There are a number of elements to successful book collecting. This score can be chalked up to persistence and luck.
Above is my copy of Philip, Donald Westlake’s only children’s book and among the rarest, possibly the rarest, of all of his titles. The cheapest copy I can find, one in slightly lesser condition than this one (which is in quite nice shape other than library markings and missing the dust jacket) goes for $150. They go up quickly, and copies with dust jacket are listed at $1500. I got this for $8.95, postage paid.
My guess is that the seller didn’t make the connection that “D. E. Westlake” was Donald E. Westlake, and figured it for just an unremarkable children’s book from the 1960s. So after years of searching using the title “Philip” and author “Westlake” (realizing that a copy not listed as by Donald was my best bet for an affordable copy), I finally got a hit, and finally got a copy.
I’ll have more on Philip at a later date. I wrote this post solely to brag.
- Philip at Donald Westlake’s official site
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Coup de main, Trent! I think this beats all, in the field of Westlake collection mania.
I got my copy of Comfort Station in what I suspect were similar circumstances–see, as a joke, ten separate printings are listed opposite the title page–without dates–the joke being that this is a parody of a very bad author who sold untold millions of books. A tenth printing of any book is rarely any kind of collectible.
And, of course, the book is credited to the unknown (but vibrant!) J. Morgan Cunningham, not Westlake (though he does comment on the cover that he wishes he’d written this book).
So I got my water-damaged but fairly tight paperback quite cheaply, thanks to a tip from an ebay-addicted friend. Most likely because, as you say, certain connections had not been made by the seller.
But Philip, even without the jacket, is a coup of a higher order. It was never sold in stores. It was distributed directly to school and public libraries. Most likely, this or that small library unloaded part or all of its collection, and this guy snapped up a large consignment, and started selling it off. If it had been a collector’s copy, he/she would have known better.
I’m happy enough having it stored on my gmail account, having borrowed a copy from an out-of-state library. But I sure as hell would have snapped it up for that price, or even ten times that. I question whether the ones listed for exhorbitant prices ever sell, but who knows.
To crime! (And dirt!)