Home | Conditions of sale, and orders
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sale, and orders
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The pricing of books is a difficult matter It isn't just one of your bookseller's games You may think of course I'm as mad as a hatter But a book has three prices, EACH WITH ITS OWN NAME. First of all there's the price that we'd like to receive When we think of the costs, like the price that we paid, Not to mention the anguish of being deceived By the auctioneer's awful description betrayed. Or for that matter getting up with the dawn And having to drive from London to Glasgow, To hunt through the shops while suppressing our yawns, Fruitlessly seeking for the books that we know. |
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Next comes the price that we'd like to show off with, When we think that our copy is better than most, Until at the book fair they shatter our myth And our hopes of great riches vanish like ghosts. Of books of this kind, we have more than we need (There are so many copies on the market today!). On this internet thing we must get up to speed And learn to make use of both ABE and e-Bay. Then reality sets in and we're forced to concede That there's only one price that the public will pay. That's the price that brings just the profit we need Which THE BUYER JUST SENSES, whatever we say. |
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So when you see us in profound meditation The reason, I tell you, is always the same: A bookseller deep in rapt contemplation Is thinking, just then, of what he should blame -- Surely not his enticing, Or fantasy pricing -- "It's the damned internet!" you'll hear him exclaim. |
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Last updated: 10/05/17
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