Whats the most expensive book you have purchased and how much did you pay? I guess more importantly - was it worth the cost?
"War On The LIne" - the 1946 official History of the Southern Railway at war. IIRC I paid £30 for it at a little 2ndhand bookstall at an autojumble. It turned out not to be worth it. It was very "thin" in the details I wanted - and full of material I didn't. What was missing of all things was the detail on how the SR dealt with Blitz damage in detail, the service breaks, etc....and it was glossed over actually very quickly! It warranted far more; during the Blitz the SR was moving up to TWO MILLION workers and commuters in and out of London every day...despite the worst the LW could do. That's a hell of an effort - day in, day out.
c.£120, even using a mate's Waterstones discount when this edition first came out: Worth it? Yes. Or is this specifically about WW2 books? If not, no doubt there'll be a software manual or two mentioned by some. For WW2, it's probably Hunnicutt's 'Sherman, A History of the American Medium Tank'. Worth it? Yes. Two JG300 books by Lorant & Goyat seem to be rather mad prices, making them technically the most expensive military books I have, but I swapped 'em for a charity shop buy, and I've still not read 'em. Anyway, You never regret an extravagance .
Knocked one down on e-bay to £40+pp. ROYAL ARTILLERY. [DUNCAN (W), H. ELLIS, R. BANKS AND N. SCARFE, EDS]. The Royal Artillery Commemoration Book 1939-1945 Bell & Co., for The Royal Artillery Benevolent Fund, 1950 Folio, First Edition [Sole Edition], with a portrait frontispiece, several fine portraits in photogravure, very numerous illustrations, maps and diagrams (many full-page) in the text, and several large folding maps coloured in outline; pictorial buckram gilt, gilt back, a near fine copy in the dust jacket, the latter frayed and worn at edges. Published by Goerge Bell for The Royal Artillery Benevolent Fund, this is a magnificent record of the regiment's service during the Second World War, with individual theatres, actions and activities described by appropriate authorities. As befits the Gunners, this is one of the finest regimental records to emerge from WWII. Scarce in the dust jacket. White. Offered for GBP 185.00 = appr. US$ 294.70 by: Island Books - Book number: 947
I bought a copy of a book about the history of the Northumberland Hussars Yeomanry by Joan Bright for £100. When starting research about my Dad's unit, I was looking for anything on 102 LAA Regt, RA. The NH always seem to come up in internet searches as 102 LAA/AT Regt, so I thought bingo, a history about my dad's unit. Not so as I later discovered. From 1941, the NH became purely 102 Anti-Tank Regt, with the LAA Battery under command joining 25 LAA Regt, RA. Because of it's rarity value, I've seen quotes of £250, but I won't part with it as it's a brilliant book about an exceptional regiment and a detailed Roll of Honour of it's men. I also purchased the same book as Rob Dickers, (but paid a lot more) for it's roll of honour for my RA Commemoration project.
Back in the late 80s or early 90s I proudly paid 'several hundred pounds' for three chunky volumes of the rare and highly prized 'Bible' of Scottish coin collecting/identification - 'The Coinage of Scotland' by Edward Burns (Edinburgh 1887). Now it can be found here - FREE : The coinage of Scotland (Open Library) Slightly pissed off! Tom.
"Nine Days" by Ronald Gibson is by far the most expensive one I've bought (can't put the price on here in case the wife sees it but it was 'several hundreds'! ). Worth it? Yes! "Ronald Gibson was a Glider Pilot of “F” Squadron who piloted a glider that contained a 6 Pounder Anti-Tank gun and members of the Border Regiment. He flew to Arnhem on 17th September and fought for nine days before finally being evacuated across the Rhine. The books illustrator, Gordon C. Power also fought alongside Gibson at Arnhem."
Hmmm...there's one notorious abuser of Abebooks who hasn't put his mouth where his money was! So come on Andy, own up! (For me, I daresay I paid £25 once but they are all worth it)
The ATB books are the most I have shelled out. I bought ATB Battle of Britain from Ruddocks in Lincoln many years ago and my mate who was with me at the time thought I was seriously mad. However I did pay £5 for a Mercyful Fate single back in 86 and that was way too much even by standards now.
£110 for a privately printed book found on ebay. Yes it was worth it. I would say that was an absolute pittance compared to some. I don't begrudge paying out for such books for if inclined, they can be sold on again. Money I've spent on old books is nothing compared to what my husband has to dish out for his new programming manuals. I have spent MUCH more on documents from TNA and that I do get angry about. I really haven't added up what's been spent on photocopies and digital express; mightily scared to do so. I do know that I've been saved £1000's through various kindnesses shown by folks here.
So far it's "A Signal Honour: With the Chindits and XIV Army in Burma". I bought it for 37,95$ (without delivery). Not exactly what I expected to be but it is a very good book and I'm happy to have it.
Early 1990s I bought the 2 volumes of Headlam's Guards Divsion In Great War for 70 quid. I just checked as it's still penciled in front cover. about same time I bought all 3 volumes of Ponsonby's The Grenadier Guards In The Great War for about 110 quid , I think. These are the originals not the reprints. Looking on abe, they still go for about that price.
As far as I can recall, I haven't paid £100 or more for a book. Yet. I have bought a few that came close, though. The Coldstream Guards' history was up in the 90's with postage; I left that one a bit late.
I paid about £65 at the end of last year for Messenger's "The Winged Wheel Patch" winged wheel patch - AbeBooks It's a 'must-have' although it didn't provide me with all that much new information but my Mum enjoyed reading it. I think that I paid £80 or so for Jervois' "The History of the Northamptonshire Regt. 1934 - 1948" jervois - northamptonshire - AbeBooks Certainly no regrets on that one. If I were to tot up what I've spent on contract-specific Norton parts books with mostly identical content, that would start to get really scary
I can't say I have paid a lot for a specific book, perhaps $100.00. and that would have been for one of the rarer "Observer" series. What I do is purchase a large volume(!) of books and after a look through them for items that interest me I don't read them again. It's all too easy to order books on line and I submit to temptation too easily! I kid myself that I will read them all in my old age but I am there already and the books keep piling up!
Not military, but just over £120 for a copy of "The Story of ERA" by David Weguelin - but as it was £35 when it was published in 1980, I reckon I got a bargain in real terms. Other copies have gone for over £150 on eBay and the cheaper of two copies on ABE at the moment is £225. Next highest was about £80 for "Grand Prix Suisse", which changes hands for anything up to £200 and just over £60 for Rose - Record of Motor - AbeBooks (not the first edition at the bottom, though!) Quite a few for £50+.
Until Recently it was £165 for The Distinguished Flying Medal Register (2 Vols). Which is an excellent source of info regarding citations. Today I picked up The Distinguished Flying Cross and How It Was Won (2 Vols). I've been searching for a copy since last Oct and paid £225 for it. Copies on Abebooks and Amazon are for sale at over £300. I'm glad to have it in my collection but its nowhere near as good as its DFM Brother. Before joinging this forum £20 is what I would consider an absolute maximum to spend on books
after a look through them for items that interest me I don't read them again.! I know this feeling only too well... There must be a psychological name for the feelings of guilt relating to mounds of unread books It's the remaindered shops and bargain bin ones that get me. Anything half decent, or that I read a good review of, and less than a fiver, it's often bought... but almost as often not read properly.
I buy books at all sort of prices, most ive paid was £80, so no bank breaking yet, its the fact ive about 100 books still not read, silly really, but book buying is an obsession now.
I know this feeling only too well... There must be a psychological name for the feelings of guilt relating to mounds of unread books Call it a reference library and the guilt's gone!
