"A Private Car" book for sale

[serena]

Hello - I have one of the Limited Edition (1998) numbered sets, still in the binder, that I wish to sell.

The books and binder are pristine - apart from a smudge (less than 1 inch square) on the spine of the "The Image" cover. Both books are otherwise in perfect condition.

Can anyone please give me an idea of what price I should ask for this, and whether eBay is the best place to look for a buyer? Any suggestions, very gratefully received (assuming they are polite suggestions, that is :-)) ) Many thanks.

[Showfer]

Hi Serena,
could I be the first (of many, no doubt) to express an interest in purchasing your books when you have decided on a suitable price.
regards,
Les Middleton.
p.s.
Do you have any other Bristol items which you wish to sell?

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by serena

Can anyone please give me an idea of what price I should ask for this, and whether eBay is the best place to look for a buyer?

Serena,
The book is still available new from Pallawan Press for £300, so obviously this needs to be taken into account when pricing a secondhand copy.

There are usually one or two copies on the market via www.abe.com but I've just had a look and there aren't any for sale right now, so it might be a good time to sell

eBay is not a particularly good way to sell relatively rare books, unless you get multiple bidders - only then will you achieve the best price. If you do list it on eBay I suggest you set a reasonably high starting price or reserve and mention it on this forum to attract the attention of what is a relatively small market.

You could also try selling it through Amazon, but I have no idea how their system works for private sellers, I suspect they take a hefty commission.

[serena]

Hi Kevin - thanks so much for your very helpful response.

Les, thank you for your interest.

I have had 2 replies to my post from members who may be interested in buying the set (one from Les, 'on-board' and a message from another member 'off-board'). As there are members of this site who might want to purchase the set, I think the right thing to do is to try to figure out a fair price and offer it to members of this site initially, on a 'first-refusal' basis.

Tomorrow I will photograph the spine of 'The Image' to show the mark on the binding. It isn't very pronounced -- but having said that, I am very ashamed that it is marked at all. I was unpacking a lot of boxes and didn't realise the Bristol books were amongst them, and I think the mark on the binding happened when I was unpacking.

Anyway, I will post the photo, and if anyone knows what these normally fetch on re-sale, perhaps they could kindly let me know.

Thank you very much again, Kevin H. for your help. And thank you also, Les for your message.

[serena]

Sorry, Les - I just realised I didn't answer your question.
The answer is, no, sadly I haven't got any other Bristol items for sale.
It would be wonderful to be a collector, but sadly I'm not in the league that can make collections of fine motor cars.

Not yet, anyway :-))

[John Keighley]

Serena,
It would be wonderful if you can offer it for sale within the Forum before going to the outside sites. Just think of the bidding war you could start off right here! Seroiusly, it is a book that any Bristol person would be happy to include in their collection
John Keighley.

[RGSchmitt]

At least one copy is for sale on http://used.addall.com/

[browning l]

Originally Posted by RGSchmitt

At least one copy is for sale on http://used.addall.com/

Actually seem to be 4 on offer, ranging in price from 600 to 850.

[serena]

Hello John - thx for your message. Yes, I think it is right to offer the book on the forum here first. I would prefer it went to a genuine Bristol enthusiast, rather than a book dealer.

I have to admit though to being at a bit of a loss as to how to determine a starting price. The site that RGS linked to, has a copy of the 2nd edition (1999) at $600. There are 3 copies of the Limited Edition (1998) listed in a range from $832.95 to $849.95.

Obviously mine has the blotch on the spine of one of the books in the set, which is going to reduce its asking price a bit. But those are staggering prices. I really had no idea the collectors' copy was worth so much. I wonder though are those prices 'speculative' - do copies really sell for so much??


Obviously my starting price is going to be somewhat less a) due to the mark on the spine and b) because the AddAll Rare books prices are probably 'off the shelf' prices (and perhaps a little speculative?), but it still seems a lot of money. If we are talking more than £300, I would be happy for someone to 'stagger' the payment in two or three tranches, if that is of any help. It seems a shame if the price puts the set out of reach of the very people who would get the most enjoyment from it. So anyone can contact me 'off-board' if they want to make an arrangement to pay for the book in several tranches.

Please bear with me whilst I figure out posting the photo.

RGSchmidt, it was very kind of you to post the link to the AddALL Rare Books site. There seem not to be any listed anywhere else. Thank you very much for your help.

[serena]

Originally Posted by browning l

Actually seem to be 4 on offer, ranging in price from 600 to 850.

Hi Browning l - we must have been looking at the site at the same time, as our posts have crossed. The Limited Edition set has certainly increased a lot in value since publication, hasn't it.

( I really hope Kevin doesn't mind that I seem to be hi-jacking this thread. I wonder would it be better form for me to 'list' the book on its own thread?)

[Brian]

I noticed that the original publishers, Palawan Press (http://www.palawan.co.uk/
) still offer both the standard edition (buckram bound, limited to
900 copies) for £300 and the special edition (nubuk bound, 100
copies) for £800.

[serena]

Thanks Brian -- If Palawan are still selling the 1998 Limited Edition, then the prices on the AddALL site for the original edition are pretty stratospheric.

[RGSchmitt]

"RGSchmitt, it was very kind of you to post the link to the AddALL
Rare Books site. There seem not to be any listed anywhere
else. Thank you very much for your help."

You are very welcome. I have only bought a few books from the
sellers listed on addall. However, earlier this year I found
"Bristol Cars and Engines" for $42 from a near local seller. The
copy is ex Azusa public library, but that was noted. A few years
ago, I found "The Chain Drive Frazer Nash" from a Scottish
bookseller, otherwise specializing in birding! Also a good price.

I think it's one of the best "unknown" Internet websites.

Bob Schmitt
Burbank, California

[browning l]

Originally Posted by serena

Hi Browning l - we must have been looking at the site at the same time, as our posts have crossed. The Limited Edition set has certainly increased a lot in value since publication, hasn't it.

( I really hope Kevin doesn't mind that I seem to be hi-jacking this thread. I wonder would it be better form for me to 'list' the book on its own thread?)

Oh, don't worry about Kevin. He can handle it.

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by serena

( I really hope Kevin doesn't mind that I seem to be hi-jacking this thread. I wonder would it be better form for me to 'list' the book on its own thread?)

Serena, I have created this new thread as we do have a forum specifically for selling items, as opposed to simply discussing ephemera.

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by serena

I really had no idea the collectors' copy was worth so much. I wonder though are those prices 'speculative' - do copies really sell for so much??

Serena, there are undoubtedly book dealers who will list books at ridiculously high prices on the off chance that some mug will come along and pay that price. Being a book collector I have seen it many times. I suspect they are very well established dealers who are not overly bothered whether they sell the book any time soon. It may even be that they don't particularly want to sell it because they might not have many other books relating to that marque and they want to make sure they still come up in searches for the marque.

I should point out that all copies of A Private Car are numbered, regardless of the binding. There were 900 copies of the Standard Edition and 100 copies of the Special Edition in the black slip case.

The Standard Edition was first released with a semi gloss blue slip case with title of the book on the spine and side, along with an image of the Bristol badge on the side. This slip case was found to damage very easily and Palawan replaced it with a plain blue cloth bound slip case with nothing printed on it, which is what is now pictured on their site.

To a keen book collector (opposed to a Bristol enthusiast), a copy in the original printed slip case in perfect condition may be more valuable. My own copy has the earlier slip case, but only when it was too late did I realise that it couldn't cope with even normal careful use.

Which edition do you have - the blue binder (printed or plain cloth bound), with grey and yellow books, or the black binder, with books bound in black nubuck?

Last but not least, you can contact members of this forum directly through the forum itself - if you click on a member's username on one of their posts a menu will drop down to show you their contact options (providing they haven't disabled them all in Member Options). This avoids listing your email address in a forum post, which is then viewable by spammers and scammers!

[GREG]

Well those prices count me out !!

I would never buy a book for more than I could buy a car for ! I only paid £500 for my London cab - running great with 12 months MOT. The best value fun vehicle I have ever bought! Or maybe it was my first moped.

Good luck selling it.

Greg

[serena]

Originally Posted by Kevin H

Serena, I have created this new thread as we do have a forum specifically for selling items, as opposed to simply discussing ephemera.

Hi - sorry to be rather late on site ...
Kevin, thank you so very much, for setting up the 'For Sale' thread, and especially for the clarification of the two types of Standard Edition. Mine is the blue buckram - the 'non-glossy' cover.

I am going to upload photos of the books and slip cover. Thanks Kevin for the very clear explanation of resizing photos for upload and the link to the image re-sizing tool. I have tried to show all marks in the photos.

[Jon McCarthy]

Kevin,

Your description of the different editions is interesting as my copy, purchased in 2005 from Palawan, is the special edition in the black slip case but is numbered in the mid four hundreds. This must imply that the numbering system for both editions is combined together or there must be more than 100special editions.
Fascinating!

[serena]

Here are the photos as promised.

Just a few points :-

1) I have tried to photograph the flaws as clearly as I can. I would just say, that whilst the marks on the buckram slip cover look very pronounced in the close-up photo, that photo was taken in strong daylight. In normal light, the marks are hardly noticeable, as you can see in photo 7, for example.


2) Given that my copy is not 100% condition, and that new copies are available for £300, I thought I would invite bids from a starting price of £150.00

I hope members of this forum think that a reasonable starting price, but I must admit that I would hope to get at least £200 - as apart from the mark on the spine of 'The Image', the books themselves are in superb condition.

3) If bidding doesn't reach £200, I may make a 1-week listing of them on eBay with a reserve price and if bidding on eBay doesn't reach the reserve, I will contact whoever has put in the highest bid here, to offer them the book. I hope that sounds fair.

4) If anyone does want to bid or to contact me by email rather than on-site, please feel free to do so.

If bids over £150 come by email rather than on-site, I will copy the email to Kevin so that he can confirm increased bids if any other member asks him to do so. I hope that is alright with Kevin - if not, Kevin, can you nominate someone to verify bids, or suggest what procedure would be preferable.

5) If the set is to be sent by post or courier, it will be wrapped in acid-free paper and bubblewrap, then into a strong packaging box before it is dispatched. It will have to be insured for £250 minimum. I will pay the first £10 of postal / delivery costs ; balance to be paid by winner of auction. If winner wishes to collect (from Dorking), you are very welcome to, or I can deliver within Surrey / West Sussex or SW London. Payment preferably by cheque or bank transfer.

6) Bidding is open until Sunday, 19th September 2010, 9.00 p.m. (21.00 BST)

(BST is 'British Summer Time' - which is one hour forward from GMT, for those living in further climes)


Well, sincerest thanks to everyone who has pitched in to help, and especially to Kevin of course for all the information and all the work he has put in to make the site so spiffin'.


Well, in the immortal words - - (as this may be my only chance to use them ) - -


" Gentlemen, please place your bids "



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