass Key
> Reply-to: rara-avis@icomm.ca
> >From Jmes Stephenson:
>
> > 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.
> >
Oh stop, I'm getting all weepy. I want a Lear jet, and yet poor
little Bookseller me can't afford one. And mean old rich guy can.
It's so unfair.
You have to answer to the demands of faculty, students and the
general public? It must be really frustrating for you. Making a
liveing from bookselling can be really frustrating too. Your
job doesn't hinge on whether or not you can pick up a copy of The
Glass Key. You still get paid, you just suffer in self pity .
You're not spending YOUR OWN MONEY on these books either.
Stop whining. If I have a copy of the Glass Key, it means I've paid
for it with my own money, and now I've got to find a price that
will pay rent, put food on the table etc. I'd love for your Library
to have first in jacket of all the books you want, but really,
nothing really changes if you don't. No one starves, no one struggles
to find rent.
--
> > James Stephenson
> > Rare Books & Special Collections Cataloger
> > University of Maryland at College Park
>
> I would add as well that I wonder what "justification" private
> collectors have for paying gobs of money for recent books. The
>
What more justification do they need other than A.)They will. B.)
They can. C.) They do!
argument in favor of authors whose importance has been tested by time
> is compelling, but for relatively new authors? In my own collection,
> I have Dunning's BOOKED TO DIE, the 1st 3 Paretsky's, the 1st 2
> Cornwell's and so on, but I got them as book reviewer for the local
> newspaper. I don't think they're worth the current market
> prices--and won't be until time has told us whether those books and
> those authors are important.
So WHAT!!! It still is that way isn't it.
> I sometimes think that dealers sell to each other!
>
We do. You've figured out the secret.
James
> Doug
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