Hyena and other men by Pieter Hugo

[Frank Bunnik]

About 2 years ago I planned to buy The Hyena and other men by Pieter Hugo. For some reason I did nog buy it then. Recently I remembered the book and wanted to buy it now. However, it is out of print and some sellers on Amazon or Ebay ask US$ 500 for this book. Why? It was about US$ 40 when it was still available from Amazon. It is not a big or thick book and neither is it exquisetly bound in maple wood or something like that like Michael Kenna's Hokkaido book. Why is this book so expensive suddenly?

Anyone an idea?

 

[billbretz]

About 2 years ago I planned to by The Hyena and other men by Pieter Hugo. For some reason I did nog buy it then. Recently I remembered the book and wanted to buy it now. However, it is out of print and some sellers on Amazon or Ebay ask US$ 500 for this book. Why? It was about US$ 40 when it was still available from Amazon. It is not a big or thick book and neither is it exquisetly bound in maple wood or something like that like Michael Kenna's Hokkaido book. Why is this book so expensive suddenly?

Anyone an idea?

Supply and demand.

A lot of these art books are printed in relatively small quantities.

People with money like to collect them.

My amazon wish list has at times been populated by books that I considered pricey at their original price and quickly became unobtainable (at least by me or anyone who cares enough to purchase for me) when they went OP.

Unless there is something about this book or Hugo I am not aware of, the simple answer is S&D.

 

[SuzanneR]

Photography books are becoming increasingly collectible, and when they go out of print, they can become quite expensive to buy. His portraits, IMNSHO, are fabulous, but were also met with some considerable criticism... people felt he was being exploitative. Nothing like a good set of pix and some controversy to make your out of print book collectible and expensive. Still, far more affordable than buying a print of his!

 

[perkeleellinen]

You've got to be fast with photo books otherwise the price will soon reach astronomic proportions. I wonder if many collectors really do drop three - four figure sums for these books or maybe sellers are just fishing. I know for sure that all the photo books I've sold on ebay have never reached anywhere near the sky-high prices some dealers sell the same books for.

 

[Vaughn]

Sometimes I think it is a bit of a scam..an artificial (non-market driven) price inflation sort of thing.

I just checked the price for Modern Carbon Printing by Luis Nadeau at Amazon, and it was $222 (or $1750 from Germany). When I wanted a copy a year or so ago and saw the price (it was ~$400) I emailed the author and he sent me a copy for $16 or so, which was the usual price.

Vaughn

 

[amac212]

Gee Vaughn, you're giving me ideas!

 

[Frank Bunnik]

Thanks for the replies and your thoughts. By some strange coincedence, I found this book on the internetsite of a large chain of second hand bookstores in the Netherlands and Belgium called De Slegte. They had only 1 in good condition for 20 euro (about 26 US$). It has arrived and it is in great condition. It must be luck.

Frank
www.frankbunnik.zenfolio.com

 

[darkosaric]

I want to buy Ravens from Fukase - prices are so high - unbelievable! I can understand that silver gelatin prints can go high on price, but books ...