Songbooks: Any specialist folksong booksellers?

Subject: BS: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Phillip
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 02:22 PM

Does anyone know of any such thing? I have what I regard as an excellent book to sell, and I don't really know where to start trying to find a buyer - no, I'm not looking for offers from here! (You don't even know what it is!)

I don't have a local second hand bookshop, and I can't find this book listed anywhere on any online catalogues, so I think a general dealer might just come up with a "finger in the air price".

I know I could try ebay, but once again I don't really know what price to put on this. Its "print on demand" version costs $200, so I don't want to end up selling it for a couple of quid.

Any help appreciated.

rgds

Phillip

Subject: RE: BS: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: curmudgeon
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 02:34 PM

If you will let us know what the book is, we might be able to help.

Booksellers usually pay 40% of the book's value. While antiques dealers usually offer a 10% dealers' discount, book sellers usually offer 20%.

Have you gone tto www.bookfinder.com? This is a multiple dealer site and might well help you determine a value. You might also want to go to eBay and click on "Completed" to see if this book has sold in the past month.

I do know booksellers who specialise in this kind of tome. PM me and I'll be happy to help -- Tom

Subject: RE: BS: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 03:18 PM

Look up the book at abebooks.com and alibris.com. Thousands of dealers list with them. If the book is listed, you can get an idea of the price for one in comparable condition.
My daughter deals in books as part of her western store and uses these two sources to get an idea on pricing.
Generally, if the book is rare and in demand, a dealer will offer at most 25% of the retail value, usually less. Some specialists will do better with very pricy books that are certain to sell.

Subject: RE: BS: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 03:20 PM

Curmudgeon, dealers in your area must pay high.

Subject: RE: BS: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 03:24 PM

It would help to know what country you live in. Perhaps the USA, as you mention dollars? I can put you in touch with a few specialists in the UK, but presumably you would be better-off with someone closer to home. Most dealers will want to examine a potentially high-price book before making an offer.

Of course, if you were to mention the name of the book, someone might be able to help more precisely. If, for example, it deals with a particular cultural or geographical area (Virginia, for example), that could make a difference as to where you might get a slightly better price. The prices of "on demand" softcover reprints aren't always a terribly good guide; one can often get perfectly good secondhand copies for less. Bear in mind, too, that prices on Alibris include their commission, so will usually be higher than the price shown for the same book from the same dealer on another list.

Subject: RE: BS: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: curmudgeon
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 03:30 PM

They do not so much pay high, but rather fairly. And if there is a high demand for a book, they will usually pay even higher. Part of the cost of running a bookstore is the vast amount of inventory that must be maintained. Thus, a book that will sell quickly and not gather dust, is more desireable to the dealer. If you can make a 25% return in an hour, that's much better than a 40% return after several months.

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 04:48 PM

Well, Phillip, I suppose you may be right not to trust us - but we may well be the best market there is for folk songbooks. Here in Northern California, the best place for used music books is Moe's Books in Berkeley.

Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, has a huge collection of music and other used books, but I don't trust them completley. they have volume, but lack wisdom.

Zubal Books in Cleveland seems to be very good with music.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Deckman
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 12:59 AM

Joe ... your referance to "Powells Books" did not work! CHEERS, Bob

---

Works now, Bob - maybe one of the clones fixed it. I was in a hurry when I posted it.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Hrothgar
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 03:38 AM

Don't play hard to get. What's the book?

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Phillip
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 12:41 PM

Well, it's not that I don't trust anybody here - of various communities I have taken part in (though here usually read only) this is by far the best. On a previous book adventure I had, where an ebay dealer tried to not send me $160 of books Katlaughing was ready to go round and sort him out, almost. (That situation was resolved, Kat, when he sent the books 15 months after I paid for them.)I just didn't want people thinking I had just popped in looking for a buyer.

Anyway, this book I have for sale is Bronson's The Singing Tradition of Child's Popular Ballads. It's in excellent condition (except for two things - I wrote in it where and when I bought it, and I foolishly put one of those horrible sticky back things on it to protect it.) It's in excellent condition and for sale because my musical ability is not enough to make use of it.

I can't easily price it because it's not available on abebooks, or alibris or any of the usual places. That's why I thought I'd try and find a specialist. And, Malcolm, I live in the UK, so if you have contacts please let me know.

Of course if anyone here is interested, please let me know.

rgds

Phillip

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Sorcha
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 12:59 PM

The abridged or un abridged? Hard cover or paperback??? Several people here would almost kill to get their hands on this!!

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Phillip
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 01:09 PM

It's not the four-volume Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads. One volume of those is currently available via abebooks for about $200.

This is the one-volume paperback selection from the whole thing. Bronson's preface is dated 1974, but the book was published in 1976, and seems to be the first (possibly only) paperback edition.

Phillip

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Sorcha
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 01:14 PM

OK, Hardback/cloth, 576 ppg. Click over there; give price + shipping to US,Oz/NZ and other. $145 US. Paper would be slightly less.

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 01:15 PM

Two decent specialist dealers I've bought from (but not sold to) are

Birchwood Books based in Halifax.

Dave Eyre ("Collector's Folk") based in Sheffield.

As a rule, both of these will probably look to pay 40-50% of what they think they can re-sell for (about the norm) but may offer a higher price if they already have a buyer in mind. You can make more by selling the book independently, but that's a bit of a lottery and does require research, as you know. It's a shame about the sticky plastic.

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Sorcha
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 01:17 PM

I'll bet if Phillip put it in the auction for a min. bid of about $100 (and chose a percentage for Mudcat) that it would sell.........anybody have any money right now???? Make the buy pay shipping if buyer is out of UK.

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: MMario
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 01:33 PM

last copy went for $ 175, didn't it?

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Phillip
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 10:53 AM

Sorcha I tried clicking on your hardback/cloth link but it comes up with an error - link does not exist.

Phillip

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Sorcha
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 10:59 AM

I can't get there today either, but this should be the cache of the Google page........don't know what happend. Worked fine yesterday. Even tried the "current page" link on the Google cache and it doesn't work either.

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Sorcha
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 11:04 AM

Mabye it sold, yes,Mario it was the same book and Kath Westra got it for $160 US.

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Nerd
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 11:04 AM

There's a bookshop in Plainfield, VT called The Country Bookshop. Folksong is one of their specialties. The proprietor's name is Ben (I can't remember his last name)and he is very knowlegdeable about books on this subject, perhaps the most knowledgeable bookseller in the USA When the folksong scholar Kenny Goldstein died, Ben was called in to appraise his book collection for the purchaser, a large University library. Ben also got some of the doubles for his shop, and I was able to buy a few of Kenny's old books!

If you do a google search on country bookshop plainfield vermont you should find them. They're also listed on abebooks.com

I would sell sooner rather than later if I were you if you want to get full value. The publishers who are putting out the CD ROM of Child are planning to tackle Bronson soon, and the books may lose a little of their value when the Roms become available a couple of years hence.

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 11:40 AM

Click here for the history of the auction of a copy of this book here. I'm still kicking myself for dropping out of the bidding.
The proceeds of this sale went to Mudcat, so it seemed to me that the bidding got a bit inflated. After all, it's a condensation, not the entire work.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 12:49 PM

Anyone know when the second volume of the Loomis House edition of Child will come out?

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: MMario
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 01:24 PM

per the web site for Loomis House - it was expected by the end of 2002 - so I would hope soon.

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 04:05 AM

Here's a listing for an on-demand reprint of "Singing Tradition" - $178.55 for it in paperback.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Any specialist folksong booksellers?
From: Phillip
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 07:04 AM

This is now up for auction here.