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Paid $40 for a used copy of 'The Road' at a garage sale last summer
Ended up being a first edition, sold it to a collector in Boston for $600 two weeks ago. Anyone else ever accidentally stumble into a find like that at a random sale?
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grant15512d ago
That ended up being a first edition" is the part that gets me. Most people don't even check the copyright page at garage sales. They just see a beat up paperback and move on. I've been digging through boxes at estate sales for years, and I always flip to the back of any book that looks older than 2000. The real trick is knowing what to look for - stuff like the number line on the copyright page, or specific cover art that only the first printing had. I found a signed Stephen King once for three bucks at a church sale because nobody bothered to look inside the dust jacket. People leave gold sitting out in the open all the time.
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elliot_roberts11d ago
Yeah, the number line thing is a good tip but its actually not always at the back. On a lot of older books its right on the copyright page under the publisher info. First printings usually have a line that goes 1 2 3 4 5 or something like that, and if the 1 is missing thats a later printing. Just a small thing but it can save you from grabbing the wrong copy.
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ramirez.vera12d ago
That's the thing, isn't it @grant155 - most people just don't pay attention to the details right in front of them.
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