Its Official: Decision Points "Limited" Edition a Bad Joke by Stephen Gertz
Stephen Gertz in his just published Booktryst article "Its Official: Decision Points "Limited" Edition a Bad Joke" has done it again. He has brought the full force of his considerable intellect to evaluate the "collectible value" of former President Bush's new book just published by Crown. He shows it for the "collectible" farce that it is. Read the full article HERE
Booktryst's controversial report about the limited edition of former President George W. Bush's new book, Decision Points, has been vindicated by new facts that have emerged since the original post.
The "limitation" is to a staggering 4,500 copies, a number so large that the edition has lost all credibility as a collectible and claim to being special...
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And the lack of a limitation statement in the book declaring the number of copies in the edition is a huge caveat emptor/collector. A truly collectible limited edition book always states the number of copies printed.
Once again, this is not a viable book from a collecting point of view. It will never become rare. And it is unlikely to ever appreciate in value; indeed, with 4,500 copies in circulation the aftermarket for the book will likely decline. $350 for the limited edition? Buyers are being stiffed. It harkens back to the days when a limited edition of a clandestinely published book was limited only by the number of copies the publisher could sell. It was a racket.
By not wanting to "disappoint consumers" Crown has betrayed them. They've sullied the rare book collectibles market with this nonsense, attracting naive or budding collectors who are now, once burned, likely wary of book collecting as a hobby. By marketing it as a "collectible," over-selling it without any update to their original announcement, and omitting any mention of the limitation number on the limitation page (because the limitation leaves were pre-printed, signed by President Bush, and then inserted into the already-bound book), the publisher has doomed it as a collectible; it will never have any appreciable market value.
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