Author Topic: Rare hardcovers?  (Read 10038 times)

Offline Rob

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Rare hardcovers?
« on: July 10, 2007, 10:32 AM »
So I recently decided to upgrade as many of my paperbacks as I could into HC.  I've got 30 or so of these down now, mostly buying them up at a local place called Half Price Books.  They generally run about $8 each.

Then I find out that there are all these NJO books that go on eBay for $30 and $40 and I'm thinking that this doesn't fit with my model of wanting to upgrade as inexpensively as possible...

So I figured I'd ask if anyone around here knows of any place to get some of the more rare books for less.  I know it's a long shot, but what the hey...  And does anyone have info on why some of them are so rare compared to the rest?  I assume it's an edition size thing, but why?



Or if anyone has any of these they want to trade or sell I'm going to put up a thread in the classifieds with a list of ones I do have...




 

Offline I Am Sith

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2007, 10:49 AM »
Rob,

I'm in the same boat as you.  I just started to buy them and am running into problems with NJO.  All but 4 of the NJO books were released in paperback or were only Sci-Fi Book Club 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 Omnibus hard covers.  The very rare exceptions to this are Traitor, Dark Journey, and The Final Prophecy.  Those were only SFBK hard cover single book editions.  Those are the ones I've seen sell for >$75 on ebay.

There are also issues with some of the Republic Era, Empire Era, and New Republic Era novels.  Almost all of the 3 book series (Jedi Academy, Black Fleet Crisis, Bounty Hunter Wars, etc) were only released in 3-in-1 Omnibus hard covers.  Otherwise you're stuck with only getting them in paperback.  Some of those hard covers are easier to come by, but there are the exceptions too.

I have a fairly extensive and accurate list of all of the novels released.  If you want, shoot me a PM and I can send it to you.
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Offline Rob

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2007, 12:29 PM »
That'd be great - PM coming up.

I didn't realize how they did these things... I always just assumed that they weren't available.  I guess it's one more thing to have to track down to have in the collection.

Thanks for the info.

If I join this Science Fiction Book Club will I be able to avoid this in the future by getting a crack at new ones when they come out in short supply like this?
« Last Edit: July 10, 2007, 12:34 PM by Rob »

Offline I Am Sith

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2007, 02:31 PM »
PM replied!

Yes you can join SFBK to avoid this, however if the books are only released in the 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 omnibus hard cover versions, you're going to have to wait until the second or third books in the series are released and they 'create' the combined hardcovers.  I can tell you right now that they still have the 'Republic Commando' Duology available and the 'Dark Nest' 3-in-1 available at SFBC.  They also have the three Legacy of the Force novels that weren't released in mass market hard cover (Bloodlines, Exile, and Tempest).

I'm waiting until I move into my new place to join SFBK, but I plan on getting all 5 Legacy of the Force novels and the Dark Nest 3-in-1 for the low low price of $19 for the 6 books and avoid getting bent over on ebay for these h/c releases in the future...

I just wish I would have known all this back when the NJO novels were all still available!
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Offline Rob

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2007, 12:24 AM »
Thanks for the advice.  I signed up this afternoon.  I ordered:

Legacy of the Force - Exile
Legacy of the Force - Betrayal
Legacy of the Force - Tempest
Legacy of the Force - Bloodlines
Allegiance
Yoda - Dark Rendezvous
Dark Nest (3-1)

For a grand total of like $28 shipped.

5 selections, plus 1 bonus-buy for $5.99, and One of them was flat out free... some kind of special I guess. 

And they only require two purchases per year to remain a member.  Not too shabby.

Offline I Am Sith

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2007, 08:34 AM »
Great purchase!

The nice thing that I've found is that most of SFBK's items are less than retail and comparable to Amazon.  I refuse to buy books from Borders or Waldenbooks because they are always 10%-20% or more higher than on-line.

Good luck in getting the rest of the hardcovers you're looking for!  I'll try not to get in a bidding war with you on ebay for the rare ones!
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Offline Rob

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2007, 12:28 PM »
Thanks. :)

And don't sweat the bidding war.  I'll probably just take it easy and slow on those.  I'm not in a rush to spend $35 for a book I've already read.  Even though I'd like to get rid of as many of the paperbacks as possible.

Offline I Am Sith

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #7 on: August 12, 2007, 10:34 PM »
Just to give you an update, I was able to get the Agents of Chaos 2-in-1 and the Dark Tide 2-in-1 HC novels on ebay today for $30 shipped.  I was surprised as hell to see I won both of those auctions this morning.  Most to all of the other NJO HC books went for $30+ each, so I must have been lucky I guess.  I few more down...

I also joined SFBK last week and just received my 5 Legacy of the Force HC's, the Dark Nest 3-in-1, and the Lord of the Rings 3-in-1.  I'm kicking myself though because I completely forgot that I was going to use the 'free' selection to get the Comlpete Visual Dictionary and I ended up getting the LOTR 3-in-1 instead.
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Offline Chris Wyman

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #8 on: October 10, 2007, 09:32 PM »
I was just on their website last night thinking of joining myself for the exact same reasons as you guys have mentioned. I am a first edition hard cover Star Wars book collector and it just drives me crazy when they don't release books in hard cover. I didn't join yet, but I was looking around for the books I could get. I was only able to find five total, so I would have just made it. The only books I'd be buying in the future would be the Legacy of the Force books that aren't in hard cover.

I was in a book buying mood yesterday and it continued into today. I bought five books off of Alibris.com. If I haven't just bought a book when it first comes out, I've probably gotten it off that website. They typically have pretty good prices and it's real easy to find books in nice shape because of the description that sellers are required to fill out when selling books. I had a $10 off coupon when you spend $100 that I used. I'll post which books I was able to get when I get them. I'd hate to say what I got and be all happy about it only to find one of them all messed up or something.  :P

I would totally recommend that site for both of you if you haven't already been to it.

Rob, I noticed that you bought the "Allegiance" book from the Sci-Fi Book Club. I think that's still available in the book stores in it's true first edition hard cover version. I'm sure you already know this, but I wanted to point it out in case you didn't realize.

What kind of condition do the books from the Book Club arrive in? I'm so picky about the items in my collection, so it's always a challenge to find the best condition possible. Do they pack them well?
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Offline I Am Sith

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2007, 10:02 PM »
What kind of condition do the books from the Book Club arrive in? I'm so picky about the items in my collection, so it's always a challenge to find the best condition possible. Do they pack them well?

Everything that I've ordered and received from them has been mint condition.  They pack things very well and their shipments arrive quickly.  I highly recommend them.

As an aside, I've pre-ordered Inferno and Death Star, so if you wait until next month, both of those will probably be available for your subscription commitment.
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Offline Chris Wyman

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #10 on: October 11, 2007, 05:50 AM »
What kind of condition do the books from the Book Club arrive in? I'm so picky about the items in my collection, so it's always a challenge to find the best condition possible. Do they pack them well?

Everything that I've ordered and received from them has been mint condition.  They pack things very well and their shipments arrive quickly.  I highly recommend them.

As an aside, I've pre-ordered Inferno and Death Star, so if you wait until next month, both of those will probably be available for your subscription commitment.

Thanks for the info.

Inferno would definitely be one that I'd get since it's only in paper back, but the Death Star novel will be released in a larger hard back, so I'll have to get that version for sure.
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Offline I Am Sith

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #11 on: October 11, 2007, 01:15 PM »
I flaked, I meant to say that I pre-ordered Fury with Death Star...
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Offline Chris Wyman

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #12 on: October 13, 2007, 05:48 PM »
Okay, this is one of the books I ordered the other day. It's the only one that's arrived so far.

I got an absolutely perfect hard cover first edition copy of "Han Solo's Revenge" from 1979 written by Brian Daley. This is the second book in a three book cycle by Daley.

For some dumb reason, I think they released the first one only in paperback, then this one in hardback and then the third one only in paperback.  ???  It's strange seeing a book this old in such nice condition though.

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Offline I Am Sith

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #13 on: October 13, 2007, 09:56 PM »
For some dumb reason, I think they released the first one only in paperback, then this one in hardback and then the third one only in paperback.  ???

I have the first and second in hard cover, and the third (Han Solo and the Lost Legacy) pops up in hard cover every once in a while on ebay, but you're looking at at least $25+ for a decent copy.  That is 1 of only about 6 books I need to complete my hardcover collection.  I thought that I had gotten a copy of NJO Traitor, but the auction ended up being a fraud and they removed it from ebay.  Oh well, the hunt continues.
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Offline Chris Wyman

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Re: Rare hardcovers?
« Reply #14 on: October 14, 2007, 09:27 AM »
For some dumb reason, I think they released the first one only in paperback, then this one in hardback and then the third one only in paperback.  ???

I have the first and second in hard cover, and the third (Han Solo and the Lost Legacy) pops up in hard cover every once in a while on ebay, but you're looking at at least $25+ for a decent copy.  That is 1 of only about 6 books I need to complete my hardcover collection.  I thought that I had gotten a copy of NJO Traitor, but the auction ended up being a fraud and they removed it from ebay.  Oh well, the hunt continues.

Oh, well that's good to know. I was checking wikipeidia.com and it didn't look like they had anything listed for the other two books in that series as hardcover, but if you have them, that's all the proof I need! I ended up paying $45.00 for this one, but given the condition it's in, I totally didn't mind. It looks like it's never been read and the dust jacket is flawless.

Sorry about your failed auction for Traitor. That's always annoying, but you'll get it though.
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