My book-buying "problem"

Sorry Im late to the party (December 1941 all over again)
But what is the problem book buying?
Work alone hunt them out and go into denial simple.
With a particular large site make sure you tell them to put the package in a secret place.

And by the way I love the piles of books ,I thought I was alone in this pile fest
As much as I like symmetry Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer,Commando comics and My Three Years with Eisenhower an example of different sized books do not stack well,I have not yet worked out ordering to a specific size which would help with the collapsing pile situation.
obviously I'm not suggesting piles with exacting size books but that could be the answer.

 

I'm going to be a minority of one, I know, but I do think book buying can become a serious problem, especially if your income and your space are limited and if you're generally bad with money anyway. All of that has applied to me, and as a consequence I have severely restricted my buying. Most remarkably I have kept to my budget restriction of $50 a month maximum. The key has been cutting back on casual visits to stores, since browsing almost invariably leads to impulse buying. Bookstores are vanishing here (alas!), which has helped some. I now make lists of what I want in advance, and that helps too. I put down books I've read in libraries and would like to have my own copies of, favorites I had in the past and lost or sold years ago, certain key books on subjects I am interested in, and perhaps most importantly these days books which help my research for my work. Yes, I love the experience of bookstores and I would like to support them, but online buying is better for my budget and also saves time. I haven't used amazon or ebay yet but have stuck so far to abebooks, which is excellent. They send me good stuff in good condition, and usually pretty promptly too. But the best way of all to avoid impulse buying is to head the impulse off at the pass, and that comes when you change your priorities; right now solvency is more important to me than (say) getting yet another Normandy book. So, I can now look at a mouth-watering item like Dolf Goldsmith's The Grand Old Lady of No-Man's Land, check the price tag, and then say, "no, sorry. That can wait for when I make my first million."

And anyway, it leaves me more to spend on women. And beer. And women.

 

A 'casual' visit to a bookshop?
It might be spontaneous but never casual.

 

Quite.

I never set foot in one without collar and tie and am fastidious about passing a letter of introduction to each and every member of staff.

 

Shoplifting books helps out the financial side,if you get caught plead bookworm WW2itis and you get a free lift home or an overnight stay with free food and beverages thrown in plus some of the older UK police stations have memorials going back to Victorian times to photograph
Win/win

 

We've made a huge effort this year to de-clutter, which means (I'm afraid) that most of our books have gone to charity.

I now have enough room to swing a cat, and although my wife tries to tell me that the phrase is actually of naval origin and relates to a whip, I pay no attention (...and anyway, Tiddles doesn't seem to mind!).

However, I did have to stick a decoy bookmark in one book to pretend I'm actually reading it.


I like to set my friend (a librarian) a challenge by ordering old books via the local Library. She seems to enjoy this minor distraction, and says "...its good for our stats" (whatever that means) when I take out a book that's just been lying around in storage for the last 5 or 6 years.

So as soon as the clocks go back and the wood burner is fired up, I plan to repeat last winters exercise by requesting the one and only copy in West Sussex of Routledge. Maybe this winter I'll read it all the way through from cover-to-cover!

I'm a bit surprised that no one has mentioned Hay-on-Wye. OK, its many years since I was last there, so if its been bulldozered and turned into a "New Town" just leave me alone in my nostalgic Disney world...

...but it used to have the biggest second-hand bookshop in the UK (if this was Channel 4: "...the biggest second-hand bookshop, ON THE PLANET!") which was basically the towns disused cinema.

As I remember, Hay-on-Wye was full of second-hand bookshops. Even when you stopped for a cuppa, the tea & coffee shops had their shelves and window ledges full of dusty old books. Everyone was at it.

 

Further to VP's post.
Any signed WW2 books, simply post them to me and I will take them to the charity shops for you.

Graham.

 

I offer a pulping and burning service to ensure a number of WW2 books/Military are then deemed as "rare" and therefore afford a high price now and in the future.This actually assists with increasing storage in your homes.
This is my area of storage which of course looks way bigger that it actually is.
I will ensure form members wishes are adhered too and the books will not find their way into the ether.

This further enables forum members to spend more money than they really want too and encourages more anorak forum members to specialise in a specific lone book club.
So we all become a specialist.

As an example I have done this lot and have the only surviving copy ( unfortunately I did have to take out a couple of antiquarian bookshops en route)

 

A pound?!? Shops here want much more for them. They must be less prevalent.

PS if anyone ever sees a copy of Osprey's Allied Tank Destroyers (Perrett), I would gladly pay a pound or three and postage. the copies on abebooks are considerably more than that.

 

Perrett's (non-Osprey) books about the infantry tanks really are very very good. I don't know if that style of book went out of fashion but I really like them.

Also, I have been looking at Fletcher's recent compilation book on British built tanks..
Although one of the volumes (Valentine) isn't by him, and in it I spotted one or two factual errors about the Archer. So, caveat emptor...

(on the other hand that book does have quite a vivid description of the Valentine's interior)

 

£8.50 is too much then - Allied Tank Destroyers Osprey Vanguard 10 by Perrett, Bryan: Osprey Publishing, London 9780850453157 Softcover, 1st Edition.. - WORLD WAR BOOKS

TD

or from New Hampshire ?? - Allied Tank Destroyers. Osprey Vanguard Series No. 10 by Perrett, Bryan: Osprey Military Books 9780850453157 Softcover, First Edition - Boomer's Books


Allied Tank Destroyers
Users in the USA and Canada please select your location at the top of this page to see prices in your currency

 

You can find a free copy on the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS):-
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmNdPjCAfJ41GmSVTvce2qXA1ms73L7WFDBeKAtiuhnNr4
...or is that cheating?

 

I saw this recently (don't know whether any of you would have seen the jokes using the image earlier in the year) and had to laugh...

 

Everywhere you go temptation

 

Where is it? Postcode??
But PM me or the others will know!

 

In the interests of impartiality and to share the burden of used book sharing wealth the location is

Morden Hall Park in south London right at the end of the northern line.
The sat nav took me through there (i was walking) whilst on a journey believe it or not to a graveyard and memorial or anything interesting.