After reading a certain blog of note and knowing we are in one of the most poorly paid professions I feel I need to run a question by you all. But I've been too ashamed to ever ask anyone else so you have to promise not to judge me.
The question du jour is: is it unforgivably cheap to give a person a second hand book as a gift? Now don't get me wrong, I'm not asking is it ok to go through the bargain bin on the street outside Elizabeth's and buy the most dog eared Dan Brown tripe just because you want to save a quid. I mean what if you're someone like me, who only shops at second hand bookshops because you believe reading is a pleasure that should be both shared and affordable. What if on one of these shopping expeditions you happen across a book (a hardcover book, a nice one) that your mother would just love. What if mothers' day happens to be coming up and after paying your car rego you have to face the fact that there ain't going to be a new dress for you for the ballet. Is it still just too cheap to contemplate? Should I feel as dirty and ashamed as I suspect I should?
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5 comments:
I think as long as you find a fabulous book, with a crazy and interesting inscription to someone else and make the point thatyou had to buy it for her when you saw it cos it seemed so well-loved and intriguiging you should be ok. Or buy something thatlooks rare and expensive but actually isn't. you can get some 8th editions of things that look older than they are...
Well. My feeling is that, if it's a cool old volume or something that's really hard to find or something you know someone has been looking for, then going second hand is all well and good. Or if it's not a present per se but just a 'saw this, thought you would like it' kind of thing I think it's all well and lovely.
But I think the concept has limits. I recently received a slightly tatty second hand book for a Christmas present. It was a reasonably recent book that would have still been in print and I was actually a little bit taken aback and didn't rate it all that highly.
I don't know why I should care but I love the feeling of having a shiny bookshop-fresh book to read and somehow, despite the fact that I shop in secondhand bookshops pretty regularly, it just didn't feel the same and I still haven't read the book.
Oh I do agree with Linds in that, if it's a cool (looking) old volume it's great. I also recently recieved a complete set of old(ish) hardback Brontes and they were fab.
I'm pretty certain unless it is from a rare book collection, a secondhand book is always a no-no. seriously, it would have to be a first edition of a literary classic. then it is okay. lol
It all worked out ok in the end because teh book i was thinking of wasn't there by the time I go back to buy it. So I bought a new one for mum and accidentially bought one for myself.
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