Patrick O'Brian makes tidy profit on eBay UK

Someone was selling a fair selection of the O'Brian series on eBay last night, including most of the elusive later ones. Anyone with spare copies might be tempted with the prices realised. I was only watching three that I don't have, but the prices were as follows:

The Yellow Admiral £80.88
Blue at the Mizzen £70.88

and, wait for it ...

The Hundred Days £227.00

Plus postage! I won't be adding to my O'Brian collection in the immediate future.

Ouch! I'm missing the last 2 as they went OOP before I had a chance to get them. I can live with that at those prices.

I just bought two of these (Thirteen Gun Salute and Letter of Marque) from a roadside bookstall in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago for A$25 (£13) each.
Was happy at the time, even happier after reading the prices above.

Two bidders slugging it out over The Hundred Days, with no other bids above £29... I think if I did have a sealed copy and wanted to turn a profit I'd try offering it at say £150/£200 buy-it-now rather than hope for a second auction to race well into three-figure territory. Still surprising that that one did when the books were all available new for quite some time.

>3 wcarter: I just bought two of these (Thirteen Gun Salute and Letter of Marque) from a roadside bookstall in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago for A$25 (£13) each.

I'd be delighted with those prices. I would be happy enough to pay around the original Folio selling price but the bidders on those auctions were away in the realms of fantasy. Good news for the seller, of course ...

>4 terebinth: Still surprising that that one did when the books were all available new for quite some time.

Indeed they were. I missed out on five of the series through prevarication (and having other Folios to buy) which I deeply regret, but no intention of filling the gaps at any price. Patience is the key.

The set wasn't particularly cheap even from the FS. I bought the entire set over time and mostly on sale directly from the FS for an average price of around $50 including postage with a low of $30 and a high of $61. I guess those prices are looking better now but still that's $1000 for the set.

And even so, secondhand complete sets are going for $2000 already.

I wasn't aware that some of these books were going for a premium on the second hand market. I am pleased that FS produced this large series for us, in addition to the wonderul Fairy books. Good job Folio Society!

I'm just pleased I completed the set before the later volumes went OOP. It was not something I foresaw, just fortunate I was able to combine discounts and could purchase them even before they came up in my reading queue. It would have been exceedingly disappointing to find out my last few needed volumes were unavailable!

I wonder if FS has plans to re-issue, or if copyright / licensing obstacles are in the way.

I just bought a sealed copy of the desert war trilogy off EBay for 65$ woohoo

>10 elenchus: I enquired when they went OOP & Folio said 'not over the next year or so but it's not been ruled out for the future', so I'm not jumping at the high prices right now. I can wait it out and see.

>12 klarusu:
I suppose if one has yet to read them all, one could pace their reading, hoping that that last few are back in print before needed.

But if I had 18 of the 20 books, I would have to complete it someday, somehow.

For those of you who may be wondering, here is the full set:-



And in chronological order:-
Master and Commander
Post Captain
HMS Surprise
The Mauritius Command
Desolation Island
The Fortune of War
Surgeon’s Mate
The Ionian Mission
Treason’s Harbour
The Far Side of the World
The Reverse of the Medal
The Letter of Marque
The Thirteen Gun Salute
The Nutmeg of Consolation
Clarissa Oakes
The Wine-Dark Sea
The Commodore
The Yellow Admiral
The Hundred Days
Blue at the Mizzen

Eleven of them are still available from the FS.
http://www.foliosociety.com/category/9274

>13 sdawson: That's exactly the position I'm in. At some point, if they don't reprint, I shall have to acquire them but right now, I can play the waiting game.

>14 wcarter:

Warwick. Back to the tarmacadam http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/motoring/audi-nissan-mazda-and-genesis-unve...

>16 LesMiserables:
Thanks Stephen, but they are not my first love - Jaguars.
(For others, lesMis knows that I collect cars as well as books).

I had been slowly picking them up. Then this summer, I received the catalog informing me that the later ones were now low in stock. I immediately went to place an order to finish off my collection, only to discover that by the time the catalog had reached me, the final three had already gone out of print. My almost-but-not-quite-complete set has been driving me crazy now.

Writing from experience here ... the last few of the series are not worth reading let alone buying.

But once you've gone that far, can you possibly not find out for yourself?!

Well, you're a stronger reader than I, Gunga Din. I shall have to find out for myself, one way or 'tother.

I'd like to hear views on the point at which the quality drops off. (I have only the first five.). Thank you.

I think the first five are easily the strongest, but that all are worth reading.

I bought the entire series in one go and to justify the cost I read the entire series near enough back to back soon after they arrived. For me The Wine Dark Sea, the 16th volume, was the last memorable one, I can barely remember anything of note of the last 4 books aside from the last page of Blue at the Mizzen, the last in the series. I still agree with gmacaree that all are worth reading, especially back to back if you can!

Glad I finished this series off last year. I also noticed the message in the mailings that a few of the last books were low on stock which helped me make up my mind. It seems to me like they would be more likely to reprint the later books in the series than the earlier, since the first ones would have probably already been printed more times than the latter during the time that the entire series was in print.

>24 Arknight:

I wonder: there are only a certain number out there of the early volumes in the series, and there must be little if any hope of selling copies of the later ones except to the relatively few people seeking to complete their sets. I'm sure many folk will have bought the first book, or a few early ones, and decided not to proceed any further. Personally I'll be surprised if any of the series are reprinted now unless by way of making the whole 20 available again: but, outside the ranks of diehard Folio enthusiasts and specialist dealers, there'll not be many folk ready to ascribe any special monetary value to the elusive volumes, and opportunities to buy them at modest prices should come the way of the patient.

O'Brian does seem to have worked out very well for the FS so far, without their having had to offer any of the deep discounts that I remember being used to clear the decks of remaining volumes of their Trollope set. for instance.

>25 terebinth: ". . . and opportunities to buy them at modest prices should come the way of the patient."

Adjective or noun . . . ?!!!

>26 boldface:

Is this a cryptic reference to the Eagles Street nurse?

>26 boldface:

I hadn't intended the ambiguity, but won't deny it promptly presented itself to my mind and didn't seem inapposite here. The patient patient may be rewarded.

>25 terebinth: The first four books had fairly large discounts (cost me $30 each including shipping) in order to hook you.

>29 kdweber:

Thanks, I'd forgotten that, if the discounts were more than the 20% which was fairly general at the time for books announced other than in the prospectus for a new Folio year. And I was hooked by a later offer, the first four titles free as a "set" on the purchase of any four other books at full price in 2012's Big Set Sale.

>30 terebinth:

Ah, I had forgotten that, but yes, that is why I re-started my FS membership.

Well the offer paid off for FS, as I have remained a member, completed the O'Brian series, the Fairy series, and over a hundred books in all since that time.

-Shawn

I'd like to have been there to bid last year http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/john-taylors-auction-rooms/...

I have the set and although I agree that the wonderful descriptions of the intensity of battle scenes diminishes after about book 5, I think that that other qualities come through later. I have nearly finished the penultimate, The Hundred Days and, in my opinion, O'Brian's later writing reflects beautifully and subtly the poignancy of ageing and loss and compensates for other changes in his style.

Browsing the PBFA site last evening for details of the forthcoming Oxford Fair, I came across this complete collection for sale: http://www.pbfa.org/books/d/the-aubrey-maturin-series/120908

>34 HuxleyTheCat: Oh, NO - another bookselling website to follow ;-) ...

>34 HuxleyTheCat: I see one of the sellers there is offering a Folio LE Hobbit for £175, 'VG in fine slipcase', if there are any FSD Tolkien fans on the lookout for one: the cheapest on abe is £350!

Just seen this on ebay that may be of interest:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PATRIC-O-BRIAN-by-Folio-Society-20vol-complete-fantast...

>37 leemeadowcroft: Just seen this on ebay

Looks good, but at £40 a volume plus £71 p&p you'd have to be keen. About twice as keen as I am, apparently.

>38 folio_books:

But I assume the price includes the generous coating of dust on the top of the slipcases.

>39 boldface: But I assume the price includes the generous coating of dust on the top of the slipcases.

I assumed the dust was what was pushing the p&p to astronomic heights.

>41 EclecticIndulgence: Do you fancy a copy of the Disappearing Dictionary? :)

I am missing 6 of the series. Like others, I am not concerned with going toe-to-toe on eBay and paying a ridiculous amount for a book that FS is almost certainly going to reprint (although I do understand the urge when you just have one - one! - book missing from the entire 20 book run, and the empty space is driving you batty).

I did toy with buying the entire collection, but the sheer amount, shipping costs, and currency conversion rates (thanks, Canadian dollar) have scuppered that idea. Plus my way I have the thrill of the chase: something Aubrey would heartily approve of.

The rapid fire sales of the O'Brians last time around makes a reprint almost a certainty. Won't be for a while, though. I'll keep my powder dry until the opportune moment, and then I will pounce.

It's a bit rich being red flagged for my post when at least three others in this topic actually posted links to auctions/sales. I'm not a business, just selling a book I thought someone here might be interested in - and I'm not trying to rip anyone off it was offered at a starting price less than what I paid for it.

For the record, I found your post appropriate to the thread and in line with the terms of service, and counter-flagged.

.. as you know, it`s about culture. Don`t take it personal. Some have stayed here for ages, formed relations, some new "faces" have come and gone (mostly gone and probably mostly also because it may be hard to find a place in here amongst the veterans .. or they don`t want it strong enough)

Mostly, the veterans do not like if one should spam the tread, but they could, hey - even i am starting to become a veteran. So, as much as, stay on topic, the off topic is often not very interesting, but to the selected few that is having the dialog.

There are very few that sell books openly in here. But, some very few do. As this is a Folio Society forum, it would be natural to also deal in books. There are `what are you reading` treads, etc, so if there was a `buy/sell tread`, it would at least be put in a system. Anyway, to set up a tread like that would need some kind of voting system (i`m not joking) ;)

In my own opinion, i don`t care that much, but i can see why selling books inside tread topics would be seen as irritating. Much more also if it was not in a relevant tread of any kind. That`s spam.

The Folio Scoiety forum, is probably much alike the freemasons, but if you see past all of that, it really is a nice place to be - especially if you like the Folio Society .. much enabling going on

Step by step, from stable boy to king .. the road is open for you and you learn the culture along the way

So, brush it off and clean the stable (a joke, i`m sorry) Welcome >45 djwh1: from a positive view, it can only go up from here, hehe

Hey, whatever. I love Folio books, have done for a very long time. I thought that someone here might appreciate knowing that a copy of Reverse of the Medal was available - as it happens I need the last three and I regularly trawl the internet in search of them, but agree with the general gist of the thread and certainly wouldn't pay the stupid prices discussed.
I guess different things bring people to this forum, and others like it - clearly in the view of some here my reason wasn't valid/acceptable (you know what I mean, just insert your own adjective and don't fixate). I really can't be bothered with the self appointed forum warriors though, so pat yourselves on the back I'm obviously not 'strong enough'. You'll be pleased to know I've deleted the post and I won't be back. Thanks for the welcome.

I have been given a complete set of 20 novels which are in excellent condition. Can anyone advise as to what sort of price would be a fair one to ask for the set?

>50 Duncan20:

I think if I were determined to sell my own set complete I would hope for something like £600-£700: I'll be interested in how other members' guesses will differ. Very probably you would get a better return from listing the books individually on eBay. It would take quite a stroke of luck to find a buyer new to the Folio editions of O'Brian yet committed enough to pay a good price for all of them at once: but there must be numerous folk looking eventually to complete their existing collections, and lively competition over certain volumes would I think more than compensate you for some of the others selling very cheaply. With the books all being recent, and in most cases well looked after by their owners, I doubt there's a premium to be had yet for the more or less uniform condition of a complete set owned from new.

Thanks for that helpful advice, most appreciated.

>50 Duncan20: There is currently only one complete set for sale on eBay - $3250 US. This price seem ridiculously high. The set cost ~$1000 US new from the Folio Society. The £600-£700 mentioned by terebinth sounds rather low to me but I've never sold a book. The latter novels have been selling for quite a bit on the second hand market but as terebinth also noted it's more difficult to find buyers with the resources to buy the entire set at once.

>53 kdweber: The set cost ~$1000 US new from the Folio Society.
"Would cost if all the volumes were available". Last time I checked, at least one was sold out. Which makes the comparison invalid :)

>54 AnnieMod: I believe "cost" is past tense and "costs" would be present tense. Yes, I think only 8 volumes are still currently available from the FS.

My point is that it does not matter how much you could have paid yesterday - if you did not, today the price may be a lot higher. Comparing the price directly from Folio to what is available now just does not make sense. :)

For FS Aubrey-Maturin hunters the Oxfam website has listed all the later titles, fine volumes without slipcases. Prices up to £80.

>57 cronshaw: And they won't ship any of them to Australia. I tried.

>57 cronshaw: I think that ship has sailed and all but the first few in the series sold out.

By the way, I don't know if this would help, but I sent out a well written and heartfelt email to the Folio Society about reprinting the Rainbow Fairy Tales by Andrew Lang. It is well deserved and about time as there is enough demand for these books. Many like me are trying to complete their sets and new faces here would welcome a reprint. But most importantly, children would love reading these books and it seems just awful that they've become stupidly expensive and out of reach of many.

This idea of sending emails asking the Folio Society could be used for the Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin, if we all took out time and sent one to customer service. Forcing the hand a bit, eh?

God I wish they would reprint these, though I'm not holding my breath.

>57 cronshaw: Most of the later titles were quickly snapped up, even in a naked, slip-free state. Just goes to show how sought-after this series is.

>60 jswift81: I suspect that part of the hesitancy is that they cannot just reprint the later titles, now that the early ones are also out of print - and especially the first 5 won’t sell at almost any price reliably if they start from 1. Not reprinting the first will turn away any new collectors; there won’t be enough new collectors that won’t prefer a cheaper copy from the secondary market. Catch 21. So I really doubt that they would reprint. :( As much as I wish I am wrong - that’s the risk of printing long connected series.

>59 ironjaw: “… there is enough demand for these books.”

Is there really, though? I think that we obsessives are often at risk of confusing a numerically limited demand from extreme collectors with a commercially significant demand from customers at large. If they reprint these books, once those (few dozen maybe; few hundred at best) FSDs and Facebook group members who are desperate to complete their sets buy their copies, what are they going to do with the several thousand other copies they’ve had to print to justify the run?

>62 AnnieMod: Yeah, I totally get it. It just sucks. However, I will note that it looks like they are setting themselves up for a similar situation with the Sharpe series, which is interesting. I think there's a decent chance that an additional printing of Aubrey-Maturin would draw at least as much demand, if not more. I could be wrong though.

This is a very nice alternative to the FS Aubrey Maturin set. They have the advantage of being compact as well. I was never sold on the FS set. I found the cover designs a bit twee with their nautical ropes and the entire series too bulky -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Aubrey-Maturin-Novels/dp/0008189285/ref=sr_1_2...

A few negative reviews about the paper being too thin but I beg to disagree and love my copy.

This is the set I'd love to have more than any other, would love a reprint. I hope with the potential new film, there could be renewed interest in the series, perhaps enough to justify a reprint?

>63 PeterFitzGerald: You make a valid argument. I'm not even sure what can be done.

>65 Quicksilver66:
I see these are printed in China.
Are they sewn or glued?

I have complete set, intending to sell.
What would be a reasonable price?

>69 Seeking_North: I'd say between £1200 and £1500 based on the complete sets I've seen sold recently. There's been a few listed at £2k but have gone for less or remain unsold. Personally I'd pay £1000 for a complete set if I had the chance.

Just a reminder for everyone that buying and selling is not allowed on LibraryThing. Should this conversation develop further I suggest taking it to Private Message.

>68 ranbarnes: They are sewn. The format, size and feel is very similar to LOA books. Make sure you get the UK Harper Collins set. The US version is riddled with typos.

>72 Quicksilver66:

Thanks. Now can I justify keeping my Folio set, or do I cash in?

Problems, problems.

>72 Quicksilver66:, >73 ranbarnes: Well, I've just ordered a set and it will be with me on Wednesday, and I will report back with my impressions then. Good news for my local Mind charity shop - the old paperback sets are also highly sought after, if not to the same degree as Folio - and good news for me as I will actually gain shelf space (which is not something I ever thought I would say after FSD enablement).

>65 Quicksilver66: My set came, and all I can do is to thank you so much!

They are the same dimensions as LOA, with the same bindings, but with slightly shinier gold foil on the spine. They even line up exactly, and if it were not for the different logo, they could be interchangeable. Oh, a slightly wider ribbon marker, and perhaps a touch more translucent paper, but as you say - nothing to worry about.

I suspect the Amazon quibbles are from people who have never come across anything approaching India Paper. Having said that, this works out to around 500 pages per half inch, whereas real India Paper can manage getting on for twice that.

My paperbacks are in a carrier bag by the door, and the two Folio volumes without slipcases that I got from a National Trust shop may join them. Thanks again :)

>75 red_guy: Glad you like the set.

I think your right about readers perceptions of India paper. I love India paper but there will always be some bleed through.