Monday, August 15, 2011

[ AD&D ] Success On My Book Hunt!

A couple of weeks ago or so, I visited the used book store, and as usual my first stop was the game book section.  I scanned the spines, and just abut jumped when I spotted the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, First Edition!  Then I kept scanning, and there was a Monster Manual.  I was shocked.  Then I spotted the Fiend Folio.

I checked each one out, flipping through the pages, checking for damage, stains, pen and pencil marks.  All of them were in very good shape.  I don't know what printing the books were, but that's not that important to me.  I collect rule sets,  not "collectible" rules.  I was ecstatic.  The DM Guide I bought last year wasn't that great, and here I had a great copy.  Of course it was then I realized that I had no spare money to buy the books.  All three totaled $32.40, but it might as well have been a thousand dollars.  I couldn't afford to get them.  Oh well.

For a short time I thought of hiding them.  Heh.  Yeah right, I gave that thought up fairly quickly, but reluctantly.  So I left.  I had no desire to browse anymore.  I knew the books wouldn't last long.

I checked back a couple of days later, and the books were still there.  I was amazed, but still couldn't justify buying even one of the books.  The DMs Guide and Fiend Folio were ten dollars each.  The Monster Manual was $12.40.  Good prices for the condition they were in.  So I left, knowing full well that everyday that passed increased the chances they would be sold.

A few days later I had extra cash.  So I went back, fully expecting the books to be gone, but I was lucky, and all three books were still there. SCORE!

There was also another copy of the Fiend Folio there, but it was in very sorry shape.  I couldn't believe they priced it the same as the first copy I found.  It was bowed very badly, and had many stains on the inside pages.  I really don't understand the store's pricing.

Once I got the books home, I did a little clean up with a kneaded eraser.  I was lucky there were only a couple of pencil marks.  I need to purchase one of those pillow erasers.  Those really help clean up the pages as well.

So my hunt for AD&D books is going well, all I need now is the Player's Handbook, Deities & Demigods, and I'm sure a couple of others that I can't recall right now.


***

I'm going to be busy the next couple of weeks, possibly longer. I have jury duty at the end of the month, so who knows what's going to happen.  So I will probably be posting erratically, if at all.


5 comments:

  1. Congrats, but you were tempting fate there. Good luck with the rest of your hunt.

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  2. I don't know how long the books were there before I saw them. I hadn't been in the store for a few weeks. I have a theory why they lasted so long. The books were on the top shelf. So my theory is that only short gamers saw the books and they were too embarressed to ask for help. I'm 6'2" so not a problem for me. As I was checking out I realized the books were older than the kid working the register.

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  3. @Tim, yeah I was tempting fate. It was kind of thrilling.

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