Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2004 Issue

A Renewed "Half Life"<br>Half.com Lives

none

none


Now that we've established Half's strength, here are a few more examples. They have a list of books which they ask you to rate for interest so they can make personal recommendations. Instead, let's rate them for price. How about the 1992 "classic" Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Really? I thought Martians were from Mars. I have absolutely no interest in buying this book, and that's a shame. The reason is that Half has a copy for just $0.75. The lowest I can find on Amazon is $1.89, Barnes and Noble $1.99, Alibris $2.95, and Abe $1.00 (though they have 68 copies available at that price). When I try another $0.75 Half book, The Andromeda Strain, and mostly find the same prices, I realize that these were mainly minimum prices. Only Amazon, at $1.50, changes, while Abe now has 115 copies available for $1.00. Score two for Half.com.

Tuesdays With Morrie is another score for Half. Just $1.30. Barnes and Noble wants $1.99, Alibris $2.95, Abe $3.00, and Amazon $4.99. However, Half.com is not always the cheapest. They want $4.81 for the cheapest copy available of Pearl Buck's Good Earth. Abe has six copies for $1.00, Amazon wants $1.57, Barnes and Noble $2.96, and Alibris, as always, wants $2.95. This time, "Half.com" should be called "Twice.com."

Everything has its place. Half.com has its place. If you sell only serious books, "serious" being a synonym for "expensive," Half.com is not the place to list. I don't know if Men are from Mars or Tuesdays with Morrie will ever be collectible, but certainly not in my lifetime. This is not a site for collectible books, rare books, antiquarian books, or any other type of pricey books. It is a site for books you want to read and don't care what edition it is, who printed it, when it was printed, or whether it is in "fine" condition. In fact, for this, it is a very good site. I'm glad eBay decided to keep it alive. I hope it survives long enough to still be around when Men are from Mars is considered a collectible classic, though that will be a sad day indeed.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Leland Little, Jan. 22: The First Issue of Robert Frost's A Boy's Will, In Extremely Scarce Binding.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Knight's An Account of the Remains of the Worship of Priapus.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: First Edition of Locke's Important Treatise Some Thoughts Concerning Education.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: The Richly Illustrated First French Edition of Voyages de Corneille Le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Scarce First Issue of An Account of the Province of Carolina in America, Finely Bound and With Celebrated John Speed Map.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Humphrey's An Historical Account, Complete with Scarce Folding Maps.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: First Edition of Chamberlain's Scarce Civil War Memoir The Passing of the Armies.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: A Rare Photograph of David Bruce Brown and #48 Fiat.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: George Cruikshank (England, 1792-1878), Archive of Sketches, Notes, and Letters.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Extremely Scarce Copy of Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode), Signed by Max Pechstein.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Andy Warhol's The Thirteen Most Wanted Men Exhibition Catalogue.
    Leland Little, Jan. 22: Edward Ruscha (American, b. 1937), Every Building on the Sunset Strip.
  • RareBookBuyer.comWe Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide RareBookBuyer.comWe Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    RareBookBuyer.com
    Specialized in Purchasing
    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    RareBookBuyer.com
    Specialized in Purchasing
    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    RareBookBuyer.com
    Specialized in Purchasing
    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
    RareBookBuyer.com
    Specialized in Purchasing
    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
  • Sotheby'sSell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts Sotheby'sSell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions