Card Craft

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David Mitchell
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Card Craft

Postby David Mitchell » April 29th, 2002, 6:24 am

I read in the newest Genii, that this book, (Card Craft) was auctioned on E-bay for $400. Is it true someone would actually buy this book for that much? If so.. maybe I should consider selling one of mine. (I buy two of everthing. One to write in and make notes, the other to have a clean copy should I ever want to start over again.)

David.
David Mitchell

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Rennie
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Re: Card Craft

Postby Rennie » April 29th, 2002, 7:00 am

The actual price was $412.00, I agree the value of that book is not near the selling price and I feel E-bay is blowing the prices out of proportion but ok with me because I have many magic books that are going up in value, checkout the price of "Cards as Weapons" by Ricky Jay another ridiculous price...
The effect is the important thing, how you achieve is not !!

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Card Craft

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 29th, 2002, 7:54 am

C'mon, "Card Craft" IS worth $412!!!!!!
Yes it is.
Yes it is.
Yes it is.
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CHRIS
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Re: Card Craft

Postby CHRIS » April 29th, 2002, 11:42 am

Richard,

do you then take them back for the usual 50% discount, meaning $206?

Chris....

Leonard Hevia
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Re: Card Craft

Postby Leonard Hevia » April 30th, 2002, 7:44 am

Exactly Richard, now hop off that fence and kindly reprint Card Craft for the rest of us who missed that train on the first station.

David Mitchell
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Re: Card Craft

Postby David Mitchell » April 30th, 2002, 8:00 am

Hey... speak for yourself. Don't print it anymore. Apparently I am holding on to something pretty valuable here.

David.
David Mitchell

Leonard Hevia
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Re: Card Craft

Postby Leonard Hevia » April 30th, 2002, 10:34 am

Not necessarily David. If Richard reprints Card Craft--you will have the first edition. I will have the second. First editions are always more valuable and sought after by collectors. The Sun shines for everyone my friend. :)

Oliver Corpuz
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Re: Card Craft

Postby Oliver Corpuz » April 30th, 2002, 11:12 am

Leonard,

An edition refers to all copies of a book printed at any time from one typeset. If Richard re-releases Card Craft, it would likely be from the same typeset. Thus, the reprint would be Card Craft, First Edition, Second Printing (or impression).

Book Collectors generally prefer First Edition, First Printing as the most desirable.

Although Card Craft went for a winning bid of $412 on eBay, subsequent to that auction, another copy of Card Craft went for about $130.

The moral of the story is, don't assume that collectible prices will always go up. Just like baseball cards and beanie babies, demand can go up or down over time.

- Oliver

CHRIS
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Re: Card Craft

Postby CHRIS » April 30th, 2002, 11:38 am

If Richard is clever he would add a little bit to the reprint of "Card Craft", say another chapter, or a few bonus tricks, so that all collectors are tempted to buy the reprint as well. :p

Then the second edition could even be more valuable then the first. Take for example "Expert Card Technique". The 3rd edition has an additional chapter by Vernon and another one by Dr. Daley. This makes the 3rd edition by far the most desirable one. Beats me why Dover reprinted the first edition. Lybrary.com's electronic version is of course the 3rd edition.

Chris.... Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.

Oliver Corpuz
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Re: Card Craft

Postby Oliver Corpuz » April 30th, 2002, 12:22 pm

Chris,

Dover specializes in reprinting books that have gone into the public domain. This way they can keep the reprints cheap because they don't have to pay royalties to anyone. I suspect the reason they published the first edition of "Expert Card Technique" is because the copyright on all the other editions is still in effect and they coudn't get the copyright owner's permission to reprint.

For example, the only reason the first edtion of J.B. Bobo's landmark work, Modern Coin Magic, was re-printed by Dover is because there was a copyright screw up that enabled them to print it. Magic, Inc. currently publishes the "Enlarged and Expanded" edition of Modern Coin Magic, which contains significantly more information than the first edition. Dover can't print that edition because they don't have the rights. Although the enlarged and expanded edition printed by Magic, Inc. contains more chapters, only the first impression is collectible because that edition has been reprinted numerous times. The first printing is generally what collectors want.

Also, your lybrary.com electronic editions of books are not desirable at all from a collector's viewpoint. There isn't a big market for collecting "electronic books". The information might be exactly the same as the printed version, but the media format (electronic) is not very desirable. I'll take a dover reprint over an electronic file format every time.

Oliver

CHRIS
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Re: Card Craft

Postby CHRIS » April 30th, 2002, 1:02 pm

Originally posted by Oliver Corpuz:
Also, your lybrary.com electronic editions of books are not desirable at all from a collector's viewpoint. There isn't a big market for collecting "electronic books". The information might be exactly the same as the printed version, but the media format (electronic) is not very desirable. I'll take a dover reprint over an electronic file format every time.
Don't say that. A few years down the road ebooks might just be as collectible as books. I know that there are a few who already collect magic ebooks.

You might ask why would ebooks gain in value? Several reasons. There are some ebooks that come out in a limited edition, for example our "Bob Cassidy's Mentalism" is limited to 100 copies worldwide. Some ebooks evolve over time, being changed, corrected, ammended and appended. And so the early, if you want "first edition", will not be available for ever. And finally, who says Lybrary.com will exist for eternity? If I close it down many ebooks will be lost in their present form.

They might not be desirable today, but they might be later!

But my example of "Expert Card Technique" was mainly in reference to the contents. A chapter by Vernon and Dr. Daley is increadible valuable from a contents point of view. At least for me, and I would think for most others as well.

Chris.... Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.

Leonard Hevia
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Re: Card Craft

Postby Leonard Hevia » May 1st, 2002, 7:40 am

Thank you for the correction Oliver. I was not aware of the difference between "Printing" and "Edition." You also answered my question as to why the Dover reprint of Expert Card Technique is not the third edition containing the Vernon/Daley material. I haven't purchased the Dover reprint because of this.

That was an interesting discussion between you and Chris about the long term monetary value of ebooks. Paper books are still wonderful--you can carry and read them anywhere as long as there is a light source.


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