FS: Parker Vacumatic by Parker, Shepherd and Zazove (2008, Out of Print, Illustrated)

[Zhivago]

For sale is Parker Vacumatic by Geoffrey Parker, David Shepherd and Dan Zazove. This now out-of-print hardcover book was published in 2008. It is in mint/like new condition but for some very minor shelf wear. The book has 343 pages and is heavily illustrated. It measures 11 1/4 x 8 1/2 x 1 1/4 inches. It is surely the definitive book on the Vacumatic line and an important book on the history of Parker in general. It contains a number of interesting excerpts from the journal of Kenneth Parker, founder George Parker's son.

$199 including insured shipping in the USA. I will accept PayPal or check/money order. If you are interested, please send me a private message. Thank you.

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[Linkinyeah]

As I consider myself a Parker collector, I have been desiring this book for a while. I have no doubt a tremendous amount of work went into the production of it, but I don't understand the price these books sell for, when they do come up for sale. I get the idea of supply and demand, I guess it is the teacher in me that balks at the idea of paying extra to get knowledge that should be more accessible for those who desire to learn. Sorry for my rant, the pictures in the book look great, so I will drool from a distance and envy the buyer. Good luck with the sale.


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[Zhivago]

I saw only two other listings before I posted mine. One for the same price but only in "good" condition; the other for over a $1000 but signed by the authors.

[Linkinyeah]

Yeah, they sell for high prices.


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[bunnspecial]

A couple of things:

1. This is a FANTASTIC book-well researched and good photos

2. Although I'm new(er) to pen collecting, I have been collecting things for a long time, and in particular watches. As a sideline to my watch collection, I have what I'd like to think is a fairly nice library both with books on subjects of interest to me, or a few that didn't interest me that much but that a friend wrote and I wanted to support them.

First of all, any book like this has a small audience out of the gate. Even for a "popular" collectible item, like say the Parker Vacumatic or the Illinois Bunn Special, the audience is far from what you'd get for the latest insert popular fiction author.

Second, publishing is NOT cheap. A 400+ page full color hard bound book in the past might have been hundred dollars a copy to print even in volume. That's why on older books you'd often see a handful of color pages in the center and the rest not in color. Printing has come down in cost somewhat(especially in China) and books can be done in full color now where they wouldn't have in the past.

Still, though, a lot of these books end up being self-published, and it can take the author a long time to sell them all.

A few years ago, a friend of mine self-published a book on the Illinois 16 size Bunn Special. It was similar in length and print quality to the Vacumatic book, although not as nicely bound(slick printed hard cover, not cloth and a dust jacket) . He sold me a copy at cost, which IIRC was $80 or $85. Not too long after, another friend published a 5-volume history(over 2000 pages total) boxed set of the Illinois Watch Company, and I was amazed when it was under $300 I think, and yes of course I bought a set.

Often times, books like this are expensive enough and have a limited enough appeal that they are initially slow to sell out. Once the author gets them from the publisher, there's usually a couple of months of brisk sales while all the "I've been waiting for this" people buy them, then they trickle off and the author may sit on unsold inventory for years.

Then, a funny thing happens. The author sells out or passes away(unfortunately) or maybe something happens to their stock(I have one book I was given by the author, one on Kentucky silversmiths, that was in a flood and is readable but makes me sick to open).

A few more years pass and new collectors or other interested people will start looking for a copy only to find that they're really not available. Most of the people who bought them new want to keep them. Usually the ones that end up on the market will either come from estates, or MAYBE a collector will have bought multiple copies(sometimes one to keep nice and one to actually use, not necessarily for speculation) and decide to sell one. From there, well, the price ends up wherever it is, but likely never less than what they sold for new.

And in all of this too, the author(s) are often fortunate to break even. If they make money, well...usually compared to the amount of time invested, flipping burgers at McDonalds would have made them more. They write the book because they want to, not to get rich off of it.

I don't know the authors of the Vac book, nor was I collecting when it came on the market, although I was fortunate to find a new copy that I think I paid a little over $100 for all said and done. I've just seen this story play out a lot more.