Part of the allure of book collecting is the possiblility that within every pile of worthless remainder copies there may be a hidden a real gem - a first edition that is destined to sky-rocket in price or, for whatever reason, one that will be highly sought after by collectors in the future.
I think this way everytime I sift through a sales table at a bookstore or the stock of a charity or garage sale. Most times, I come away empty handed. But even the smallest find can make one feel pretty good.
For instance, the other day I happened to drop by a book sale held by the city library. Now generally, library books sales are very rich in quantity, with scores of tables brimming with books. However, since most of these books are heavily used ex-library copies, stamped and taped up enough to make even the most desirable 1st edition completely worthless, the quality is usually so low that it's barely worth attending.
However, sometimes private citizens donate their own books and these often are just saved in storage by the library, before being put directly into their semi-annual sales to raise funds. So, when I go to these sales, I'm only scanning the tables for these. At a $1 or $2 per copy, it's a very good way to get some good reading copies, at least.
At this particular sale, I got especially lucky. There, in the middle of a large table of library copies, was a clean Canadian 1st edition of Anne Tyler's "The Accidental Tourist"! Now, this is only a $15 book, but its been one on my "list" for a while and I let out a small "whoop" as I discovered it and felt pretty smart once I purchased it for only a loonie.
The internet, for all its convenience and selection, generally doesn't produce a lot of these kind of moments.
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