I've finished reading a collection of P.G. Wodehouse's letters. Quite interesting. Last week I missed a chance to buy a few copies of the real thing; letters between Wodehouse and his last editor were up for sale on e-bay. When I looked, the whole collection was going for sixty dollars, but I'm guessing that the final bid was a whole lot more than that. One thing I learned from my letter reading is that Wodehouse hated many of the covers of his books. Now that I've entered the world of book-collecting (big time, as you'll see below) I've found that ironically it's the covers that make a book valuable. Find a first edition... well I've just bought one for $7.95:
Bertram Books has processed the following order. If your order includes books from more than one bookseller, you will receive a similar confirmation for each bookseller's portion of this order.
Sales Order No.: 56337126 Bookseller: Bertram Books Purchase Method: MasterCard Payment Processed By: Abebooks Estimated Delivery Date: March 10, 2007 Author: G., Wodehouse P. Title: If I Were You Bookseller Book No.: 112039 Price: US$ 7.95Book Description: 1931; First Edition; Hardcover, no dust jacket; Good copy has clean interior with no marks; no ownership marks; binding firm; cloth covers show some smudging and sunning to spine, but are generally clean and presentable.
But find one with a dust cover in good condition and the price is in the hundreds of dollars.
Ah, life's ironies. On to dinner, where tonight, since I'm cooking, there will be no cover charge.
David Ritchie, Portland, Oregon. ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
