Had to choose between a 50 cent hardback and a $3 paperback of the same book

At the library sale last Saturday I found two copies of this old sci fi novel. One was a beat up hardback with a torn dust jacket, 50 cents. The other was a clean paperback with the cool old cover art, 3 bucks. I went with the paperback because I read on the bus and hardbacks are too heavy. Turned out the paperback was a first printing and the hardback was a book club edition. Sold the paperback online for 40 bucks. Kicking myself for not grabbing both, but the bus ride was way easier.

2 comments

2 Comments

gibson.sean1mo ago

Funny how the stuff you grab for convenience ends up being the thing you least expect to matter. I've noticed that pattern everywhere, like when you pick the cheaper option at a store and it turns out to be the rare variant, or when you skip the fancy packaging and find out the plain one is what collectors want. Makes you wonder how many little decisions we make every day are actually hiding way more value than we give them credit for.

joseph_hart1mo ago

Yeah my whole life is basically a pile of stuff I grabbed for convenience that turned out to be junk.