REF: Finding Old Iris Books on Line
- Subject: REF: Finding Old Iris Books on Line
- From: H*@aol.com
- Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 10:28:57 EST
From: HIPSource@aol.com
Greetings,
I'd like to offer some pointers for shopping for old iris books.
First, with the advent of on line used book stores and sophisticated book
search engines it is not necessary to go through any middleman, local or
internet-based, to find most used, out of print, or rare iris books. Any
middleman will be getting them from largely the same sources you can get them
from, and marking them up accordingly.
Book bargains are found by those who are patient and who comparison shop for
themselves. One good place to comparison shop is at Bookfinder:
http://bookfinder.com
Bookfinder searches several on-line consortia of booksellers, including
Powells, ABE, and Bibiliocity. It does not search Bibliofind, which you should
also visit:
http://bibliofind.com
There used to be an excellent resource called Interlock, but this has been
bought by B&N and renamed Alibris, and now the prices reflect that fact.
Comparison shopping is, as I said, recommended.
Prices of iris books have been increasing lately, and some on line are frankly
disproportunate. For example, publicity in a national article on the Little
Garden Series of books has caused the prices of Irises in the Little Garden to
increase to a level that even I, who adore the book and own two copies, would
pass on.
It is possible to find remarkable iris books on line. I have found a book of
surpassing rareness at a bookseller in the Netherlands, and another in
Australia. I have found fine copies of standard works at very reasonable
prices by simply watching the market and picking my moment.
I encourage everyone to become aware of this remarkable resource that, as they
say, empowers the ardent irisarian now to make informed purchases of older
iris literature from an open and competative market.
To get you started, let me recommend another of my favorite books, Iris
Culture for Amateurs, by Pesel, from 1937.
Anner Whitehead
Commercial Source Chairman
Historic Iris Preservation Society
HIPSource@aol.com
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