What's your upper limit?

[Tango13]

For spending on a book?

I'm looking for a bit of a sanity check as I'm looking at Karl Ludvigsens' latest release on supercharged engines which is retailing at around £260!

I can afford it, Ludvigsen always writes very well so it will be very good and I can sort of justify spending that much with a bit of man maths as I don't smoke and hardly drink

I'm just looking for other opinions on how people see the price/value of books.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Unleashed-Trailblaz...

[borcy]

About 20 quid maybe 30 if it was something i really wanted which is only very occasional.
The vast majority of books I read come from charity shops or the library.

[flight147z]

Tango13 said:

For spending on a book?

I'm looking for a bit of a sanity check as I'm looking at Karl Ludvigsens' latest release on supercharged engines which is retailing at around £260!

I can afford it, Ludvigsen always writes very well so it will be very good and I can sort of justify spending that much with a bit of man maths as I don't smoke and hardly drink

I'm just looking for other opinions on how people see the price/value of books.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Unleashed-Trailblaz...

That pricing just feels like greed or the subject is so niche it relies on selling a small number of copies at very high value to make it commercially viable

[coppice]

I've spent £250 before and would do so again. People seem to expect books for nowt - I've had three published , and I probably made 5k from the first one but much less on the other two, which appeared in 2012 and 2017. Writing a book is hugely enjoyable but incredibly time consuming ,and unless you are in a tiny minority, you do it for the pelasure of seeing your book in Waterstones. Seeing something that took you 800hours to write going for the price of a
big glass of Merlot is ....err... educational

Motorsport books sell in small numbers - more than 1000 and you're doing bloody well. Karl L has spent years doing his book and certainly isnt going to get rich on it. Not that he'll need the cash, I suspect, he's had a hell of a life . His book on Colin Chapman - Inside the Innovator is superb

[Sway]

I've been bought a few fairly expensive ones as gifts, c.£2-300.

The ones I've winced over buying have been mass market paperbacks to complete my collection of the Horus Heresy series. Took a long time, but ended up not spending more than £80. It was the last ten or so that were a nightmare - single print, high demand, people know they're sought after.

[sandyfereo]

If I've buying for myself, there's now way I'm spending hundreds of dollars. I always try to get them second hand, unless it's super rare or antique book.

[knk]

I bought the anthology of Sir Don McCullin's work. It was about £759 but the remaining copies are £1250.
shop – Don McCullin https://donmccullin.com/shop/

[alfa phil]

Think the most I ve spent was £60 on Paul McCartneys lyrics. A lot to spend but worth every penny if your a fan .

[Paul Dishman]

https://www.speedyhen.com/Product/Karl-Ludvigsen/P...

Speedyhen is the place to buy it, they’re often cheaper than Amazon

[Paul Dishman]

I’ve bought a couple of books from Palawan for around £400 and a Publisher’s Edition of ‘Open Roads and Front Engines’ for a little less from an American Cancer Charity bookshop in California via Ebay.

I do like a deal though, so will happily buy from the likes of Speedyhen for the less exotic offerings.

Edited to add: But if something comes up that I really want I don’t mind paying.

Edited by Paul Dishman on Thursday 7th August 18:33

[andy_s]

I've a number of first English editions [Henry & Co] of Nietzsche, the most I paid was an eye-watering 1,400, but that seems fairly healthy as I look around today.

I was looking for a first copy of 'There is No Antimemetics Division' and saw they were all in the 200 region, then I found one for twenty quid from the States but they wouldn't ship abroad. By the time I'd got the address of an American pal it had gone. It's getting released properly later this year but 'dang nabbit' as they say.

Otherwise I start to think twice over about a hundred, my thinking is 'are these just gonna get pulped or will my kids be able to benefit later down the road...'

[732NM]

Paul Dishman said:

https://www.speedyhen.com/Product/Karl-Ludvigsen/P...

Speedyhen is the place to buy it, they’re often cheaper than Amazon

I've considered buying this book, but was put off by the initial price, that's more acceptable, thanks for the link.

The last book i bought was very technical on the fundamentals of internal combustion engines, that was £130. Technical books do tend to carry a premium because of their short run. I've bought books as far away as from New Zealand when I've been looking for something specific. Unfortunately i don't have deep pockets so my limit is usually £200ish for something special, usual is sub £100.

I really should catalogue my books, there is some valuable stuff in there now. One book i bought in 2007 was under £20 new, the autobiography of John Horsman from his life in racing including the Gulf racing program (GT40's, Mirage etc.) and is now selling for £400 new. John signed it for me at Le Mans and then gave me a copy of the race record sheet for the race winning Mirage that Derek Bell drove, which i now keep with the book. I suspect the signature dedication and race sheet from his records may add to the usual value. Sadly John is no longer with us, brilliant engineer.

[Mobile Chicane]

knk said:

I bought the anthology of Sir Don McCullin's work. It was about £759 but the remaining copies are £1250.
shop – Don McCullin https://donmccullin.com/shop/

I have a book of his photographs. I can't remember how much I paid for it, but I'm sure it was the most I've ever spent on a book.

[shirt]

Tango13 said:

For spending on a book?

I'm looking for a bit of a sanity check as I'm looking at Karl Ludvigsens' latest release on supercharged engines which is retailing at around £260!

I can afford it, Ludvigsen always writes very well so it will be very good and I can sort of justify spending that much with a bit of man maths as I don't smoke and hardly drink

I'm just looking for other opinions on how people see the price/value of books.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Unleashed-Trailblaz...

that's 3 books is it not?

at 1960 pages i at least think you'd never need to buy any other book on the topic ever again.

i've spent more than that on books, most of which were expensable thankfully. plus a few coffee table taschen's and the odd first edition.

[Mikebentley]

I’ve a copy of Bernard Viart Exploring XK140. It retails between £1000 and £3000. I think my dad paid £1400 for it and we can’t, find the damn thing. I’m sure it’s at dads, he says it’s not. I know it’s not in our house. It is a thing of beauty.

[Paul Dishman]

732NM said:

I really should catalogue my books, there is some valuable stuff in there now. One book i bought in 2007 was under £20 new, the autobiography of John Horsman from his life in racing including the Gulf racing program (GT40's, Mirage etc.) and is now selling for £400 new. John signed it for me at Le Mans and then gave me a copy of the race record sheet for the race winning Mirage that Derek Bell drove, which i now keep with the book. I suspect the signature dedication and race sheet from his records may add to the usual value. Sadly John is no longer with us, brilliant engineer.

Yes, it's always nice when you can arrange something like that. I bought John Horsman's book and Vic Elford's autobiography from Anita Elford's online shop. She had a book signing organised with John, Vic and Brian Redman signing John's book as well as having Vic sign his own book. Nice lady, we had a fun email correspondence at the time, Now sadly passed, just after Quick Vic.

I took Tony Brooks autobiography along to the Goodwood Festival of Speed a few years ago as Tony was driving the Syracuse GP Connaught up the hill. My son and I had a nice chat with the car's owner and his wife, who having ushered us past the queue of eBay autograph hunters, kindly introduced us to Tony and his wife Pina who both signed the book.

I do have a weed out now and again, passing on cheaper books to the local Oxfam book shop and trying to sell the more expensive volumes on eBay, assuming nobody else in the family wants them. Oxfam had the entire Bernard Cornwell Uhtred series from me a month or so back having decided that I wouldn't be reading them again.

[768]

If I didn't have kids I'd have bought Sled Driver by Brian Shul. Not sure it'll ever happen, but who knows.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sled-Driver-Flying-Worlds...

I'm more likely to go for Winston Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1474216315/?coliid=I34...

[coppice]

I came to the conclusion that of the scores of motor racing and automobile books I have , many of them review copies, I am very unlikley to open them again , let alone reread them . So my OH has been selling them for me , mainly on Ebay , and the proceeds have gone to a donkey charity we support . And that makes me -not to mention the donks - much happier thanmy keeping books for the sake of it .

Some I will keep - including everything about Lauda, Gordon Murray's book, and those of Russell Bulgin, Tom Karen , Sam Posey , David E Davis and Pete Lyons

[Derek Smith]

coppice said:

I came to the conclusion that of the scores of motor racing and automobile books I have , many of them review copies, I am very unlikley to open them again , let alone reread them . So my OH has been selling them for me , mainly on Ebay , and the proceeds have gone to a donkey charity we support . And that makes me -not to mention the donks - much happier thanmy keeping books for the sake of it .

Some I will keep - including everything about Lauda, Gordon Murray's book, and those of Russell Bulgin, Tom Karen , Sam Posey , David E Davis and Pete Lyons

I have a lot of books on motoring, all nicely arranged in alphabetical order by subject - manufacturer, motor racing, history, that sort of thing, and each subject arranged alphabetically by author. It gives my grandkids something to laugh about. I rarely reread them more than once and recently pulled out one which I had to dust before my wife allowed it in the living room. She gave me one of her looks, just raised eyebrows and a tilt of the head, but it was quite shocking. I've decided to sell some of them, as self-protection. I've got a few on MG and will probably give those to a local 'chapter' of the MG Owners' Club.

On one shelf of my bookcase, the books cost over £600. The most expensive one has £75 on the dustcover, but I got it slightly cheaper. This was back in the late 90s.

It's a hard decision to make. Even after concluding I will sell one or two/a few/lots/most, the even harder decision of which individual book to sell rears its head. My wife suggested the dustiest. On the positive side, I won't give money to a donkey sanctuary so will have cash to spend on new books. I dread the time when I will think of a book, go to take it from the shelf, and find it gone.

I've never sold anything on eBay. Time to learn how.

Edited by Derek Smith on Tuesday 19th August 08:53

[Turtle Shed]

I've got three books signed (and certified) by men who walked on the moon. Dave Scott, Eugene Cernan and Charlie Duke.

The Eugene Cernan one was the most expensive at £200 (Marketing the Moon), but he only signed 200 of them, and it is also signed by the author.