iskra: Maybe this will sway your opinion of "book collecting"?
Some decades ago I was minding my own business walking my wife down the street of Seattles Chinatown one early evening - but what do I spy in a book store window but an ultra-rare and ultra-beautiful "Jack O'Connor" book - it was the Derrydale Press's limited edition (#238 of 950 original copies) 1939 printing of "Game In The Desert"!
This book is beautifully bound in simulated green snake skin and is signed with a dedication BY Jack O'Connor to his friend "Olive". And it is also signed by the illustrator T.J. Harter.
The asking price was $75.00 and I paid $60.00 cash for it and then put off our Chinese dinner to get that treasure home safely!
Some years later I turned down a $750.00 cash offer for that book!
Over the decades I have bought and sold MANY outdoor related books - and ALL of them, I sold for a profit!
A quick word of advice - DO NOT sell book collecting short. "Profit" is free money, but still valuable money, in my experiences.
When Roger Rules wonderful book, The Riflemans Rifle" came out I had to order 10 copies of it from the distributor to get my dealer discount and that 10 volume order qualified me to be able to buy ONE of the "Limited Edition" (#118 of 500) Deluxe leather bound and slip cased copies of the Riflemans Rifle.
The "profit" I eventually made on the selling of 8 of the 11 books I originally bought MORE than paid for my complete initial investment!
I still have the Deluxe Limited Edition (valued now well in excess of $500.00) and two of the first edition Rifleman's Rifle copies (now valued at $300.00 apiece) - one I use and one that is just gaining in value.
DO NOT, dismiss, the money to be made in "book collecting"!
Long live "The Rifleman's Rifle".
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
