CropDusterMan
Allowing Ads
(a bit of a rant here, but I do have a point)
I have a constantly growing library, like many of you, of photography books...books by many of
the photographers work I enjoy. They are well read, and a constant reference for me to gain
insight and inspiration. Notice I referred to it as a "library". Libraries get used. The online
marketplace has given us all, good and bad, a general reference point of an items worth, and
quite quickly when doing ones research on a future purchase or something they plan to sell, they
consult the mecca of ebay. Even at a flea market, you'll hear the seller quote "what it's going for on Ebay".
Going for and actually selling at are different things. I often begrudgingly purchase books on ebay, as so many of the old bookstores I visited are gone due to rising rent and neighborhood gentrification, now occupied by hipster coffee joints. (the sarcasm is pretty thick here)
Photo book prices being established by the online sellers are more than skewed for the most part, especially
with books that had thousands of copies produced. Unless we are talking first editions of low run numbers, most of the books are overpriced, and although I am a proponent of the open market, many of these books are getting to be so expensive, they are no longer available to those who truly love the work of the artist they present. Just because the photographer is now gone, doesn't justify these overinflated prices. Recently,
I saw several of the same book on ebay in identical condition listed for different prices that ranged in the hundreds of dollars, and in this instance, I know that over 3000 copies of that book were published. Look at any of the listings for Robert Franks The Americans, and it's comical. Unless they are first editions, and most aren't, their actual collectors value is nil. Sure, a seller wants to make money, but $200 for a tattered yellowed edged book from a secondary or tertiary print run numbering in the thousands....come on.
Just very frustrated. I feel an artists work should be viewable to the masses, and I don't mean on a monitor, but in a book in your hand...and before you say "go to a library then"...go to one and see the lack of
representation I refer to on books on the subject, other than "Nikon's guide to digital.
I have a constantly growing library, like many of you, of photography books...books by many of
the photographers work I enjoy. They are well read, and a constant reference for me to gain
insight and inspiration. Notice I referred to it as a "library". Libraries get used. The online
marketplace has given us all, good and bad, a general reference point of an items worth, and
quite quickly when doing ones research on a future purchase or something they plan to sell, they
consult the mecca of ebay. Even at a flea market, you'll hear the seller quote "what it's going for on Ebay".
Going for and actually selling at are different things. I often begrudgingly purchase books on ebay, as so many of the old bookstores I visited are gone due to rising rent and neighborhood gentrification, now occupied by hipster coffee joints. (the sarcasm is pretty thick here)
Photo book prices being established by the online sellers are more than skewed for the most part, especially
with books that had thousands of copies produced. Unless we are talking first editions of low run numbers, most of the books are overpriced, and although I am a proponent of the open market, many of these books are getting to be so expensive, they are no longer available to those who truly love the work of the artist they present. Just because the photographer is now gone, doesn't justify these overinflated prices. Recently,
I saw several of the same book on ebay in identical condition listed for different prices that ranged in the hundreds of dollars, and in this instance, I know that over 3000 copies of that book were published. Look at any of the listings for Robert Franks The Americans, and it's comical. Unless they are first editions, and most aren't, their actual collectors value is nil. Sure, a seller wants to make money, but $200 for a tattered yellowed edged book from a secondary or tertiary print run numbering in the thousands....come on.
Just very frustrated. I feel an artists work should be viewable to the masses, and I don't mean on a monitor, but in a book in your hand...and before you say "go to a library then"...go to one and see the lack of
representation I refer to on books on the subject, other than "Nikon's guide to digital.
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