Books still to collect: 81

Wednesday 8 June 2011

It Could Have Been Mine

It's amazing how luck can be a large part of collecting Three Investigators books. On Sunday, I never got a chance to check eBay for any new listings, and waited until I got to my flat in Hampshire before going online and going through my daily ritual of searching for new listings. Imagine my frustration when I saw this:
A lovely dustjacketted death Trap Mine. It had been listed at 1:30am on Sunday and had been "bought now" for £25 at 3:15pm. I was about 2 hours late, bloggers, and spent the rest of the evening cursing my luck. Why he listed it as buy it now, god only knows, I would have gone a good bit higher if given a chance to bid.

Bollocks, eh?
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8 comments:

  1. Ian Regan10 June 2011 at 15:09

    Stewart,

    The small 'Phantom Lake' you've been after is up for sale on Amazon:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0001600176/

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  2. dotch12 June 2011 at 08:21

    Hi Ian, I've had my eye on that book for a while; it's been there at least since I started this exercise a few months ago. My feeling is, £27.80 for a small hardback? Fuck sake, its a bit steep. You've been in this Three Investigators collecting lark as long as anyone, you should have a rough idea what is a reasonable price for these books. Having said that, I knew it would be difficult finding the last six small hardbacks, but i had no idea that they would be this thin on the ground. I currently have precisely none of them and have only seen two available (this Phantom Lake on Amazon and a Dead Man's Riddle from the US eBay site). I will probably have to up my prices for these at some point, however I think my large hardback collection is currently taking priority. Maybe Hugh would be interested in this copy?

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  3. Davy12 June 2011 at 13:24

    What would be interesting is a running total of how much your collection has cost so far. I can see the costs escalating as you get down to those tricky last few.

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  4. dotch12 June 2011 at 23:59

    Good idea. I will put together such a post.

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  5. Ian Regan21 June 2011 at 21:43

    Unfortunately, Stewart, I haven't been actively collecting the British editions for some time now (apart from the odd addition and upgrade, naturally). As a result, I've lost all perspective on the intrinsic values of these books.

    While £27.80 is certainly steep for a small hardback, it may be quite reasonable if (a) it's in very good nick and (b) you want to complete your collection within a particular time span. Otherwise, I'd say keep your eyes open and keep checking eBay, Amazon and ABE Books.

    Example: back in 2007 I bought a mint, small Collins copy of Death Trap Mine from Australia for £8 (plus shipping). As an added bonus, the text block had originally been attached upside-down!

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  6. Hugh O'Donnell5 July 2011 at 23:05

    Hugh is vwry interested in small Collins edition.
    please email me h@bluetanso.com.
    I'm currently working through kindle (.pdf) collection: nearing end of 'Flaming'. Anyone want complete collection use same email.

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  7. Davy10 July 2011 at 09:34

    Seen this?

    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rare-British-Three-Investigators-Boxed-Set-circa-1971-/290583071277?pt=Children_s_Young_Adult_s_Fiction&hash=item43a819ca2d

    Not the box, the book with it?

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  8. Ian Regan10 July 2011 at 18:06

    The first printings of 'Green Ghost', 'Terror Castle', 'Vanishing Treasure' and 'Skeleton Island' all have that unusual title page with the Roger Hall namecheck.

    ReplyDelete

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