Scoop, by Evelyn Waugh

Little, Brown, 1938.

As Joe says in the previous post, "Nothing says Allan quite like intriguing, unusual and tragically flawed." This book has the second and the third qualities; the only reason it doesn't have the first is because it's such a well-known title. And an unobtainable one. There is one copy of the UK edition online, which is of course preferable. It's from Harrington, who is asking nearly $6,000 for a signed copy that doesn't even have a jacket. Wow. Or maybe Whoa. Marks has a copy of the American with a serious chip in the jacket for $650. No one else is offering anything interesting at all. This is one scarce item.

Allan was asking $25 for this copy. A bargain for a genuine first edition of Waugh's imperishable classic, which is only rivaled by Brideshead for immortality. The downside? No jacket, of course. The spine of the mustard yellow boards are particularly worn, with a split at the bottom. And the jacket flaps are pasted onto the front endpapers.The rear endpapers, meanwhile, have a couple of dates written and in one case stamped on, and the corner of a pocket. Was this in a library once? There are no other signs but maybe.

It is worth $25 as a talisman. I don't know what you could do about the spine and the general wear but those endpapers could be cleaned up.

Comments

[Joe Marchione]

There is virtually nothing about the current environment surrounding bookselling that Allan would be comfortable with. The need to go all-in on-line, the re-shuffling (usually in a downward direction) of values on an almost daily basis, the dearth of dealers scouting the shop and (the other side of the same coin) the difficulty of profitably scouting other shops, most of whom probably check every even remotely intriguing title on-line before pricing it or are completely on-line already. But your description of this particular book reminds me that there is one area Allan could probably still have serviced if not thrived at on the selling side of the business. And that is the supply of ‘placekeeper’ copies to serious but economically challenged collectors.

Having been a collector of Robert Graves for many years and lacking the budget to even be able to dream of getting top notch copies of his most elusive and/or sought after titles, I became something of an expert of the not-so-fine art of settling for placekeepers. Every book on collecting will tell you the same thing. DON’T DO IT. Every time you slightly upgrade your placekeeper and try to sell the lesser copy, you learn: DON’T DO IT. Every time you try to show off your collection and the first thing your friends grab for is the 1st printing of Fairies and Fusiliers with the front board completely torn off, your are reminded: DON’T DO IT! But give me a shot at the true first printing/1st state of ‘Good-bye to All That’ in the same condition you describe this copy of Scoop! and I’m afraid I would have been all over it faster than you can say the title of Britney Spears second album. (and yes, cultural “literacy” notwithstanding, I am embarrassed that I even have the knowledge to be able to make that reference never mind the nerve to post it publicly, thanks for asking).

These challenging economic times have the potential to touch the high end but in general you do not see the kinds of plummeting values that you see in the rest of the book world. The centre may never hold but you can be pretty damn sure the top will. And it makes sense when you think about it. Barring a Madoff-like hit to the finances of many collectors (and from what I hear from East Coast dealers, the Madoff scam had a very real impact on demand at the high end), those who ‘have’ can weather difficult economic times, perhaps choosing to buy less but rarely lowering their demand for quality. They seem to understand the ‘best possible copy’ rule almost instinctively... The rest of us, having learned that much of life must be compromise, ‘settle’ every bit as instinctively.

Allan appreciated scarcity. As I’ve discussed elsewhere in this blog, a ‘common’ high spot could get a respectful nod from Allan but if you wanted to get him excited, show him something uncommon. Bonus points if its a high spot, too, but you could tell it was the scarcity that got him going. As more and more ‘average income’ collectors get hit by the economy, they become more likely to ‘settle.’ The market for flawed scarcities improves. You can’t get much for them but they will sell. Would it have been enough to keep Allan afloat, this supply of placekeepers/talismans (good word, by the way)? Probably not. But it is something as our profession slouches toward a virtual-only existence.