Re: RARA-AVIS: odds & ends

From: Anders Engwall ( Anders.Engwall@uab.ericsson.se)
Date: 15 Sep 2000


Juri Nummelin:

> Since I live in this remote place of earth, the bargains I have made don't
> necessarily interest you, being translations [...]

I guess this corner of the world could be viewed as one big bargain basement for our kind of literature, at least as far as paperbacks are concerned. There is no collectors market, so prices are low. The downside is that availability more or less random, but whenever you find something interesting it ususally costs 5 kr (55 cents) or 10 kr
($1.10). Obviously these prices are set out of convenience, i.e. so you don't have to handle too many coins.

Speaking of bargains, I am hitting paydirt quantitywise right now, since my favourite used book dealer has found an enormous (tens of thousands of copies!) source of unread Swedish translations from the '50s and '60s. I've picked up between 30 and 40 titles at an average price of slightly less than $1 each time I've been there recently and I can hardly wait to get there again. Lack of shelf space is becoming a problem, though.

The most expensive American originals I've picked up are Gil Brewer's "Nude on Thin Ice" (Avon original) and "A Killer Is Loose" (GM original). Both are in excellent condition and cost me 20 kr ($2.20) each. Among those that cost me less than $1 each are several Fredric Brown titles on Bantam, the Dell mapback of "The Return of the Continental Op", John D. MacDonald's "Soft Touch" and Charles Williams'
"The Long Saturday Night" (both GM orig.), "The Best of Manhunt" (Permabooks), David Goodis' "Of Missing Persons"
(Pocket Books), several William P. McGivern titles on Pocket Books and a 1952 reprint of "The Hard-Boiled Omnibus".

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