Swastika over the Acropolis

[edwest]

A new view of the Nazi invasion invasion of Greece, including the role of the Luftwaffe. Yes, it is very expensive but it comes from a scholarly publisher, and I would be remiss to not mention it.


http://www.brill.com/swastika-over-acropolis





Usual disclaimer,
Ed

[John Beaman]

Wow!, expensive, indeed, Ed! Is it a print on demand type? Even at 600+ pages, it had better be good.

[Jukka Juutinen]

I wonder why some "scholarly/academic" publishers (e.g. UPK, TAMU) release their books decently priced while some others (e.g. Brill) price their works way above the reach of "normal" buyers...

[edwest]

John,


It appears to be a standard press run, not print on demand. My publishing company would not risk a print on demand for such a high page count. If you look at the cost of most books published by textbook publishers, 2 and 300 dollars is average. So, when in doubt, look for reviews. Otherwise, if you are in the States, see if a local University has it or request an inter-library loan. That way, your library can request a copy from any library that has a copy so you can look at the book to determine its value relative to what you want or need.

That is why, in the United States, there are stores that buy and sell used textbooks at a discount exclusively, in light of the high price. In some cases, I go to online resellers that can offer me a used copy of a high-priced book at a price that is low enough for me.



Best,
Ed

[Richard T. Eger]

Dear Ed,

Gee, I've still got my college textbooks vintage 1957-1962. My guess is that they aren't worth anything now, but you've made me wonder. I've been considering trashing them, as I don't think I'll come out of deep retirement, brush up, and seek employment. They've been a sort of psychological safety net for me, but the time has definitely passed.

Regards,
Richard

[edwest]

Dear Richard,



I suggest visiting www.bookfinder.com to see if they are worth anything.




Best,
Ed

[Richard T. Eger]

Dear Ed,

Thanks for the tip. Most are in storage, although I have a few key ones I have kept out, so gave your search engine a try. The book I elected to check was Engineering Considerations of Stress Strain and Strength, by Robert C. Juvinall, c. 1967. While an excellent textbook, I thought by now it would have been superceded by someone. To my surprise, "new" the asking price ranges from $174.13 to $488.11, while "used", it ranges from $48.49 to $792.56. That's not my typo.

I have a set of pristine 1960's era ASM metals books which must now be worth a fortune.

So, the next question is: How can I or my heirs turn these into cash?

Regards,
Richard

[John Beaman]

Ed, thanks for the info on "limited" published books.

Richard's comments make me think back to my era of University (North Carolina State University, same as yours almost)) when I thought $10 for a text book was outrageous!

[edwest]

Dear Richard,


There are specialist booksellers out there that will, obviously, offer the books you have at a higher price than what you might imagine. When you go to bookfinder, take note of who they are. Now, the things to keep in mind when selling a collection of textbooks are these:

1) Condition. The better, the more that can be asked.

2) A book dealer, regardless of who it is, may give you 50% of the current asking price for that title in the general marketplace. Sometimes less if the book is considered "common." I would say the average buying price would be 25% of what it's going for to 30% if the book is clean and looks new.

3) I would try eBay. I know of one dealer personally and whenever he comes across what he thinks is an odd or unusual item, he puts it up. Using the Buy it Now feature, sometimes the item is sold within the hour, other times, it languishes for months. As someone who places items for sale on eBay that are owned by a friend, I have detected no real pattern. The listing fee is low and I recommend putting up each book individually.

The downside is that you may - may - see the same book going for less on eBay than you'd like. That's why you can try a specialist bookseller.

4) The books you mention are not yet old enough to be considered antiquarian but I picked up an early book on missile guidance from a used bookstore only to find out the book was selling on the market for between two to almost three times what I paid.

5) Prices can fluctuate for unknown reasons (weather? planetary alignments?).

6) So make sure you write a will that clearly spells out how you'd like your books to be sold, and a price that you think is reasonable.




Hope this helps,
Ed

[Richard T. Eger]

Dear Ed,

Thanks for your sage advice, although it looks like your message got cut off at the end. eBay may be the route to go and my daughter is pretty good at selling stuff there. I highlighted passages with pencil that I wanted to help me remember, so this action may lower the price the book would go for.

I do have some math books that fall in the antiquarian category. Math was my achilles heel so I would search out supplemental books for the subject under study to help me gain some insights. One assigned math book in grad school was extremely poorly written and drove me to despair.

Regards,
Richard