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I got to looking up some of my books after looking up my copy of Peter Laidler's An Armorer's Perspective and it was going for $400. (That search turned up a very disturbing story about Mr. Laidler from 2017, but I'll leave it be) anyways I have a copy of Donald Bady's Colt Automatic Pistols 1896-1955 and Amazon is selling it for $912! And mine is first edition. Blew my socks off. :thup:
So what's on your bookshelf that would command top dollar? Or Euro? Or whatever?
Clawsons 1911 book $500.
Hitler's Garands $350.
Palokangus Finnish Arms Volume 1-3 $600.
Karbiner 98k Volume 1-3 (4 books) not sure on price but Volume 3 I've seen as high as $300 and Volume II which is 2 books was nearly $200 to start IIRC.
Biggest increase in value percentage wise Branko's Yugo Mausers paperback book. Paid $15 seen them selling for $200.
I've always been fortunate when purchasing my hardcover books, never had to pay more than about $100CDN. The exception was when I bought a collection and netted several for $300CDN...Lee Enfield Story, Webley, Springfield by Brophy, a few others that escape me plus a few not so important pubs. It was a good catch.
I'd love to have that one. If I could read Finnish. :rofl:Quote:
Originally Posted by capt14k
Save your money with Bady's book. It is full of errors.
1st Ed The Broad Arrow (MkI) limited Ed H/C No.211/300 signed by Ian listed on his site $1,500.oo/AUD
I have lots of 1st Ed WWI Australian army (AIF) H/C books that range in the $4-600 AUD/Ea and some titles from WWII that are around the $3-400 range I mean I have chugged along collecting WW books for 44 years so its not really a flash in the pan effort.
Several of my books are now getting ridiculous prices but mine are not for sale. I am still waiting for the latest h/c Broad Arrow limited edition. A good few of my books are signed and some are presentations from the authors to me (Goldsmith, Laidler, Skennerton, Rapley, etc).
Each chapter has an English SummaryQuote:
Originally Posted by Atticus Thraxx
First (only?) edition of Ian Skennerton's "Australian Service Longarms"; signed and numbered. Bought when first released, No idea what they sell for these days. Over the years I have bought most of his books. We lived in the same town for quite a while.
Hard-bound "FAL" book by Stevens. This is the compilation of the three, previously published paperbacks. Vaguely remember paying about a hundred Oz for it when it was released in the early 1980's. (Straight-up retail books can get obscenely expensive here).
First edition Reynolds "The Lee Enfield Rifle" Found at a gun show in the US about ten years ago. Stamp inside indicates it was "culled' from the VA hospital in Sheridan, Wyoming. Cost me $65. Complete with original dust jacket, wrapped in a well-fitted plastic protective cover.
"Textbook of Small Arms" 1929. This is the 1961 reprint of the 1929 edition. Another "library cull", this time from the State Library of Queensland. $50 Oz, picked up at one of our local gun shows. I also have an original 1904 edition as well; another one picked up at a show.
I didn't buy any of them as "investments", except as the investment in the knowledge they contain.
My best (and most expensive) purchase so far is a set of Chinn "The Machine Gun", with all four volumes and the declassification letter..! Cost me £200 last year at the Trafalgar meeting at Bisley, which I thought was a bargain!
For those of you who do not know this magnum opus, it was written by George Chinn for the US Bureau of Ordnance in 1951, and is THE book on machine guns and cannon. Many of the illustrations, which are superb, have been reproduced many times in later publications...
Copies are on the internet, but nothing smells like the original!
Granted there are some great books out there that will cost a person . I guess that I am a cheap scape . The best book I have is The Collectors Guide to Disassimbley of Military Surplus Rifles . Maybe not the best one I got but is the one I use the most and highly recommend . Paid $30 and was money well spent .
Yes, expensive and extremely hard to find.Quote:
Originally Posted by bombdoc