Snail by Eric Dando. Paperback book published by Penguin 1996.
Earlier this year, a fellow book dealer sent me an email indicating that this book is not that common and also worth money, and that maybe I should keep my eyes open for it. A quick search (www) proved this to be the case. So with eyes firmly open, i subsequently did find it… and find it…. and find it and I’m now the proud owner of 4 copies of this book. …this is a bad thing. My issue is, that if the book is rare, then why have I been able to find 4 copies in a relatively short period of time?
The original email I received was in January, so it’s worth my while checking the www again (5 months later) to see if there is still a value to this book… and yes, it has held it’s value. Beginning at $60 and finishing at $177 there are now a few more copies available than in January. Interestingly the original email I received had a copy of the one and only listing at the time… this particular copy is still for sale. So what does this all mean? Well, my guess is that the book is actually not that common, yet it’s desirability is possibly not that great. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe what isn’t that popular, is the price tag. Somehow I think that sales will be at a snails pace and it will be interesting to see if I have any copies left in another 5 months.
Curiously enough, I read this last night.. and this morning (as usual) a car full of books appeared at my shop.. you can guess what one of the books was: Snail, by Eric Dando. As usual, in perfect condition, which makes me wonder whether anyone ever read it.
ReplyDeleteOne thing to note is that often when a book goes out of print, it becomes very scarce because nobody has had a chance to move house, have a baby, renovate, get divorced,or die (the main reasons for selling books). So there is a severe supply problem, until a few years down the track when there is a trickle, and then a torrent, provided it is the kind of book only the author's mother could like. Maybe this is one!