My position, developed over a forty years period, can be summed up in one word:
patience. Simply wait till the book you desire turns up in front of your eyes at a church,
library, or other organizational sale for 5 cents to 5 dollars.
I remember buying A.R. Ammons' first book Ommateum (first issue, perhaps one of 100 to
survive, autographed, fine in dj) for $250 from a former student of Elliott Coleman at Johns
Hopkins University perhaps 15-20 years ago. Check its current price--I'd rather have the
book than the money I didn't spend at the time in my current bank account.
The online marketplace for books keeps prices reasonably realistic (governed by precedent,
plus supply & demand) unlike stock prices for shares of secretive, often criminal,
corporations. Insane book prices can easily be identified by the context in which they are
necessarily immersed.
Barry Alpert
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