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NOTE: For item numbers of auctions featured in Top 10, subscribe to our free email list by writing
Editor Craig Stark at
editor@bookthink.com.
How many times have you seen a Best Offer reach to Top 10? If you answered "never," until
now you would be right. During September, an Easton Press copy of Long Road to Freedom marked
that milestone, followed a few days later by a signed
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Keeping the pattern of twins, two buyers who are
now "not a registered user" struck the Top 10 fiction section, and the September
lists contain two copies each of It Works, Long Road to Freedom, and Legend.
#1
Sold by an Australian in a BIN, this UK first edition, first impression copy of Moonraker is
remarkable for its unfaded spine. The seller states, "… this spine condition putting it among barely
a handful of unrestored DJ's to be in such unmelted condition left in the world." Listed with
8 photos, the book also has "the Scarce variant with the dropped t on page 10." The seller noted
the things that have not been done: no re-colouring, no repairs. Book condition is very good+;
dust jacket is rated near fine. The purchaser often appears as a seller of top 10 books.
#2
Listed by a US seller in a 7-day auction with 4 photos, this first edition was published in Chicago in 1900. It is missing 1 of the 23 color plates. The seller enumerated 8 points, including "plate facing page 34 has 2 dark spots on moon." After receiving 3 bids, the price rose from the starting bid of $3,500 to the $4,400 selling price.
#3
Sold for $3,802.40 after a 10-day auction with 7 photos, the first UK edition is rated very good in a very good dust jacket. Flaws include price clipped, a tear, and minor chipping of the dust jacket.
#4
After Oz and The Lion, The Witch … comes Alice, as envisioned in the illustrations of Salvador Dali. Sold by a Canadian seller in a 5-day auction with 5 photos, it is part of a limited numbered edition of 2500. Rated near fine, the book is in a hinged box with several flaws. The auction attracted 15 bids that took it from $250 to $3,307.51. Note: These are US, not Canadian dollars.
#5
A Best Offer won this first edition signed copy of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. Listed by a UK seller as a BIN at GBP 2,000.00 or Best Offer, it went for GBP 1,750.00 or $3,264.63. The book and dust jacket were rated in excellent condition.
#6*
Though this auction ended with a BIN, the US seller was the victim of a non-paying buyer who is
now "not a registered user." The item listed was all three parts of The Plant with part 1 being #118 of 200. All parts were signed by the author.
#7
"For Mother," wrote Gemmell in the first hardback copy of this work, "With fond memories of the Tree Dwellers and Sharptooth. Love, David." The UK seller, who listed it in a 7-day auction with 3 photos, indicated the story of how he got the book will be told to the buyer. He reported, "Gemmell authenticated that the book was the one he dedicated to his mother at his Swords of Night and Day signing in Manchester." It sold with 1 bid at the starting price of $2,798.25.
#8
The trio of signed first edition/first printing hardbacks was listed for 10 days by a UK seller
who included 12 photos in the auction. For each book he indicated condition of the dust jacket,
boards, spine, and pages but did not record an overall condition statement. In addition,
he provided specific details of each book; for example, Northern Lights has a 4mm lean. The books sold for $2,416.43, up from the starting bid of GBP 0.99 after 17 bids.
#9*
A perennial on the Top 10 list, this copy of the trilogy is a signed, second edition set. Unfortunately for the UK seller, the 27 bids ended with a non-paying buyer who is now "not a registered user."
#10
Another copy of The Legend came in at #10. This signed 1st edition hardback was listed by a UK seller in a 10-day auction with 1 photo. Most of the auction description consisted of a brief biography of the author and a plot summary. The book is described as in "great condition…, the DJ is not bashed or ripped …." It sold with 1 bid for $1,901.20.
*Auctions marked with an asterisk indicate those won by a bidder who is no longer a registered user. The final value should not be
interpreted as valid.
Twenty-five bids took this 1945 book of photographs from a starting bid of $1000 to $7,779. Listed by a U.S. seller in a 7-day auction with 14 photos, the book was described as in excellent condition. One questioner asked about the slipcase with the book.
Sold to benefit Oxfam in the UK, the initial auction contained little information about the book. In an oops moment the day after launch, Oxfam added a condition statement - "top inside front cover has paper clip mark; cover is Good++." The 44-page very good illustrated guide with course plans for Prince's and Royal St. George's. Shown in 7 photos, the auction attracted 12 bids, closing at $3,311.26.
The 1982 hardcover copy of It Works was sold by a US seller, who wrote, "I am clean 30 years last month, but my health is not good and I could use the money." The seller listed it in a 7-day auction with 7 photos, including one in which he air-brushed his name inside the book. After 9 bids, it sold for $3,250.00.
The hardcover 1902 book "includes card sharking, card tricks and demonstrations of how to utlize and/or recognize cheating card playing." Described as in very good+ condition, the book struck a chord with buyers, attracting 26 bids in the 5-day auction with 7 photos. It sold for $2,677.87.
Listed minimally by an eBay drop-off store in a 7-day auction with 8 photos, this auction is
for the Genesis Publication of Exile. It is #831 of 2000 copies in the limited edition and signed by the author. Called "a very rare item," the book attracted 39 bids and sold for $2,650.00. Given the attention Genesis publications garner, it was unusual that the only clue to the publisher was the statement that the book was "not available on Amazon or Genesis publication web sites."
Weighing in at 45 lbs, Sumo ships with its own stand. This is #5288 of 10,000 copies. Described as in "near fine condition," its flaws include small marks/creases and a bit of spine slant. Listed by a US seller in a 10-day private auction with 6 photos, the book attracted 22 bids, raising it from the starting bid of $999.99 to $2,605.55. It also attracted 4 questions, ranging from flaw details to shipping.
Listed by a US seller in a 7-day auction with 3 photos, this copy of It Works received 7 bids and sold for $2,201.00. It was described as new, the second copy of a founder of NA in New Jersey.
The 1966 book is "an extended fold out photograph of the entire Sunset Strip." Described in excellent condition by the UK seller, the book is in a silver-covered slip-case. Listed for 7 days with 7 photographs, the auction attracted 16 bids and ended at $2,130.40.
Another signed, leather-bound Easton Press copy of Long Road to Freedom came in at #10. There are no photographs with the auction because the book has "never been removed from the delivery box provided by Easton and remains shrink wrapped." Listed by a US seller with a BIN of $2,500, the book sold as a Best Offer for $1,875.
8 of the sellers were from the UK
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