On Collecting: Buying and Selling Collections

41 Books For Sale Recently Acquired From Collectors, Pick of the Week, and Are You A Collector?

Do you have the desire to acquire? Do you like things that come in sets? Do you spend precious money and living space on objects you don’t need but that somehow bring you pleasure? Does your enjoyment of a book increase when you know more about the circumstances of its publication? If you answered yes to any of these questions you might be a collector.

I. On Collecting.

This is the first in a series of posts I’m doing on collecting. It’s my first attempt at a more meditative newsletter installment. If you’re just here to look at pictures of books or see about my inventory, you can scroll down to Section III where I start to list books for sale.

What I’m going to talk about is how, in the course of business, I’ve had the privilege of acquiring books from two older collectors who are downsizing or liquidating their collections. I have some feelings about it.

But first, some background. I’ve had the collecting bug bad since I was a child growing up in the heady 1990s comic book bubble. I think I probably got it from my dad, who still has a large collection of political memorabilia. I don’t remember my mom collecting things when I was a kid, but in recent years she and my dad have organized whole road trips around her sizable collection of vintage glassware.

It’s hard to explain the leap from, “I think it’s neat,” to, “it must come home with me.” For me, the leap has always been intuitive and the impulse behind it is one I’ve struggled to master. I am a person with a small collection of 1940s pulp magazines featuring adventures of prospectors during the Yukon Gold Rush and the likes of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I read them sometimes but the best stories are always the Jack London reprints which are available in much less crumbly formats. Is having these magazines normal person behavior?

I love old books and magazines and can’t quit acquiring them. Is this merely middle class consumer culture? I don’t think so. Collecting is a phenomenon that exists across class lines in our society. I’ve met a poor disabled worker with expensive anime memorabilia all the more prized because it was hard won. In law school, I watched a video where an emotionally disturbed young millionaire explained that he was able to find solace in collecting certain antiques and making sure they were taken care of.

I’d like to know the history of collecting. Did paleolithic people collect anything or is it something that only came on with the dawn of agriculture? Or is it a modern phenomenon? In collecting paperbacks and magazines that were designed to be thrown away, am I resisting capitalist disposability? That’s a stretch but the fact remains that neither my old books nor my mother’s vintage glass were manufactured with the idea that they would still be around in the 21st century. Perhaps there is a historian or social scientist out there who can explain collecting to me in the broader context of human history.

In the meantime, what I do know is in our current political economy, the collector exists in a complex web with other collectors and with his mirror image, the vendor.

II. The Dialectic Between Collector and Vendor

The other day I was bemoaning my narrow profit margin to a friend of mine who is a fellow enthusiast. He posed the question to me if it was right to turn a profit off of love. Later I had a conversation with another friend, a more much more experienced collector than I am, that touched on the topic of pricing. He pointedly told me he didn’t care about value. These gentlemen are purer than I am and make me fear I have crossed some kind of dark threshold.

Vendors of collectibles take myriad forms. The main two are (1) the hobbyist petty vendor, who run the spectrum from online sellers like me to owners of brick and mortar comic book stores, and (2) the entertainment mega-corporation, who profit off geek capitalism and the rise of the Funko Pop. Both will separate you from your money. Disney is intentionally trying to give you Baby Yoda brain worms. And what am I doing by writing a personal email followed with a long advertisement for collectibles?

What’s interesting to me is that so many people have generally positive views of, e.g., comic book store owners when many of them have a pawn shop business model. I don’t think what hobbyist petty vendors do is inherently more laudable or ethical than what the entertainment mega-corporations do. While I know no hobbyist petty vendor with the marketing budget to give you Baby Yoda brain worms, I have known a few to be there in your time of need with pennies on the dollar for your collectibles. And, to me, that is a dark threshold I don’t want to cross.

And yet hobbyist petty vendors are motivated by, at least in part, a desire to share our love for something we are passionate about. Passion is, of course, a separate thing from cultural merit and social value, but it just so happens that I believe my passions have cultural merit and social value. And I do think someone like me needs compensation for doing what I do and that the way to receive such compensation is to buy low and sell high. But if there aren’t limits you become a monster: the mirror image of a fan and collector overly concerned with value and trying to profit off love.

I want to make money off of selling books to you. But I also want to deal fairly with collectors who are downsizing or liquidating their collections and not pay the kind of money many comic book store owners or God forbid Half Price Books would. I also believe in affordable pricing because people should have access to interesting cultural goods.

The high point of my weekend was selling my 30-something neighbor four books. They were all cool and interesting in their own way, but one felt especially good to pass on because I purchased it from a man I will call the Midwestern Collector, a science fiction fan 50 years my senior who I am developing a relationship with. I was thrilled to get his copy of The King in Yellow into the hands of someone younger who will enjoy it.

III. The Mid-Atlantic Collection for Sale (17 Books).

I mentioned the Midwestern Collector, but before I get into him and his books, I want to talk about and offer for sale the books of a man I will call the Mid-Atlantic Collector. I know nothing about this man except his return address. When I bought the above books, he sent me a friendly DM saying he had had these books for many years and had proudly displayed them in his library. He added, “I am glad they are going to a good home.”

I didn’t have the heart to message him back and tell him I planned to turn around and sell his books. In part, that’s because good collectors view themselves (ourselves?) as custodians. Is my mission to turn a profit or is it to rehome these paperbacks lovingly? A better businessman than I would say, “Why not both?” But there is a contradiction there.

My books are priced individually to include shipping and handling.

I always combine shipping, so you will get a better deal per book if you buy more than one book.

I’m always willing to haggle.

I’ll ship two books marked $10.00 for $15.00 and two books marked $7.00 for $11.00, etc.

To arrange purchase of anything for sale in this newsletter please contact me via email, Facebook, or Twitter. US only.

Books and Prices — Listed in Order Pictured Above (See Below for Back Covers and Spines)

The Incomplete Enchanter by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt (The Incomplete Enchanter #1-2) (1962 edition) — $10.00 (fixup novel)

The Castle of Iron by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt (The Incomplete Enchanter #3) (1962 edition) — $7.00 (novel)

Dwellers in the Mirage by A. Merritt (1965 edition) — $10.00 (novel)

Ace Double novel: The Mutant Weapon / The Pirates of Zan by Murray Leinster (1959 edition) — $13.00 (two novels)

The Wall Around the World by Theodore R. Cogswell (1962 first edition) — $7.00 (short fiction)

The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction Fourth Series by various authors, ed. by Anthony Boucher (1960 edition, collecting fiction from 1954) — $7.00 (short fiction)

Alternating Currents by Frederik Pohl (1956 first edition) — $7.00 (short fiction)

Space on My Hands by Fredric Brown (1953 edition) — $11.00 (short fiction)

The Lights in the Sky Are Stars by Fredric Brown (1955 edition) — $7.00 (see picture below; minor flaking on spine) (novel)

Billenium by J. G. Ballard (1962 first edition) — $12.00 (short fiction)

Passport to Eternity by J. G. Ballard (1963 first edition) — $10.00 (short fiction)

Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement (1962 edition) — $10.00 (novel)

The Black Star Passes by John W. Campbell (Arcot, Morey and Wade #1) (1965 edition) — $7.00 (see Section IV below for sequels) (short fiction)

Beyond the Moon (original title: The Star Kings) by Edmond Hamilton (1950 edition) — $7.00 (novel)

Raiders from the Rings by Alan E. Nourse (1963 edition) — $7.00 (novel)

The Fury From Earth by Dean McLaughlin (1963 first edition) — $7.00 (novel)

The Insect Warriors by Rex Dean Levin (1965 first edition) — $7.00 (novel)

To arrange purchase of anything for sale in this newsletter please contact me via email, Facebook, or Twitter. US only.

IV. A Part of the Midwestern Collection for Sale (24 Books).

All of the above were purchased in eBay auctions from the Midwestern Collector. Since dealing with each other on eBay, we have begun to deal with each other privately through email via his wife who photographs the books and sends the emails. I have become sweet on this couple though I know little about them. So far I have purchased 235 books from the Midwestern Collector so the above is only a small taste of things to come. I’m told that the Midwestern Collector bought most of these from a friend in the 1970s and have had only two owners before they came into my possession. Who wants to be the fourth owner of some of these books?

To arrange purchase of anything for sale in this newsletter please contact me via email, Facebook, or Twitter. US only.

Books and Prices — Listed in Order Pictured Above (See Below for Back Covers and Spines)

The Sword of Rhiannon by Leigh Brackett (1967 edition) — $10.00 (novel)

Ace Double: Sentinels of Space by Eric Frank Russell / The Ultimate Invader and Other Science-Fiction by various authors, ed. Donald A. Wollheim (1954 edition) — $10.00 (novel / short fiction)

A Voice Somewhere by Eric Frank Russell (1966 edition) — $7.00 (short fiction)

The Planet of the Double Sun by Neil R. Jones (Professor Jameson #1) (1967 edition) — $7.00 (short fiction)

Quest of the Three Worlds by Cordwainer Smith (1966 first edition) — $7.00 (short fiction)

The Escape Orbit by James White (1965 edition) — $6.00 (see picture below; has a small tear at the top of back cover, which is a shame because of how cool the front cover is. Also the novel seems to be about a prison planet, which, to me, is a cool concept. Someone really ought to give this one a safe home) (novel)

Jan of the Jungle by Otis Adelbert Kline (Jan of the Jungle #1) (1966 edition) — $7.00 (novel)

Quest of the Dawn Man (original title: The Giant Cat) by J. H. Rosny (translator: The Honorable Lady Whitehead) (1964 edition) — $7.00 (novel)

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (translator: Willis T. Bradley) (1965 edition) — $7.00 (novel)

Clans of the Alphane Moon by Philip K. Dick (1964 first edition) — $16.00 (novel)

The Star Mill by Emil Petaja (The Kalevala #2) (1966 edition) — $7.00 (novel)

Worlds of the Imperium by Keith Laumer (1967 edition) — $6.00 (see pictures below; has a small tear at the top of the back cover and a bent spine.) (novel)

Islands of Space by John W. Campbell (Arcot, Morey and Wade #2) (1966 edition) — $7.00 (see section III above for previous installment in this series) (novel)

Invaders from the Infinite by John W. Campbell (Arcot, Morey and Wade #3) (1966 edition) — $10.00 (novel)

What Strange Stars and Skies by Avram Davidson (1965 first edition) — $7.00 (short fiction)

Rogue Dragon by Avram Davidson (Kar-Chee #2) (1965 edition) — $7.00 (novel)

Metropolis (movie novelization) by Thea Von Harbou (translator not identified) (1963 edition) — $10.00 (see pictures above and below; there is schmutz on the front and back covers. This is still a collectible item. An unblemished copy would go for $13.00-$20.00) (novel)

Utopia Minus X by Rex Gordon (1966 first edition) — $7.00 (novel)

The Lord of Death and the Queen of Life by Homer Eon Flint (Dr. Kinney #1-2) (1965 edition) — $7.00 (short fiction)

The Devolutionist and the Emancipatrix by Homer Eon Flint (Dr. Kinney #3-4) (1965 edition) — $7.00 (short fiction)

Doppelgangers by H. F. Heard (1966 edition) — $7.00 (novel)

World Without Stars by Poul Anderson (1967 first edition) — $7.00 (novel)

The Wizard of Linn by A. E. Van Vogt (Clane #2) (1962 edition) — $7.00 (novel)

The Weapon Makers by A. E. Van Vogt (Weapon Shops of Isher #2) (1966 edition) — $7.00 (novel)

To arrange purchase of anything for sale in this newsletter please contact me via email, Facebook, or Twitter. US only.

V. Recommendation

Pick of the Week: the Ace Double Sentinels of Space by Eric Frank Russell / The Ultimate Invader and Other Science-Fiction by various authors, ed. by Donald A. Wollheim.

I love Ace Doubles. The author of the novel on the first side, Eric Frank Russell, was one of the only British writers active in the American science fiction market in the 1930s and 40s. He wrote a lot of space opera; some say, perhaps a little too boldly, that one of his series presages Star Trek because the surgeon on the spaceship is a Black man. The novel Sentinels of Space is supposed to be about space colonization, psi powers and “benevolent mature souls, who have emerged from the chrysalis of corporeality, keep watch over our immature species with Uplift in mind.”

I have read one of Russell’s stories and liked it, but what won me over to this Ace Double more than that was that the second side is a short fiction anthology. Right now I prefer short science fiction. This anthology has a 1954 novella by Russell and three novelettes by big authors of the 40s.

Other good options: The Sword of Rhiannon by Leigh Brackett, Quest of the Three Worlds by Cordwainer Smith, The Planet of the Double Sun by Neil R. Jones, Clans of the Alphane Moon by Philip K. Dick, The Mutant Weapon / The Pirates of Zan by Murray Leinster, and, of course, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.

VI. Are You a Collector?

Are you a collector? I’d like to hear from you. You don’t have to collect books, it could be anything. I’d like to see pictures of your collection(s). If I get enough reader feedback, I might feature the photos in a future post in this series. Reach out to me via email, Facebook, or Twitter.