Quote:
|
I am very pleased to own one of the signed regular edition COH books sold in New York City on the day of release. Happiness is often being satisfied with what you have - not always searching for more.
|
You are lucky. Unfortunately, some of us who have been collecting for many years do not live near New York.
I feel Harper Collins did not handle this well. When people intially signed up to get information on the book (which I did), there was no indication that distribution would be limited to the U.K. This should have been clearly stated at the time. People only discovered this when they went to the page to order the book. Because of this, there are buyers in Europe and North America (and likely elsewhere) who are expressing keen disappointment.
I am wondering how they are going to handle this, as I am assuming that more than 500 people signed up and expressed interest. Certainly, if I was a bookdealer on Abe, I would try to get one or more copies to resell, to say nothing of many private individuals who will try to hawk them on ebay
My own disappointment is tempered by the price of the volume. When you click on the actual website to purchase, the price of the book shows as 350 pounds rather than 300! That is roughly $700. Presumably, the book will go up several hundred dollars higher in the reselling. As such, it is certainly out of the reach of most, even those who collect.
I do not "love" the Children of Hurin in the same way that I "love" the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. I already have Christopher and Michael's signatures on another book that I purchased for a much more modest sum from the same bookdealer that Davem mentioned in his earlier posts. (Thank you Davem very, very much for that info that led me to that dealer.) So I am also very lucky and will not lose sleep over this. Still, I wish it had been handled differently. Lots of disappointed people....
If an unexpected chunk of money dropped from the heavens, I'd be more apt to spend it on a copy of Hobbit or LotR I didn't have rather than on this title. But I mainly buy books because I love them rather than thinking of turning them over as an investment.