|
|
Post by dem bones on Jun 24, 2009 17:58:57 GMT
finally got around to giving the important looking bloke in the local charity shop for the homeless a mild grilling about their policy toward beat up old paperbacks. now, i love charity shops and those who work in them - the volunteers, in particular, are worthy of nothing but admiration - but what he had to say was so the opposite of reassuring, i've been depressed about it all afternoon.
the gist of it.
Q. you must get a fair number of old paperbacks donated in less than immaculate condition. what happens to them?
A. oh, we sell them.
Q. really? it's just that all the books on the shelves look so pristine, and most of them seem to be fairly recent.
A. we don't sell them in the shop. we sell them in bulk to a recycling company.
now, imagine this policy being repeated up and down the country and you can see how all those Wheatley, GNS, Masterton, Confessions ..., James Hadley Chase, etc., virtually all popular paperbacks went from being fixtures at every such place to really difficult to find virtually overnight. You don't even get to see Mills & Boons these days. Admittedly there are storage considerations to take into account but, not only is this policy just plain wrong on every level, i can't help thinking they'd make more money out of selling them individually than selling them as scrap?
or am i talking out of my arse as per? and what's the situation in your neck of the woods?
|
|
|
|
Post by killercrab on Jun 24, 2009 18:14:42 GMT
Reminds me of the policy of junking old tv shows back in the 1970's - *now* they are worth their weight in gold - well some anyway! It's been pretty obvious to me that charity shops ( especially the really trademark ones) don't carry old books. Sometimes there's a wire basket with 25p written on it where you might find something worth a damn. Far more reliable are secondhand book shops. I certainly try and rescue books from chazzers if I run across any - even to pass onto other bookaddicts. I think that basically charity shops are going more upmarket which is one reason the old books ain't there anymore plus the nostalgia market is getting bigger and bigger and stuff gets snapped up fast for resale on Ebay or collections. It's war - don't hand out your sources!  KC |
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on Jun 24, 2009 18:33:59 GMT
I don't think things are quite that bad up here, but I think space must be an issue - and if they have to get rid of something then they are calculating (rightly or wrongly) that they will make more from nice, clean, recent, still-got-the-"Richard & Judy recommends"-sticker paperbacks than the stuff that we want to see. I know that some of the savvier charity shops round here will routinely check internet prices for old vinyl and price them just 10% or so under the going rate - I doubt if they have even considered that there could be a similar market for old paperbacks.
|
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Jun 24, 2009 21:15:16 GMT
A. we don't sell them in the shop. we sell them in bulk to a recycling company. Ashes to ashes, pulp to pulp. It's a depressing situation and no mistake. I can see their reasoning, as inherently 'wrong' as it may be - it's all about money at the end of the day. But it's still a modern day tragedy to my mind. Credit where it's due, our local Oxfam still keeps a small horror section where, alongside the usual names, you'll occasionally find the odd Hamlyn nasty or the Umpteenth Pan Book of Horror. And they have cottoned on to the idea that some old paperbacks are now 'collectables' and started setting a few selected items aside but ask silly money for them, presumably having looked on Abebooks or somewhere similar. The thing is of course, as mentioned in another recent thread, that just because someone's asking £85 for a copy of Werewolf By Moonlight or whatever, it doesn't mean anybody's necessarily willing to pay that sort of money so effectively those books are being kept out of circulation too. Still, at least they're not getting unceremoniously 'recycled'. Ade has talked about 'rescuing' these old books and I think it really has come to that now. I had been trying to cut down on the number of old paperbacks I've been buying, partly because I was skint and partly for reasons of space, and not picking up anything unless I thought there was a good chance I'd actually get around to reading it at some unspecified time in the future. Now though I think the situation is getting so desperate that if I see a scruffy looking old paperback I'll pick it up in the hope that even if I can't give it a good home then maybe somebody else can one day. After all, if us sad old gets don't preserve these little treasures then who else is going to? We are the Keepers of the Trash. Can you imagine our grandchildren growing up and never having the chance to read Dracula and the Virgins of the Undead? Doesn't bear thinking about. |
|
|
|
Post by killercrab on Jun 25, 2009 1:32:15 GMT
Now though I think the situation is getting so desperate that if I see a scruffy looking old paperback I'll pick it up in the hope that even if I can't give it a good home then maybe somebody else can one day. After all, if us sad old gets don't preserve these little treasures then who else is going to? We are the Keepers of the Trash. >> To my discredit I have many times left anthologies behind because that's not what I collect unless they have a particularly enticing cover like these:  Keepers of the Trash - like it.  A
|
|
|
|
Post by vaughan on Jun 25, 2009 8:46:06 GMT
Actually, this is very VERY depressing. I sometimes donate things to the charity shops, but when it comes to books it really is in the expectation that someone will buy them to READ - I'd never want them pulped!
Can anyone provide email addresses for the charities in question? I'd certainly email them to protest this practice. Frankly, I'd rather they dump all the rubbish they shelve and give space over to the old stuff. As it is they're trying to compete with Borders, Waterstones, and WH Smith!!!
We need a campaign....
|
|
|
|
Post by bushwick on Jun 25, 2009 10:16:24 GMT
We've talked about this tragic state of affairs before, but now things are getting more and more pertinent. Chain charity shops pulping policies mean I may never now own a full set of 'Edge' novels, or a Pan 30, or even just the strange forgotten wonders that keep popping up on here.
On the one hand, thank God for amazon, although the postage is a killer, it takes the fun out of it and certain vendors try silly prices.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's a CULTURE CRIME. Old movies are restored, rightfully so, and kept in libraries and places like the Media Museum in Bradford. When a paperback dies, it dies, never to be seen again. Once they've all rotted/been thrown away/pulped, and let's say the original author's dead, and was a boozy type who didn't look after his stuff, the manuscript has gone - that book has DISAPPEARED FOR EVER.
Film's different - video copies exist, and one positive thing that can be said for internet piracy is that it keeps disregarded/obscure/unloved films alive. The duplication process keeps the work alive.
When I started coming on here, my tastes were confined to straight horror, of a certain type. Now I find myself buying any knackered crappy old paperback, almost regardless of genre, just to give the thing a home.
If we are KEEPERS OF THE TRASH, then is it our responsibility to scan the covers and content of every book we own and archive them on hard drives? It's an arduous, painful task, but if you really think about it, it's probably what we should do.
(Side note: quite a few rare comics are kept alive on the web in the form of scans - same problems apply with comics regarding pulping/disposal etc - although it doesn't take as long to scan a comic...)
edit: Am I right in thinking the British Library archives one copy of every published book? Is this true, or did it used to be? Where have I got this from?
|
|
|
|
Post by marksamuels on Jun 25, 2009 10:34:24 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 25, 2009 10:44:36 GMT
Yes its been discussed. The demise of the seedy bookshop in favour of the charity equivalent - some of whom give peanuts to the charity.
It really hurts me. I saw a lot of good solid bookshops go down the swaney and their good taste in books and their book dealing skills went with them. In Stockbridge Edinburgh there are about 8 charity shops all displacing real businesses; one is a dedicated charity book shop with that shelf marked 'old and interesting' which I would happily rename 'dull, over priced and valueless'.
It usually takes me four seconds in a charity shop to scan the first shelf, realise that its all clean mainstream paperbacks - then I can bugger off. It' a sad state of affairs when the grubby paperback you seek has been trashed before you get a chance to make an offer.
|
|
|
|
Post by bushwick on Jun 25, 2009 10:59:54 GMT
Cheers for the link Mark, never thought of looking on there. They have a big selection of George G Gilman as well, although tellingly they don't seem to have the later, rarer ones. ...just tried a few searches. No listings for 'John Halkin', for example. Obviously there will be a lot of stuff lacking, but it's something I guess. |
|
|
|
Post by carolinec on Jun 25, 2009 11:16:14 GMT
My old brain is letting me down here as I can't remember the details, but a few weeks ago I saw a news report on TV about some place (much like Lulu or Biddles I guess?) where you can print out just one book on demand from a selection of old/lost/missing books (I guess ones from the British Library?). Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the place or company involved to be able to google it to get any info for you! Maybe someone has a better memory than I do? (I expect you all do!) Or perhaps a trawl through BBC news online might find the piece? I definitely saw it on the BBC News at Ten, I know that for a fact! If anything more useful pops into my mind, I'll let you know ...  |
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jun 25, 2009 13:08:27 GMT
When I started coming on here, my tastes were confined to straight horror, of a certain type. Now I find myself buying any knackered crappy old paperback, almost regardless of genre, just to give the thing a home. Exactly the same story. Pre-vault it was strictly horror, the only proviso being there was a fair chance i'd get around to reading it at some unspecified date. Then, once i had contact with other people of similar interests, it was getting spare copies and stuff that might not appeal to me, but would them. Now it's anything, regardless of genre, that looks like it needs saving (admittedly covers play a big part in the less than perfect selection process but, fuck it, it's another one saved from a pulping). Scanning publications: admittedly, my scanner is a bottom of the range job from Argos, but the word recognition software is hopeless. i only use it to crib the back cover blurbs now, and the results are usually such a mess i end up retyping them anyway. Even if i had the time, i sure as hell don't have to patience to do that with short stories, let alone novels. Fair play to those who have as that is some level of commitment. If there is cause for optimism it's the Penny Dreadfuls. Entire runs of these flimsy proto-pulps have survived 150 years, which is incredible given that we've had two world wars and much other destruction in that time. And KEEPERS OF THE TRASH are everywhere, be it Project Gutenberg, Wordsworth Editions, the contributors to the Bear Alley's and Groovy Age Of Horrors' of this world, the tiny cells like this one. i guess i'm just gonna be more selective with what i dump on the charity shop from now on. |
|
|
|
Post by vaughan on Jun 25, 2009 15:20:11 GMT
You don't need word recognition software (though ideally it'd be great). All you need is an image of the page, which can be stored in PDF format. That would at least preserve things.
Mind you, some of your collections are probably huge (I'm only just starting out) and to call the task arduous would be understatement.
|
|
|
|
Post by jamesdoig on Jun 27, 2009 23:52:59 GMT
One of the good things about Canberra is the Lifeline book fair. It's the biggest charity bookfair in Australia and it's run twice a year - March and September. Right now they're putting on a mini bookfair to get rid of the overflow. It looks like a long-time sci-fi fan died and gave his collection of '50s and '60s paperbacks to Lifeline. I've picked up about 200 paperbacks! Ace, Dell, Berkley, Panther, Digit, Galaxy, Mayflower, Four Square etc etc. Had to leave a lot there 'cause I was feeling guily about wasting money - still they were cheap at 1 or 2 dollars each. The thing about them is their condition - most of them look like they've never been read. They also had a bunch of horror hidden away in sf and fantasy. The horror section itself was pretty ordinary - King, Koontz et al and nothing before about 1990. Anyway, here's a selection of the decent scary stuff I found: John Lymington again - I must reassess this guy, seems that he wrote a fair bit of sf horror. The Grey Ones (Corgi 1962)  Peter Saxon, God help me (Mayflower 1966). I'd swear this hasn't been read!  More Panther horror, The Black Druid 1975.  The Valley of the Worm (1976).  The Dark Man 1978  The Purple Cloud, Paperback Library 1966  Another one of these, Panther 1969  King in Yellow, Ace no date, but M-132. I must have at least 2 other editions of this in Ace.  Like this one, though someone's put sticky tape on the edge. Daw, 1976.  |
|
|
|
Post by vaughan on Jun 28, 2009 2:01:00 GMT
I just picked up three Lymington books, but the one I really wanted - Night of the Big Heat - wasn't around. That's such a wonderfully silly movie, you've got to love it!
Anyway, I did get: The Giant Stumbles, The Grey Ones, and The Coming of Strangers. They all appeared to be of a 50's Sci-fi bent (movie wise, I mean)
My cover of The Grey Ones is different though (it's grey for a start! --LOL--) It's a Macfadden book dated 1970....
|
|
