The Joy of Used Book Stores

[poetinahat]

I strode into a used book store today, flush with cash and starved of volumes.

After much deliberation, I bought, for the princely sum of $12 Australian, the following:

Selected Poems of T.S. Eliot
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
John Milton: Paradise Lost and Other Poems

Not wanting to be greedy, I put back Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, a volume of Australian verse, and collections of poems by Alexander Pope and John Keats.

I feel like I should already own these books, but I'm a late bloomer. I'm catching up.I read aloud selections from each book while my wife was conjuring a frittata. It was fun - even delicious. Prufrock is just altogether a treat for the tongue.

What poetry volumes have you found lately?

[BBShopMom]

Funny thing - I was just at one of our local used book stores last night but couldn't decide on anything. I did grab a Norton Introduction to Reading Poetry cause it looked interesting and I could use all the education I can get!

We have at least 3 other nice used book stores around town and I'm hoping to get to those soon to see the selection.

[Norman D Gutter]

I have bought so many at used book stores I can't remember them all. Not all are poetry, but literature books. Actually, let me correct that: Most of the poetry/literature books I've bought have been at thrift stores. Used book stores are way too expensive ;)

Here's a few of them from over the last three years:

Complete Poems of Robert Frost (pub 2001) $0.25--the jewell in my used book crown
Letters of Thomas Carlyle Vol 1(1881) $2.00
Letters of Thomas Carlyle Vol 2 (1881) $2.00
Collected Letters of Dylan Thomas (1985) $10.00--pricey
X.J. Kennedy, An Introduction to Poetry (1971) $0.50
W.H. Auden ed., Restoration and Augustan Poets (1965) $1.00
Laurence Perrine, Sound and Sense (1982) $0.75--actually bought two of these, one for the office and one for the house
W.H. Auden, Selected Poems (1959) $0.50

These are the ones I have with me at work or can remember. I may check at home tonight and add a few. I know I bought, for 25 cents, a published doctoral dissertation titled Poetic Closure, dealing with how poems are closed effectively. Can't remember the author. I have a copy of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, published in the late 1800s and passed down in the family, a beautiful and ornate book. I've started it several times, but have not had enough mind to concentrate and so to finish it. Same with Paradise Lost.

NDG

[threedogpeople]

Used book stores are the only way to keep up with my reading need without making my hubby totally crazy about how much I spend on books.

I have a couple of people that I trade with but since we don't share 100% on our tastes for reading material the supply is insufficient. YES, I do use the library too but it is 35 minutes away from where I live.

[Pat~]

I've been known to get greedy at used bookstores. Who can resist the bargain? (besides Poet, I mean!)

Recent used poetry book buys (this past month):

The Norton Anthology of Poetry ($1.88 or thereabouts)
Garlands of Grace (anthology of Christian verse)
The Book of Forms by Lewis Turco (.99)
The New Book of Forms by Lewis Turco (hardcover, about $4)

I buy most of my used book stuff online, now, as some of the prices are even cheaper than our local used bookstores. Try this link for comparative prices of used, rare, and out-of-print books:

http://www.bookfinder.com/

[poetinahat]

Grrr. The previous owner made *notes* all the way through The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Throws me off!

=============

Okay, rant over. NDG, I'm a-comin' over to see what I can offer to swap-borrow.

My more pricey 'used' book finds, which I couldn't resist, were (about fifteen years ago):
- Seven-volume leatherbound set of the works of Byron, published 1817 (?) - $125
- Two-volume set of the complete works of Longfellow... autographed by Longfellow (about the same price)

Both these sets became gifts to my dad, who first introduced me to poetry.

There are some things I dearly miss about Boston. I'd never find anything like those books here.

[Pat~]

Don't forget to check eBay; I've bought some favorite (even antique) poetry books there. (They have an 'antique and rare books' section.) Just be sure to only bid last and bid high (moderately).

[Norman D Gutter]

Ah, Ron, your Byron would be incomplete, for he died about 1836. But, if I had found that for that price, I probably would have snarfed it up too. A few years ago I had chance to buy an 1897 twelve volume set of Charles Lamb's works for $50, but didn't get it because by printer's error two volumes had the exact same contents. Plus, I already had most of his stuff.

I am at home now, but have to prepare for a business trip tomorrow (05:45 flight), so will have to deal with it when I get back in a few days, if the thread is still active.

NDG

[Norman D Gutter]

Also check abebooks.com, which is a site where over 10,000 small to medium booksellers post their wares. Lots of antique stuff there too.

[poetinahat]

My date may well be wrong for the Byron set; 1821 sticks in my mind. I'll find out for sure. I'm pretty sure it was published when he was still alive (which a Google search tells me was 1788-1824; I wouldn't have known without checking!).

And thank you, Norman and Pat, for suggesting more avenues for spending my money on gifts to myself!

[ddgryphon]

I use Paperbackswap.com to get rid of old books I don't care for and pick up new ones. I may have even heard about it originally here.

[Norman D Gutter]

Hmmm, you're right, Rob. I was way off on Byon's year of death. I'm usually closer than that.

[Norman D Gutter]

Rob:

I just did a search for "Works" by "Byron" published in the years 1820 to 1824 on Advanced Book Exchange, www.abebooks.com, and came up with this link:

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?yrl=1820&bsi=30&tn=Works&sortby=2&an=Byron&bx=off&bi=0&yrh=1824&ds=30&y=12&x=42&prevpage=1

It seems your 17 volume set could be easily worth $1000 US.

NDG

[P.H.Delarran]

I'm way over due for a trip to the BookWorm. I have about $80 credit from trading used books.
Rob, your book was actually signed by Longfellow? That's a wonderful gift!

[DeborahM]

Oh, how my heart palpated even at the title!

There's a Half Price Bookstore here in the metro Dallas/Ft. Worth area. However, in Dallas one of their stores is the size of Walmart! I'll drive from Ft. Worth, just to get my books or spend time grazing the aisles!

However, I love Amazon.com also for used books! Shoot, I can't tell you how many times, I've gotten a book for one cent! Plus S/H of course, but with the price of gas these days, $3.50 and not leave the house isn't bad...except for missing the smell and finding something else I really don't have the money for at the time!

[alanna]

I just found "You Are Happy" by Margaret Atwood in a used book store. There are a few poems in it that I love, but the REAL treasure (and to be honest the reason I chose that volume over several others) was because someone had torn up a sheet of paper, and written notes they placed throughout the book, clearly intended for a person who had recommended her poetry to them. It was wonderful to read both the poetry and the comments of an unknown previous reader... and interesting to compare my thoughts to theirs.

[skelly]

I love these kinds of discussions! My treasure is a copy of The Viking Book of Poetry of the English Speaking World, edited by Richard Aldington, Viking Press, 1941. The sucker starts around A.D. 600 and runs through the late 1930's. My latest used book store acquisition is a book called Poets on Poetry, a collection of essays on the craft by folks such as Eliot, Cummings, Wordsworth, Poe, and more. Edited by one Charles Norman. Collier Books, 1962. I agree with whomever above about buying books at thrift stores, too. Some of my greatest book treasures have come from thrift stores, and cheap!