Expensive Volumes of Classic Authors

[Sargeant_Fox]

Why is it so expensive to collect the work of classic writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror? Buying Clark Ashton Smith or Manly Wade Wellman is a huge investment since most of their work is only available in hardcover volumes that go up to $35

Lord Dunsany has a lot of early stuff cheaply available, but I'll probably never read his Jorkens tales. William Hope Hodgson and Cordwainer Smith are two others mostly available in expensive hardcover volumes. For someone who likes to read, what do hardcovers mean anyway? I just want the text!

It seems that between Night Shade Books and NESFA, there's a conspiracy to keep classic writers in hardcovers forever, preferring to let them go out of print instead of printing them in cheaper softcovers that would be accessible to wider audiences.

Am I just paranoid or has anyone else noticed the unfairness of this situation?

 

[iansales]

There's always second-hand copies - paperback and hardback.

 

[Fried Egg]

For someone who likes to read, what do hardcovers mean anyway? I just want the text!

I guess it means the books will last longer.

I suppose that in the case of some books, they are judged to be of particularly niche interest and that those interested will likely pay good money to collect good quality editions.

Then again, there are publishers dedicated to bringing back in print affordable paperback editions of classic SF/Fantasy and horror such as Bison with their "Frontiers of Imagination" series, Faber Finds and Wordsworth with their "Mystery & Supernatural" series who are bringing back into print classics at amazing prices. Penguin bring quite a few classics back into print as well.

Sure, there's much still widely unavailable but I guess that comes down to viability to some extent. Maybe technology will come to our rescue eventually and make it cheap and easy to print any book on demand to make everything available...

There's always second-hand copies - paperback and hardback.

That's not true. Some author's books can be very hard to find and very expensive if you do.

 

[Ian Whates]

I don't think there's any conspiracy. I think it's more a case that as time passes the market for these classic authors becomes more limited, so the larger mass-market publishers don't necessarily see it as cost effective to publish them.

NESFA are aiming at a completely different market, producing volumes for collectors who value good quality books, often for the completist.

We're fortunate in the UK, as Millenium's (later taken over by Gollancz) Masterworks Series and Gollancz's Collector's Editions have seen many classic works reissued as paperbacks over the past 10 years.

So, taking those authors you mention as examples, I've picked up brand new editions of:

Cordwainer Smith -- Nortsrilia
Cordwainer Smith -- The Rediscovery of Man
Clark Ashton Smith -- The Emperor of Dreams
William Hope Hodgson -- The House on the Borderland and Other Novels

All four have cover prices between £6.99 and £9.99, and I doubt I paid full price for any of them.

The Hodgson, incidentally, includes The Nightland, The Ghost Pirates, and The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" as well as Borderland, while the Ashton Smith is 580 pages of A5-size paperback, crammed with 40-odd short stories (and these two are the £6.99 volumes)

So, no conspiracy, just unfortunate circumstance.

 

[iansales]

That's not true. Some author's books can be very hard to find and very expensive if you do.

Some of the authors named by the OP were in the Fantasy Masterworks series and I expect secondhand copies of those editions can be found.

Also, some might even be out of copyright and so available free online...

 

[Fried Egg]

Some of the authors named by the OP were in the Fantasy Masterworks series and I expect secondhand copies of those editions can be found.

Looking at the price of these books second hand online, it is probably chearper to buy other books currently in print by these authors. Amazon searches for both Clark Ashton Smith and William Hope Hodgson bring up various paperback editions of their books at reasonable prices.

 

[GOLLUM]

Another reasoin I think series like the SF and Fantasy Masterwork are so good and timely...

 

[dask]

I wish some mass market paperback publisher would finally get around to making TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND THE FAIRLY CHESSMEN by Henry Kuttner available like so much of his other stuff. The small press hard back edition exceeds my reach by many dollars.

 

[Sargeant_Fox]

I like Wordsworth Editions' line of mystery and supernatural classics, but most of their authors are 19th century or Edwardian writers. I'm talking mostly about 20th century classics.

Now Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft were contemporaries. Penguin has collected Lovecraft in a three-volume paperback collection. CAS is published by Night Shade Books in hardcover volumes at price of $39.95 each. Robert E. Howard, another contemporary, is published by Del Rey in affordable paperbacks. Is REH really more in demand than CAS?

I love Night Shade Books collections in principle: by collecting their work, I know at least I'm getting everything. That beats buying the odd collections out there that leave a lot of good stuff out. It's annoying to buy anthologies only to discover that some of the content overlaps from one to another. But I think that with the excuse of quality hardbacks and completeness, they're increasing prices.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I wouldn't blame Night Shade for their prices. With a much smaller market for these authors, as Ian Whates points out, a publisher would need to charge a premium to justify production costs on a fairly niche product.

REH will always have a larger audience than CAS and the reason is a certain barbarian reaver we all know so well.

Maybe that's the price one pays for good taste. I know acquiring the remaining CAS volumes from Night Shade (I own 2 of 5 so far) is going to be a fairly substantial financial commitment over the course of this year; I still think of the Vance Integral Edition with a deep sense of loss and forlorn fantasies of striking it rich one day and somehow acquiring a set.

 

[Fried Egg]

I love Night Shade Books collections in principle: by collecting their work, I know at least I'm getting everything. That beats buying the odd collections out there that leave a lot of good stuff out. It's annoying to buy anthologies only to discover that some of the content overlaps from one to another. But I think that with the excuse of quality hardbacks and completeness, they're increasing prices.

You could do what I'm doing. I'm in the process of collecting what I believe is most if not all of his published stories through buying reprints of the original Arkham house collections.

The first two are current back in print with Bison:

Out of Space and Time
Lost Worlds

And the next two are available very cheaply second hand:

Genius Loci and Other Tales
Abominations of Yondo

That doesn't include his poetry of course but I think they're probably attainable too.

 

[thatollie]

I'm following a similar path to FE, although I've already got a hold on Genius Loci. Out of Space and Time is next on my list.

EDIT: I should mention that my copy of GL was 85p.

 

[Connavar]

To me paying $50 or even £50-70 for CAS,Lord Dunsany is not a problem, i can save up to that. Every new Jack Vance collection by subterrenan press cost in the bookstore $63.

The trouble is when second hand of the out of print collections are too much. It will take many years to read Jorkens volume 1 simply because the cheapest it cost as second is £374 in one site and in amazon £450. I admire Lord Dunsany but i cant afford any book for that price.

Im not a collector i buy paperback,hardcovers only because i want to read the books not for them to last. Often Hardcover is the only choice for limited realeses.

 

[Sargeant_Fox]

Im not a collector i buy paperback,hardcovers only because i want to read the books not for them to last. Often Hardcover is the only choice for limited realeses.

Yeah, I don't get this concern for books lasting. The paperbacks I bought a decade ago are still in one piece, if a bit yellowed. Carefulness makes them last as long as hardbacks

 

[dask]

Yeah, I don't get this concern for books lasting. The paperbacks I bought a decade ago are still in one piece, if a bit yellowed. Carefulness makes them last as long as hardbacks

I agree. Books I bought over forty years ago are still in great if not book rack mint condition. Like you said, "carefulness", the way you handle your books, is key. It actually takes more energy to trash a book than to keep it in good condition.

 

[Connavar]

Yeah, I don't get this concern for books lasting. The paperbacks I bought a decade ago are still in one piece, if a bit yellowed. Carefulness makes them last as long as hardbacks

I know some fans that are so picky,fetish like with the condition of their books. I never got that because if its not a trashy mass market paperback most books will last if you dont throw them around like they are toys. I buy Hardcover only when i must and for complete collections.

Im only annoyed by gready people who sell limited books second for so much money. I have given away rare books for free in bookmooch that i saw people selling for 100s of dollars...

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I agree to an extent - I've encountered 'book collectors' and for the most part they aren't really the sort of bookworms who will hunt down and read an obscure James Branch Cabell or Dunsany work in a tatty old paperback found in a flea market just because they are so eager to absorb the contents of the book, or indeed even particularly well-read. They know that certain things have a certain value and cachet and seek out acquisitions on that basis. Harmless enough, one would think, but I'm sentimental enough to believe that books should be owned by people who will read them.

However, I do consider the condition of books I buy if only because having a new favourite fall apart while you're reading is not a pleasant experience. Still, I have bought very poor copies of books I really want to read and can't find in a better condition; when possible, I've later replaced these with better copies if the book seems like a keeper.

 

[blacknorth]

I agree to an extent - I've encountered 'book collectors' and for the most part they aren't really the sort of bookworms who will hunt down and read an obscure James Branch Cabell or Dunsany work in a tatty old paperback found in a flea market just because they are so eager to absorb the contents of the book, or indeed even particularly well-read. They know that certain things have a certain value and cachet and seek out acquisitions on that basis. Harmless enough, one would think, but I'm sentimental enough to believe that books should be owned by people who will read them.

Hardly a sentimental thought, more an unkind one towards 'book collectors'. I buy obscure books regularly, hoping to sell them on - it allows me to then buy books I want to read and keep.