3.12.2006

Books: today's tip

Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho is what's known as a PBO, Paperback Original. There was no hardcover edition, so the 'true' 1st is the trade paperback published by Vintage...not a very common occurance for a 'big' author.

All they hysteria around the release of the book meant that it was being reprinted before it even hit the stands, so there are a relatively small number of 1st's around.

It's a book you can find around, in thrift stores, garage sales, wherever, because it doesn't look like anything special.

A nice copy (Very Good in book terms, meaning it looks like it's been read, spent some time in a backpack, but wasn't thrashed) will go for $35 or so, a copy in collectible condition (Fine, meaning new and apparently unread) for around $100.

The book was always a kind of cult oddity, but the market got even hotter after the movie came out...it didn't do much box office, but apparently everyone who saw it decided they had to have a 1st of the book, sorta like story that only 100 people saw the Velvet Underground's 1st show, but all of them started a band.

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