Really good finds at secondhand bookstores!

This is why I love Booksale: I was looking around (not hoping for much) - then I see Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - the hardbound Illustrated Edition! For P450! Sure, the dust cover was rumpled in places, but it was what book collectors would call Very Good - surely worth more than the P450 I paid for!

Did you ever find anything really surprising in a secondhand book store? Tell us about it!

Not exactly "surprising", but I'm happy that I was able to spot titles and acquire them for a small amount of price (not to mention that they look brand new):

Sputnik Sweetheart
South of the Border, West of the Sun
After the Quake
Kafka on the Shore
Eldest
Fever Pitch
How to Be Good
Reading Lolita in Tehran
The Cider House Rules
Good Omens
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
The Sorrows of Young Werther
The Count of Monte Cristo

... among others. :P

Booksale does offer good deals... so far the best example i could give was when I saw on their fresh stocks a hardbound volume of Eiji Yoshikawa's Taiko by Kodansha Int'l. I saw one at Fullybooked for P1900+. Just a bit worn but in very good condition. Naturally, I snapped it up. The damage? P160. Hehehehe.

handyfemme:Funny, I never see Nick Hornby in Booksale. Lucky you for finding his stuff there. (P.S. Is a Hornby collection considered complete if it doesn't have Speaking With the Angel? I just snapped up Complete Polysyllabic Spree and it seems I'm good to go.)

julsitos: I saw Ranma 1/2 Vol. 01 and Ranma 1/2, Vol. 02 in Booksale Megamall last Saturday. I didn't get it. If you're lucky, you might just be able to get 'em yourself.

micketymoc Ah, hindi ako bumili sa Booksale since I'm not in the Philippines anymore. ^^;; Nevertheless I usually get my books on second-hand stores, so parang nasa Booksale na rin ako.

Re: Nick Hornby, this is the first time that I bought his books, so I can't answer your question. ;)

handyfemme:
have you read nick hornby's books already? i guarantee you a joyful ride.

micketymoc:
am jealous! you already got complete polysyllabic spree. where did you score your copy? hay buhay... i overly love me some hornby...

anikins: Got my copy at the new Fully Booked at SM City (North Edsa). It was the last copy, too.

You know how weird me and the missus are with Nick Hornby? I downloaded all the songs mentioned on songbook and burned 'em into an audio CD. One day I'm going to buckle down and read the book together with the music playing in the background.

Here's my most recent haul of near-mint previously-owned books:

Norman Mailer - Harlot's Ghost
William Safire - What's The Good Word?
William Shawcross - Quality Mercy:Cambodia, Holocaust and Modern Conscience

(all hardbound editions too)

anikins: Thanks! I'm looking forward to that time na mababasa ko na. Natatabunan kasi ako ng school-related work plus I have to finish The Tale of Genji. :P

Oh, BTW, I got some stuff yesterday, sa used bookstore din (they went to my school):

Satanic Verses
Clockwork Orange
Joy Luck Club
Simpsons TV/Episode guide

I found a hardcover copy of The Letters of JRR Tolkien at the 4th floor of National Bookstore Cubao (the pre-owned books floor). It was 99 pesos =)

But then, this was back in 1996 or 97...

=)

One title I wish I picked up when I saw it ages ago at NBS-Cubao is Joel Lane's From Blue to Black.

I was also told once that Alastair Reynolds's Diamond Dogs/Turquoise Days was once available there in the UK hardcover edition. I know the latter is readily available in most NBS/Powerbooks branches, but I so hate the US mass market paperback's production (non-)values that I really want to pick up either the UK edition in either paperback or hardcover.

People get to see Haruki Murakami books sa booksale? Galing. Don't like him much, pero I'm trying to read some of his works. (am not being sarcastic or anything, pero I usually buy books ng hindi ko gaanong gusto sa booksale eh).

@micketymoc, thanks. but over the budget na ko this month for books... haha

*it really pays to scour the bins sa booksale, powerbooks & fullybooked....

pasintabi to PinoyThing! members--

micketymoc: (cont. on the nick hornby subthread)
couldn't find complete polysyllabic spree, but got me a copy of housekeeping vs. the dirt (which is the 2nd part of polysyllabic spree).

read a rather scathing (but truthful) review about housekeeping vs. the dirt: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/books/reviews/5708/housekeeping-vs-the-dirt-by-nick...

I buy secondhand books frequently. Here's my list of steals and favorites, (all hardback with dustcovers):

The Rule of of Four
The Da Vinci Code
Like Water for Chocolate
The Book of Lost Tales, vol. 2
Italian Folk Tales, retold by Italo Calvino
To Kill A Mockig Bird
Uncle Tom's Cabin

My most recent "great buy" was The Crocodile Bird by Ruth Rendell for P30. I got it from a secondhand bookstore in front of Mercury Drugstore, 1st floor of Edsa Central mall.

But the all-time best buy was the autographed copy of Orson Scott Card's The Memory of Earth from The Homecoming Series. The book's dogeared but there was his signature. All for P10 in one of those org sales in UP AS walk years and years ago. (Oh and I also got a copy of The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy for P20 from the same bin).

I've had the pleasure of finding many good rare books at second-hand shops, but this is the most precious by far: Noli Me Tangere (Huag Mo Acong Salingin) 1909, by Poblete.

Wowww!!! Way cool! What bookstore did you get it from?

@mickeytymoc,
I've been trying to remember, even before posting the entry above, which of the second hand shops I got the book from, but it isn't NBS bin or Booksale for sure. It could be some of the shops in Binondo or Manila (or perhaps even Recto) during the time I was researching on the Noli prior to production during the rare times I also did some of my own walks in the Binondo area, out of curiosity, to try to discover the actual streets or locations as referred to by Rizal in the Noli.

Still racking by brain to this day, up til this post, on which of those browses I did I got the book from.

Hmm, another possibility I just thought of: the old Heritage boosktore in EDSA Shangri-la, perhaps. The book's been hard-bound already but the original cover flap can still be seen. It was, and still is, in very good condition, including the inserted litho photo reproduction of Rizal. Thanks for inquiring. :)

Here is another very good find: The Writings and Trial of Andres Bonifacio by Teodoro A. Agoncillo ed. The price is still written on it: P19.95 acquired in 1988 as per my signature. Not exactly a second hand book. I remember getting this in a corner of the old Unimart grocery where, for some time, they had shelves of old books. It is now a little brittle but otherwise intact. Published in 1963, with cover illustration by Botong Francisco.

Wow. Congrats.

My friend got a copy of some dead philosopher's book, with his signature. He bought it from Booksale daw. I don't know if I should believe him.

#21 @janis_mae,
Thanks. As for your friend's book, the adage applies: to see is to believe. :)