A book-tragedy (with a happy ending!)

As you may have gathered, I'm a bit of a bibliophile.  I love to read, and I love books in general, and I have a small collection - first printings of books I've enjoyed, mostly fantasy of one sort or another - including a signed white-cover copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell (subsequent printings all had black covers, the white was a limited-edition version of the first printing).  Also, I recently found an early American edition of Rebecca, from 1938 - I don't think it's an actual first printing (and it wouldn't be considered a "true first", anyway, as the novel was initially published in Britain), and it's in somewhat shabby condition, but it's a favorite book of mine and it was inexpensive at one of the many, many consignment shops here in town.

In any case, one of the parts of my collection I'm most proud of is my two first printings of The Name of the Wind, in part because I actually bought, read and deeply enjoyed one of them when the first printing was current (i.e. before Patrick Rothfuss had really taken off as an author and the first printings were all sold out), and indeed did my best to help it achieve its popularity, and also in part because I managed to find a first printing of the second cover at Borders in Anchorage, long after they were in the fifth printing and people were charging upward of $100 for the firsts on Amazon or Abebooks. 

Needless to say, I pre-ordered The Wise Man's Fear from Amazon, and was very pleased to discover that not only did I have a first printing, but that I got one of the ones that lacked a number line due to a printing error.  So I was going to be very, very careful while reading it so that, when I was done, I could shelve it next to the two copies of The Name of the Wind in the place of honor in my collection.

Except that Brian was reading it to me, and managed to spill cranberry juice all over it.

To his credit, he immediately helped me mop it up, and in the end the damage was minimal.  But still.  A book's value to a collector (aside from the personal for the story) is dependent entirely on its condition - many a book buyer has had to explain to a very excited family that the box of first printing Joseph Heller novels they found in the attic isn't worth much because the dust jackets are too battered and the books themselves have been sitting in the damp.  And there was some definite page-wrinkling and staining present.

Fortunately, The Wise Man's Fear only came out a few weeks ago; unfortunately (for me), it's been so popular that the publisher's already done a fourth printing.  What that means is that ordering from Amazon again would be a crapshoot; they might have first printings in stock in their warehouses, but then again, they might not, and there's no way to tell before they send it to you - and even if it was a first, it might or might not have the number line.  So we decided that we would go trawl some bookstores in Tucson and see if we couldn't find a copy on the shelf somewhere.

In any case, we were in Sierra Vista today, and figured we'd stop in at Hastings - it wasn't too far out of our way, and there was always the chance they'd have a copy.  I wasn't super-hopeful, though, as this is the Hastings where, when I once asked an employee about the Edith Grossman translation of Don Quixote, she stared at me blankly and asked "Is that a book?"  I don't know if it's the same in all army towns, but I've gotten the impression more than once that the majority of SV's population is functionally illiterate.  (Yes, I'm a snob.  Read a damn book, hippie.)

However, I have officially forgiven them, because (whether in spite of or because of that illiteracy we may never know) they had a first printing of The Wise Man's Fear.  With the missing number line.  The dust jacket was a bit banged up, but a quick switcheroo with the other copy (which hadn't been wearing its dust jacket when Brian spilled juice all over it) and voila.  Plus it was on sale for $20, which is about what it would have cost from Amazon with shipping.

So now we have a reading copy and a collecting copy, and I've officially become one of those people who has a "using copy" and a "saving copy" of something in my collection.

See, there's a reason that my favorite group to poke fun at is hipsters...

A book-tragedy (with a happy ending!)

As you may have gathered, I'm a bit of a bibliophile.  I love to read, and I love books in general, and I have a small collection - first printings of books I've enjoyed, mostly fantasy of one sort or another - including a signed white-cover copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell (subsequent printings all had black covers, the white was a limited-edition version of the first printing).  Also, I recently found an early American edition of Rebecca, from 1938 - I don't think it's an actual first printing (and it wouldn't be considered a "true first", anyway, as the novel was initially published in Britain), and it's in somewhat shabby condition, but it's a favorite book of mine and it was inexpensive at one of the many, many consignment shops here in town.

In any case, one of the parts of my collection I'm most proud of is my two first printings of The Name of the Wind, in part because I actually bought, read and deeply enjoyed one of them when the first printing was current (i.e. before Patrick Rothfuss had really taken off as an author and the first printings were all sold out), and indeed did my best to help it achieve its popularity, and also in part because I managed to find a first printing of the second cover at Borders in Anchorage, long after they were in the fifth printing and people were charging upward of $100 for the firsts on Amazon or Abebooks. 

Needless to say, I pre-ordered The Wise Man's Fear from Amazon, and was very pleased to discover that not only did I have a first printing, but that I got one of the ones that lacked a number line due to a printing error.  So I was going to be very, very careful while reading it so that, when I was done, I could shelve it next to the two copies of The Name of the Wind in the place of honor in my collection.

Except that Brian was reading it to me, and managed to spill cranberry juice all over it.

To his credit, he immediately helped me mop it up, and in the end the damage was minimal.  But still.  A book's value to a collector (aside from the personal for the story) is dependent entirely on its condition - many a book buyer has had to explain to a very excited family that the box of first printing Joseph Heller novels they found in the attic isn't worth much because the dust jackets are too battered and the books themselves have been sitting in the damp.  And there was some definite page-wrinkling and staining present.

Fortunately, The Wise Man's Fear only came out a few weeks ago; unfortunately (for me), it's been so popular that the publisher's already done a fourth printing.  What that means is that ordering from Amazon again would be a crapshoot; they might have first printings in stock in their warehouses, but then again, they might not, and there's no way to tell before they send it to you - and even if it was a first, it might or might not have the number line.  So we decided that we would go trawl some bookstores in Tucson and see if we couldn't find a copy on the shelf somewhere.

In any case, we were in Sierra Vista today, and figured we'd stop in at Hastings - it wasn't too far out of our way, and there was always the chance they'd have a copy.  I wasn't super-hopeful, though, as this is the Hastings where, when I once asked an employee about the Edith Grossman translation of Don Quixote, she stared at me blankly and asked "Is that a book?"  I don't know if it's the same in all army towns, but I've gotten the impression more than once that the majority of SV's population is functionally illiterate.  (Yes, I'm a snob.  Read a damn book, hippie.)

However, I have officially forgiven them, because (whether in spite of or because of that illiteracy we may never know) they had a first printing of The Wise Man's Fear.  With the missing number line.  The dust jacket was a bit banged up, but a quick switcheroo with the other copy (which hadn't been wearing its dust jacket when Brian spilled juice all over it) and voila.  Plus it was on sale for $20, which is about what it would have cost from Amazon with shipping.

So now we have a reading copy and a collecting copy, and I've officially become one of those people who has a "using copy" and a "saving copy" of something in my collection.

See, there's a reason that my favorite group to poke fun at is hipsters...