Book Hauls!

[Stephen Palmer]

The postie has been. Got these 3 books from Abe books, a real mixed bag

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I also got this from Amazon. Its The Tribal Eye by David Attenborough, 1976. Quite rare so I'm not too annoyed that it didn't quite match the description on Amazon! On there it was shown with a dust jacket, with no mention of it being an ex library book!

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Trilobite is great!
He's a terrific author.

 

[AE35Unit]

I’d be very annoyed. And would complain about it quite honestly.

Can't be bothered. Its a hard to find book and its good enough for reading

 

[J-Sun]

Can't be bothered. Its a hard to find book and its good enough for reading

I always complain about things like that. Companies should suffer negative consequences, if only so they don't think it's okay to ship the next guy mis-represented or damaged junk. It may well make no difference but I have to hope it encourages better business practices. For instance, in my last post, I talked about ordering Shadows with Eyes. Unfortunately, it arrived like this (if my linking to the picture works, because my attempt to insert it sure didn't) because it was in a thin cardboard envelope and apparently got caught between other objects, which cracked the spine and tore into the book from there. Yes, it's readable but it's sure not "very good" any more. I complained, encouraging the seller to use better packaging, and got a refund. Even more than my getting a messed up book, it's a horrible thing in general, like Hollywood smashing up Mustangs and Corvettes to make bad movies - I don't know how many books must have been ruined in the mail or by those evil spine-sticker-sellers, who I avoid as much as possible. Save the books!

 

[AE35Unit]

I don't think I'll use amazon for books anymore. Its not the first time I've been a little disappointed. I'll stick with Abe books. It might take longer but so far they've been reliable, and fairly cheap

 

[hitmouse]

I don't think I'll use amazon for books anymore. Its not the first time I've been a little disappointed. I'll stick with Abe books. It might take longer but so far they've been reliable, and fairly cheap

Many of the books listed on Abe books are listed by the same vendor on Amazon.

 

[AE35Unit]

Many of the books listed on Abe books are listed by the same vendor on Amazon.

True, but Amazon can be a bit of a lottery

 

[Mouse]

I got a few books for Christmas: Landscape of Detectorists (which is about the TV show 'Detectorists'), Spell Songs (which has a music CD in it, too), Nests by Susan Ogilvy (it's a art book of bird nests), The Secret Life of Owls by John Lewis-Stempel (it's about owls), And Away (which is Bob Mortimer's autobiography) and... I think there was one more which I can't remember right now. All non-fiction. Mostly about nature.

There were actually two others. One was Much Ado About Mothing by James Lowen. (Which is about moths). And the other was an ordanance survey treasure map book thingy.

I also just bought myself The Soaring Life of the Lark by John Lewis-Stempel, because I enjoyed the owl one.

 

[pogopossum]

I don't think I'll use amazon for books anymore. Its not the first time I've been a little disappointed. I'll stick with Abe books. It might take longer but so far they've been reliable, and fairly cheap

Bad news. Although ABE is a Canadian company (with an office in Munich?) they are a subsidiary of Amazon.
Of course they may be operated separately with better standards than the multitude of sellers that Amazon fronts for.
My favorite cheap seller in the US is Thrift Books - which lists both independently and on Amazon. In my experience they describe merch accurately, including blemishes, and are as cheap as any biggish retailer. Checking them directly & via Amazon, they charge the same on a specific item, to the penny. So why use Amazon, which you know takes a cut of the sales price?

 

[AE35Unit]

Bad news. Although ABE is a Canadian company (with an office in Munich?) they are a subsidiary of Amazon.
Of course they may be operated separately with better standards than the multitude of sellers that Amazon fronts for.
My favorite cheap seller in the US is Thrift Books - which lists both independently and on Amazon. In my experience they describe merch accurately, including blemishes, and are as cheap as any biggish retailer. Checking them directly & via Amazon, they charge the same on a specific item, to the penny. So why use Amazon, which you know takes a cut of the sales price?

Oh I thought Abe books was a British company (I'm in the UK).

 

[pogopossum]

They also, like Amazon, list small retailers on their website, so in dealing with them in GB you may be supporting smaller sellers there.
They certainly are international. Trying three test titles I got listings for holdings for sale from Canada to GB, to India to the US. Nothing in terms of their own holdings, although In the depths of my memory I remember ordering and receiving a title directly from them. They do have a specialty of rare and hard to find books.

 

[AE35Unit]

They also, like Amazon, list small retailers on their website, so in dealing with them in GB you may be supporting smaller sellers there.
They certainly are international. Trying three test titles I got listings for holdings for sale from Canada to GB, to India to the US. Nothing in terms of their own holdings, although In the depths of my memory I remember ordering and receiving a title directly from them. They do have a specialty of rare and hard to find books.

Hmm so far all the books I've searched for have been from uk sellers

 

[worldofmutes]

Bad news. Although ABE is a Canadian company (with an office in Munich?) they are a subsidiary of Amazon.
Of course they may be operated separately with better standards than the multitude of sellers that Amazon fronts for.
My favorite cheap seller in the US is Thrift Books - which lists both independently and on Amazon. In my experience they describe merch accurately, including blemishes, and are as cheap as any biggish retailer. Checking them directly & via Amazon, they charge the same on a specific item, to the penny. So why use Amazon, which you know takes a cut of the sales price?

Thriftbooks is what I use, and at least their spine stickers aren’t virulent. Sometimes with old paperbacks they can be, but in most cases peel right off with no blemish.

Not to mention, they don’t deface their covers with a big (20% Off!, etc. etc.) right on the cover.

 

[AE35Unit]

In the mail today from Abe books. Its a whopper! It had an Age uk sticker on the front priced at £1.99 so its been sold from a charity shop to Abe books, to be sold for £3.01

 

[AE35Unit]

Another charity shop find

 

[AE35Unit]

Got Ash by James Herbert in the mail today. His last book I believe...
I was expecting a slim paperback like the other two in the series. Its a whopper, and in fact I had to move them to the next shelf down as it didn't fit on the shelf the others were on! Contains a poem at the back...hmmm, Larry doesn't do poetry I'm afraid...

 

[AE35Unit]

Picked up a bit of historical fiction from the charity shop. Never heard of the author and its the first book in a series of 4. It begins around 1437, with Henry V recently deceased ...

And a book on clocks...

 

[worldofmutes]

I have good news! I found my scifi box. Sundiver is somewhere in my „Read Before” shelf.

 

[AE35Unit]

Got this today thanks to a kind member of the facebook Terry Pratchett group I'm in.

 

[Extollager]

The Dictionary of National Biography in 21 volumes with eight supplements. Unfortunately Vol. 16 is missing. Free library discards.

 

[dask]

Whoopie!