Philatelic Books On Ebay This Week.

I have quite a few Philatelic books that I will be selling in the next few weeks. I know I should sell them at Fixed price but my wife wants her shelves back so I am listing them at auction. There probably will be some bargains:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Experts...62391502959?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/How-to-Dete...62391502867?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pat-Paragra...62390272139?

If folks are interested I could do a list of what I have available.

Thanks for looking.

Ken

Ken

Be interested to see how you do. My experience with ebay book-selling has been pretty disappointing. This may be because (a) the fact that people look for books differently to the way in which they look for collectables and (b) postage cost is a deterrent to buying. I can offer free postage on cigarette cards or other printed ephemera. But most books cost £2.85 to post, which I have to recover from the buyer. I suspect that a BIN offer works better, but that's yet another cost, and the junk hangs around the house.

Geoff

Both of Paul's books are out of print. That said, there are both now available in PDF format but there are still folks who prefer having a hard copy. The Expert's book being bid up to $40 reflects pretty strong interest.
Don

I have hard copies of both of Paul Schmid's books. I especially refer to the "Expert's" book the most.

Jack Kelley

Curious about the "pat paragraph" book. What's it about? (Topic wise?, main focus?) Are there pictures?

What is the reason/problem in your difficulties with USPS going to Canada ? Thanks - this seems a common thing -

My default shipping is to US, Canada and Australia because I don't have trouble with those countries. I am starting to move away from International shipping because of constant complaints about shipping costs. I am shipping the books to US only because Media mail is available and fairly inexpensive. I would have to use 1st class package to Canada and a 2 LB book would cost $15 and I thought people would think that was too much.

rgstamp, the book has a bunch of interesting articles in it with the main emphasis on the first three US stamp issues. It was published by the Bureau Issues Association.


Peter

I don't believe that the majority of stamp collectors buy books apart from a catalogue or two, they'd much rather spend their money on stamps.

My wife is involved with digital record-keeping & argues that the book is on the way out but I feel more comfortable with a cuppa, biscuit & book than with a tablet. Having said that, it's much easier going to a stamp show with a complete set of Michel & Scott catalogues on my tablet than with the case I used to carry.

Collectors who spend 100% of their stamp budget on stamps are short-changing themselves. They would be better off in the long run to divert 10-15% of their stamp budget to books and society memberships. There is so much information in the specialty monographs, auction catalogs, and society journals which goes far beyond the catalogs of Scott, Michel, Gibbons, etc. Knowledge is power. Books are not on their way out.

I second what John Becker says. I have a large bookcase of philatelic literature. Catalogs, yes, but also handbooks, monographs and runs of journals.

Peter, thanks for info on the book

Agree with John. I spend my life with a mobile phone in hand, iMacs surrounding me, Amazon echos, kid iPads on the couch...I think all these devices actually make me stupid. .A real book in my hand, especially an older one, just feels right. I still think the scientists from the 19th and 20th century were intellectually superior to the scientists of today. The computers are smarter but the people running them are losing their intellectual abilities.

I spent 30 minutes looking at this book, I intended to just remind myself of it's content and then I started reading the articles. Elliot Perry started Pats Paragraphs in 1931 and published 57 issues over the next 27 years. These issues are included in this 644 page book. It focuses on the 1st 3 issues with distribution data and much more but it also includes locals, revenues, postmarks and a lot more information. Mr Perry definitely wrote with attitude and expressed his disdain for investors several times as well as presented humor, comments on current events including scandals and a lot more. I found it difficult to use as a reference because of the index but you could sit down and read it and gain much insight into the stamp collecting world in the 1930 & 40s.