Next up was Rudyard Kipling?s With the Night Mail. This was easier since virtually all copies are of the 1909 original. Why this fascinating 1909 prediction of how the world would look in the year 2000 has not been reprinted is a mystery to me. Here are the numbers:

Listing Site	No.of Copies	Price Range
Abebooks	54	$16-$500
Alibris	24	$35-$300
ABAA	14	$40-$500
ILAB	16	$40-$500
Froogle	21	$40-$500
Barnes and Noble	28	$36-$259
Amazon	12	$75-$595

Abe also found two copies of a 1998 reprint by the upscale Arion Press for $350 and $400. Alibris found a paperback for $5.68.

Next I tried a harder to find title, Jared Sparks 1828 The Life and Travels of John Ledyard… Here, only Abebooks and ILAB found anything. Abe found five copies priced $550 - $1,265. ILAB found four priced $537-$1,265. Why did ILAB find four and ABAA zero? All four copies were offered by foreign (to America) booksellers, 1 Canada, 1 Netherlands, 2 Australia.

Now we'll try a different type of book. Here's one that's not valuable, not too old, but not too new, and not well known. Probably most books fit into this category. We will try a search for Laurence Pringle's Death is Natural. This book is supposed to teach children about death. What it really is is an antidote for anyone feeling too happy. If you want to get depressed in a hurry, read this book.

Not to digress, but here's how it starts: "A cottontail rabbit left the shelter of some weeds and hopped onto the road. The night was cool, the pavement, still warm from spring sunshine, felt good underfoot. Suddenly, two bright lights shone on the rabbit. It hesitated, then ran. Too late. THUMP." It even comes with a picture of a dead rabbit. I'm just glad my wife didn't buy this book on Amazon or they would probably be recommending a copy of Dr Kevorkian?s "how-to" book to me. Here is what I found:

Listing Site	No.of Copies	Price Range
Abebooks	47	$1.95-$22.00
Alibris	55	$2.95-$18.95
ABAA	0
ILAB	0
Froogle	13	$1.99-$22.00
Barnes and Noble	4	$2.07-$17.84
Amazon	55	$1.24-$23.32

Froogle also offered copies of The Mummy Congress: Science, Obsession and the Everlasting Dead by Heather Pringle. I don't know whether Laurence Pringle and Heather Pringle are related, but they'd make a lovely couple.