Blue and Gray Battle Quilt
by Nancy Hornback, Wichita, Kansas, 1996
46" square
From Quilts of the Civil War
See the original inspiration by Susan Robb from the collection of the Museum at Texas Tech by clicking here:
Order Number 11 by Karen Roxburgh
Made from the pattern for the quilt by Terry Clothier Thompson
in Quilts From the Civil War
A few days ago I wrote about outrageous prices for out-of-print books.
Now I'm even more outraged. Look at this online auction offer!
What would make a book that cost $24.95 ten years ago worth $1,000 to anyone?
Here are some reasons---none of which hold up to any logic.
1) The book is very rare and unobtainable and worth $1,000 to someone who MUST have it.
If one MUST have it one could shop around and find a used copy for $16.50 on Amazon.com. The book sold very well. There are over 25,000 copies out there.
Union Baby Quilt by Barbara Brackman from Civil War Women
The book in the post above may be a first printing. There were several printings. First editions can be valuable, particularly if it is by a long-deceased author like Mark Twain or even a recently sainted author like J.D. Salinger (someone online is selling a first edition of Catcher in the Rye for $20,000).
The basic rule of collecting books or any kind of expensive collectible is that you pay $1,000 for a rare book because it's worth it---you are confident that someone else will pay you $1,200 for it soon. This is called The Greater Fool theory. A Greater Fool than you will come along and pay more. This Greater Fool theory was the basis of the real estate bubble of the 2000-2008 era and the great tulip mania of the 17th century.
(See Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds published in 1841.)
But sooner or later there is no Greater Fool.
Quilt books provide information. People generally want them for the information rather than the object. A couple of years ago my Clues in the Calico cost way over $200 on the used book market. Those who bought one thinking it would hold it's value because they'd be able to sell it for more were disappointed when C&T Publishing made a digital version available for $19.95. Prices for the original printed book dropped by about 50%. The same thing happened with my Encyclopedia of Applique. It was advertised on the used book sites for over $200. Then C&T published a new print edition last year and prices on the first edition dropped to a range from $20 to $100.
Birds in the Air by Patti Mersmann Butcher
1996 49" x 59"
From Quilts from the Civil War
The
Right now you can buy Clues digitally as a download for $19.95. (See the "click to buy" icon on the top left.) My two books for C&T, Quilts from the Civil War and Civil War Women are available digitally. Click here to see them on C&T's web catalog
http://www.ctpub.com/searchproducts.cfm
And now both Civil War books are available as a Print On Demand from the publisher. (POD edition). So consider the $1,000 price above an Extraordinary Popular Delusion, an attempt to make money on the Madness of Crowds.
Pea Ridge Lily by Jeananne Wright, 1996, 66"x77"
From Quilts from the Civil War.
I like that title
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.
I bet you can download the book for free online and read about the tulipmania.
Posts
9 comments:
What an amazing post!
I have known friends who have spent unbelievable amount of money on out of print books. I never understood the reasoning but after reading your posts it makes sense.
Like many quilters, I have a few books that are out of print and enjoy pulling them out to read and get inspired. But would I go out and spend hundreds of dollars to have the first addition in my book case? definitely not! I guess I am not a collector but definitely the user and would not mind POD or digitally downloaded books! I am just thankful that some of them are available in that form!
Thank you for sharing this knowledge!
The world is always utter surprising and amazing. In some small way it could be flattering that people still want the books you have written, but I very much concur with you comments on selling out of print books.
I love the idea of POD books and think they will become a standard for many books. That way they will never out of print and available to anyone. Only collectors would care if the book was an original. I would buy a POD if it had the info I wanted in it.
Now to find Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds!! Bonnie
PS There is a school of thought that this same mania triggered the recession.
but...but...I WANT the print version of Clues in the Calico. I WANT it sitting on my shelf with my other quilt history books. I've been tempted to abscond the copy in my local library. Sigh.
Hi-
About a month ago I was looking to by that book. I looked on ebay and found it for $1000. I wrote the seller on ebay and asked was it special in some way?? Here's the reply:
We price certain books at $1,000 when we are
temporarily running low on stock and do not
necessarily want to sell the item. By setting the price to $1,000 (as opposed to ending the
listing), we can just change the price back to normal when we receive stock, ensuring that the book is available for sale again immediately. (signed - "qugelmatic", the seller)
Wonderful & informative post! Guess I have the same feeling that Buckeye Bev has...the fact that I know Clues in the Calico and Quilts From the Civil War plus many of your other treasured publications are a fingertips reach away on my own shelves gives me great comfort & security!
We were watching an auction today for the new magazine, where woman create. The first issue went for over 90 dollars, who knew;)
I think ebay is just one of those things, two people decide they want it and will pay anything, just to win it.
Debbie
I have a couple thousand quilting books I collect by author I serch high and low I have about 20 different authors, all their books. Over the years I have thinned out the collection selling the books for $5 to $10 now I see some of those could be worth more, I like to sell the whole collection, all my fabric, sewing machines and notions It all goes at once. Everything. It now depresses me to have it all. I see now end in sight.
I think the thing that you have to remember is...buyer beware and a fool and his money are soon parted. I purchased an well sought out embrodiery book on samplers that was an OOP book on ebay for a 14.00 that a well establish website was selling for over 100.00. It was kind of a reverse of what you are saying. I am sure that as the author it must really tick you off Barbara. I totally agree with you.
My husband read outloud to me for over a month while I fixed dinner and did dishes. I get to read a lot more books this way! He, being a writer himself in the field of finance and economics, often reads fascinating books to me that I might not have chosen myself. This is an excetionally interesting book. I highly recommend it if you like to study human nature! And yes, the recent realestate bubble will probably be added to the history of human mania's!!
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