Used bookstores will be the death of me!

[tarotgal]

It's my day off today, so I did some photocopying for work then headed down the street to the used bookstore. I visit that place maybe once a year because it's FAR too tempting! :-)

I bought 4 books... one LeGuin book that matches a few others I already have, an Angel novel (Stranger to the Sun- I'm sorry but Wes in a mystical coma? How could I possibly resist?!) and two others that I'm planning to Bookcross with.

Which brings my total to 5 books waiting to be released into the wild at the moment. It's not a fantastic selection but if anyone would like me to send them the link to my bookshelf because you want me to mail one to you in a direct release I'd be MORE than happy to do so. Just drop me a note here with your e-mail or e-mail me. Merci! :-)


They didn't, however, have any copies of the Chronicles of Narnia that I wanted. Some with ugly covers and all, but none that were the right publication. I'm thinking of browsing e-bay and then asking on one of my narnia lists for help. I *so* want a complete set that all look the same with the covers I remember from my childhood. The guy at the used bookstore looked at me like I was crazy for wanting the books with a specific publication. But he'd never read the series so I guess I can't blame him. *hugs my nearly-complete set*

Comments

[vatergrrl.livejournal.com]

Is your ideal set the one that *starts* with TLTW&TW and has the four children in heavy winter coats under an arch detail? (Edmund is looking backward toward the reader.) The set I loved had the arch as a framing device throughout,white background outside the arch, with bright colors for the type (brown for LWW, orange for PC, blue for VotDT, green for TSC, red for TH&HB, don't recall last two). I know everyone says "Don't judge a book by the cover," but darn, that cover art was just right. The latest incarnation I saw was just so dull and boring, though TLTW&TW had Mr. Tumnus on the cover.

There should be a box set of the white/arch covers out there somewhere -- I would *swear* I saw one just a year ago (and didn't buy it, silly me).

[tarotgal]

Is your ideal set the one that *starts* with TLTW&TW and has the four children in heavy winter coats under an arch detail? (Edmund is looking backward toward the reader.) The set I loved had the arch as a framing device throughout,white background outside the arch, with bright colors for the type (brown for LWW, orange for PC, blue for VotDT, green for TSC, red for TH&HB, don't recall last two). I know everyone says "Don't judge a book by the cover," but darn, that cover art was just right. The latest incarnation I saw was just so dull and boring, though TLTW&TW had Mr. Tumnus on the cover.
Nope. My ideal set is a beige parchment-type back background. It was published by Scholastic in the late 80's but has the old, original publication ordering (not crappy chonological like the ugly books nowadays- I so TOTALLY agree with you about the covers of the new book sets. Mr.Tumnus in the snow? WTF? Yeah, that really says LWW to me- not!).
Mine have a rectangle border on the cover, not an arch, and a beautiful picture within it that's detailed and colorful and illustrated I think by Daniel San Souci. I have a nearly complete set (Just need Horse & His Boy, The Last Battle, and a smaller version of LWW though I can live with my slightly big version if I need to). I'll scan in a cover or two if you're curious to see them.

There should be a box set of the white/arch covers out there somewhere -- I would *swear* I saw one just a year ago (and didn't buy it, silly me).
I see that white/arch version ALL THE TIME in used bookstores now. Saw 2 copies of Magician's Nephew at the store today with that particular cover, in fact. Which is sad because I don't like those covers as much (though I do remember them from my childhood and they're still soooo much better than the recent editions!) When I was in CA I checked a used bookstore and they had several whole sets of that version as well. So if you're looking you'll probably be able to find one. There wasn't much at my used bookstore today and they called around to a sister store to find out they were completely sold out of all CoN books (I think there's a rush because of the movies coming out, imagine that!)

*sigh* Anyway, thank you :-) I appreciate your comments muchly.

And I COMPLETELY agree with you about covers. I always judge books by their covers at first. I know I shouldn't, but I always do. Sometimes I'm happily surprised and the book is better than the cover, and sometimes the book sucks and the covers far better, but many times it's pretty accurate. And when you get attached to a certain style of illustrations or cover art, it's very hard to think otherwise. Sometimes I look at HP covers from around the world and think "Uh, no, that's not my Harry!"

[tarotgal]

This is the set you're talking about, right?
White/Arch Set on e-bay

[tarotgal]

Okay... or maybe you're thinking about these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Chronicles-of-Narnia-Book-Set-Complete_W0QQitemZ7991863982QQcategoryZ279QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Which are gorgeous and also white with arches... so I just thought I'd ask... though it's probably not these since the cover of the box set looks like it's the cover of LWW and that's not what you described. Yeah. I'm sure you meant the 1970's cover versions.

And those can be seen better here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Chronicles-of-Narnia-7-Volume-PB-Set-C-S-Lewis_W0QQitemZ8324762431QQcategoryZ377QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/C-S-Lewis-CHRONICLES-OF-NARNIA-Set-7-Paperbacks-1970_W0QQitemZ7991728184QQcategoryZ279QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
If you want to be all nostalgic :-)

[tarotgal]

Ah-ha! Success! I found a set on e-bay that's mine. I sooooooo suck at bidding on e-bay and I have NO money at the moment. Damn. But there's a picture so you can see what I was talking about-
http://cgi.ebay.com/C-S-Lewis-The-Chronicles-of-Narnia-Boxed-Set_W0QQitemZ7992035520QQcategoryZ279QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[(Anonymous)]

Oh I have that one!

~A

[girlwithtulips.livejournal.com]

Ebay is wonderful! :) My advice for bidding is, don't bid until the last few minutes. I find that if I bid days (or even hours) before the auction ends, that just encourages people to bid against me, driving the price up. Wait till the last minute (well, the last minute or two on an item that will have heavy bidding, like an mp3 player, or literally the last minute if it's a fairly quiet auction and if you have a fast, reliable internet connection). That way, as soon as you become the highest bidder, the auction will end, and you won't have anyone else trying to compete for it. People might still bid on it, but they won't be in competition with you (that usually drives prices up). And there's no real point to bidding early, I find - except on the very odd occassion where you bid $5 and someone after you also bids $5 - you will still win because you were first. But most people will just keep pushing. Anyway, does any of this make sense? It's late here... Good luck on your auction!

[tarotgal]

Well, looks like I've botched it up already then! LOL
I was a little worried about keeping up with it considering my connection sucks and I don't usually get to be online very often. So I'll wait and see. If I don't get it, that's okay. I'm really only missing 2 books so I haven't decided what to do with all my repeats if I win this auction anyway. (I could always BookCross with them and release some of them in honor of the movies when they come out, but that's years away).
I more than appreciate your advice- I'd thought about this logic but my worries and inexperience got the better of me. It's much appreciated, even if I've already done the wrong thing where bidding's concerned. LOL There's always next time. I'm sure there will be more of the same some time in the future. I mean, look at the probability since the moment I decided to look on e-bay I found exactly what I wanted. I either have REALLY good luck (which, knowing me, is highly unlikely) or there's frequently a set or two of this type out there. I've bought 4 volumes of my incomplete set in used bookstores over the last 3 years so I'm not TOO worried. Something shall turn up even if I've screwed up this auction :-) And I'll know what to do next time (hopefully by then I'll have a better internet connection as well!)

[girlwithtulips.livejournal.com]

But it looks like you're still winning the auction, so go you! :) I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you would lose the auction if you bid early! Reading back over what I wrote, it wasn't a very well explained post. Bidding at the last minute is just the way I like to do it, especially if someone's already bid and I'm trying to outbid them. If I bid at the last minute, they have less time to realise they've been outbid and possibly make another bid. But of course auctions can be won by bidding days before the end! :) I didn't mean to make you think you'd screwed up anything! I'm sorry.

Ebay is really so much fun, though. I'm absolutely addicted, even if I can hardly ever afford the prices. And I think you're right - whatever it is you want, it will turn up on ebay fairly regularly, which is the best thing about it! Yesterday, my 7 Discworld books I bought off ebay arrived and I'm so happy! :) Yay for ebay and cheap books. And ebay also means snail mail, and even though that just adds to the price of the items overall... snail mail is so much fun! Especially fandom-related packages of snail mail. Happy bidding! :)