Vintage Scuba books

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Dale,

You are very generous with your pricing estimates..

I see most of them on local used book shelves in the $1.00 to $2.50 range. They are just too common at this junction in diving to have much value. As both you and I stated the shipping would be more than the value of the book

I only have a ever so slight passing interest in the Mount book. It really has no value to me, other than I have his modeling book and this book would be a great companion book for the book shelf .

SDM
 
Let me see what I can do for you two. Im pretty busy over the next few weeks but Im sure we can come to a deal. Im not looking to make a fortune just assumed that someone would apprecite them for what they are.
 
Inland Empire - Banning... 20 mins from Palm Springs
 
Hah ha Sam, I wish I were generous! In fact I suspect I am rather more cutthroat about scrounging books than I might care to admit. I have champagne tastes that I must support on a near beer budget. My saving grace is that I am willing to put in the hours it takes to cruise thrift stores and bookshops. My wife thinks I am insane but I'm afraid it's much worse than that.

Up here, in a thrift store, that style of book would probably go for .99 - 1.99; they often price books only by type ie: PB's .99, HC's 1.99, coffee table books 3.99 etc... with no regard for content. In a bookstore they would probably be priced at $5. I find, from looking, that the pricing in Canada is greater than in the US for books (as it is with most everything).

You also have to know a bit about what you're after or you can be taken in by people who "think" they have a valuable book. I just saw "On the Bottom" by E. Ellsberg for $24 in a snooty bookstore. The problem was it was also about the 24 reprint - a book I might pay $10 for if I wanted it bad enough. On the other hand sometimes a seller doesn't know what they have and then it works out in the buyers favor. I picked up "The Deep Sea Diver" for $2.99, later to find it listed used on Amazon for $243.
Ultimately though, I'm more of a collector for content than value. I like to read about the history of diving and enjoy being able to reference all sorts of things from print. I also find one book leads to another author or subject and then I learn about that or them and then on to another etc...

Here's my Tom Mount book, "Mixed Gas Diving" (screen left). It's one of four I have from Watersports Publishing out of San Diego.


Picture2004-8.jpg
 
To continue the discussion,
At that same snooty bookstore I found this book for $7.95. The reason I bought it was threefold.
First, I have never come across it in any of my travels and suspect it would be a harder copy to find even though it is a PB (though a first edition in any case and in quite good condition. Perhaps it was never printed in HC?).
Second, I am interested in Edward Links activities and so this is a welcome addition to broaden my knowledge of him, and Mendels work.
Thirdly, I found the dedication inspiring and unusual enough to trigger my sentimental side.

robosock193.jpg
robosock194.jpg

BTW, while looking for this book on my shelf I found I do have a copy of "Diver Below" by the Freys. And Sam was right on the money, $2.00 was the price I paid.

robosock192.jpg
 

Back
Top Bottom