Books Missed, Part X

I bid on an inscribed copy of Crowds and Power, Elias Canetti's masterwork, from Bloomsbury Auctions:

146. Canetti (Elias) Crowds and Power, first English edition , inscribed "To Margaret D. Waterhouse/ in very old friendship and affection/ from Elias Canetti." ,original cloth, dust-jacket, a near fine copy, 8vo, 1962. est. £600 – £800

The book was from UK dealer Bernard Shapero, who had listed it at $2,150. This was apparently too steep a price, and he consigned it to auction. With the pound falling, a bid seemed sensible. But how much? If the bidding would open at half the reserve, or 300 pounds, I figured 500 pounds would at least attract interest. If the book fetched this, I would owe another 20 percent, plus 3 percent, plus shipping. Call it $800.

I had hope. The modern books in the auction mostly went unsold. The Brightfount Diaries -- no bid. Seventeen Aldiss books, including Hothouse, went for 140 pounds. A copy of Auden's Poems from 1930 went for $100, about the price of the box that accompanied it. So I might have had hope.

Nope. The Canetti went for 850 pounds, which means I would have had to pay about $1600, at a minimum, plus postage. Not too far from what Shapero would have sold the book to a dealer for.