GURPS First Edition--Anybody Got It?

[Lupo]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

Sadly, though, the only GURPS 1st edition Basic I found was what I'd found before at almost $100. Much as I love GURPS....

Remember that out of print books tend to increase in value, more so than inflation :)
So if you manage to find a GURPS 1st edition for, say, $70, buying it could be a good deal, because chances are that in 10 or 20 years it will be worth $120 or $150 (plus the adjustment for inflation).

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by Lupo

Remember that out of print books tend to increase in value, more so than inflation :)
So if you manage to find a GURPS 1st edition for, say, $70, buying it could be a good deal, because chances are that in 10 or 20 years it will be worth $120 or $150 (plus the adjustment for inflation).

Yes they do tend to increase--if demand becomes greater than supply. But in this case I suspect that the number of people hunting for a 1st edition GURPS book is very low. No one who's not a rabid GURPS fan is likely to be looking for it, and the vast majority of GURPS fans likely wouldn't care--why get 1st when you have 4th?

I've got a few things I bought specifically because I thought they would become collector's items, and now I can't even get what I paid for them.

Alden Loveshade

[Darekun]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

I've got a few things I bought specifically because I thought they would become collector's items, and now I can't even get what I paid for them.

How would you feel about selling them for half what you paid for them?

Many of the same constraints that reduce demand on old editions of RPG books also reduce supply. You get a burst when, in this case, GURPS players who are not big GURPS fans sell their 1ed books because they're using 2ed now, but usually that has to carry the market indefinitely. The people who keep it will either be A) packrats, who will keep it a long time indeed, B) people who forget it in storage, who are likely to eventually throw it away, and C) the same sort of people who are providing the demand in the first place.

If it's something that shops dumped in quantity, that burst can last a long time, but even then… Consider the kind of books that someone would buy in an airport, and not mind forgetting in the airport on the other end. Now consider the value of such a book 500 years from now.

[Lupo]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

Yes they do tend to increase--if demand becomes greater than supply.

They generally tend to increase. I can't recall the exact numbers, but over the last 50 years the average value of rare, ancient books increased way more than inflation, and significantly more than most investments. This is true even for books which aren't particularly demanded today. (I know it because I am in this business).
Of course, some books went out of fashion and decreased in value, or at least in "sellability" - mine was a generalization, meant to apply to a collection of diverse books, not to a single specific book.

Generally But in this case I suspect that the number of people hunting for a 1st edition GURPS book is very low. No one who's not a rabid GURPS fan is likely to be looking for it, and the vast majority of GURPS fans likely wouldn't care--why get 1st when you have 4th?

The whole point of collecting and reselling rare items, is to find "rabid fans" eager to pay a lot. Collecting is an obsession.

I've got a few things I bought specifically because I thought they would become collector's items, and now I can't even get what I paid for them.

Perhaps you "bought high" rather than low. Or the specific things you bought went out of fashion.
But if you wait long enough, chances are those things will increase in value. (Of course, if you are 80 years old before you can sell them with a profit, this will be mostly useful to your heirs, not to yourself ^^)

[dynaman]

I'm not going to be of help, I have it but will not be selling it. Along with the Fantasy Trip, and Tollenkar's lair (had just about everything for it, lost a few of the micro-adventures over the years). Recently I found a copy of the Sci-Fi version of Fantasy Trip as well.

The first edition box is well worn and taped up like crazy, but it sits proudly on the shelf in it's disheveled condition.

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by Lupo

They generally tend to increase. I can't recall the exact numbers, but over the last 50 years the average value of rare, ancient books increased way more than inflation, and significantly more than most investments. This is true even for books which aren't particularly demanded today. (I know it because I am in this business).
<SNIP>

I'm going to go a little off topic, but heck, I started this thread.

As you're in the business, I'm curious--what effect do you think the Internet and eBay, Amazon, etc. have had on collecting? Obviously it's made it much easier for sellers and wanna-be-buyers to connect--I remember both a book and song I had casually looked for over a decade, but now can find them both in a few minutes online.

Do you think it's generally raised prices for collectables or lowered them? Or neither?

Alden Loveshade

[ericbsmith]

Some of finding these older books relies on just plain luck. I picked up a GURPS 1st Ed Box Set on eBay about 3 years ago for something like $15. I was looking for other GURPS books and happened across it, and there was no other interest at the time. OTOH, I haven't seen a Deluxe 4th Ed set to on eBay at all in the last 5 years or so, and I've been looking on-and-off because I just didn't have the money when they originally came out. If it did pop up I might not even buy it, considering the price it'll probably garner.

Hell, speak of the Devil:
GURPS Basic Set Boxed on eBay for $32 incl. shipping.

And another one here for $37, but this one comes with an old GM Screen, Fantasy 1e, Humanx, and Flight 13.

And another.

[Lupo]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

As you're in the business, I'm curious--what effect do you think the Internet and eBay, Amazon, etc. have had on collecting? Obviously it's made it much easier for sellers and wanna-be-buyers to connect--I remember both a book and song I had casually looked for over a decade, but now can find them both in a few minutes online.

Do you think it's generally raised prices for collectables or lowered them? Or neither?

I am in the business of ancient, rare books so I know very little about other kinds of collectibles.

Generally, I'd say that Amazon/Ebay had little impact on prices.
Most "serious" collecting already went through specialized channels (Sotheby's, Christie's, etc.) long before Ebay become popular. Even today, you are more likely to find "good" stuff on specialized auction and booksellers websites rather than on Ebay. On Ebay you can of course hope to find something at a very low price, but usually when this happens other people notice and the price raise again to "market" levels... and there is the downside that most sellers on Ebay are not able to properly describe the characteristics and conditions of an ancient book. (I am not saying they are dishonest or deceiving, just that they often don't know what they are selling and thus cannot communicate it clearly to the customer; e.g. they omit important information about the particular edition of a given book, so you can't understand if it is really the rare book you are looking for, or just a cheap reprint).

The impact of Ebay was more on how you do business.
On one hand, it allowed collectors and ordinary people to communicate directly (cutting off the middleman, if you like) and it allowed for niche products to be more easily sold and found.
But even today, if you want to buy rare books "professionaly" and make a good profit out of it, you are better off buying them physically, in large quantities and at a discounted price (e.g., buying the whole library of somebody's deceased grandfather, or buying the collection of somebody who changed his area of interest).

On the other hand, thanks to Ebay even small booksellers understood they could do business online (either through Ebay, or their own website, or both), and they could make their stock accessible and available to a wider audience... these days far fewer people come to our bookshop than before, but we are able to sell lots of "minor" books online (books that before we would not have been able to put on a printed catalogue, due to printing costs, space concerns and so on).

It's quite similar to RPG books in PDF, now that I think of it :)

[Anders]

Isn't this in the wrong place?

And also: How has GURPS evolved over the years?

[Lupo]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Isn't this in the wrong place?

Well, I thought it was an acceptable digression, since the OP asked for it AND this topic is about the availability of "rare" GURPS books.

Many topics about GURPS rules also end up discussing real-world facts, related to said rules, but not directly involving them (e.g., bullet caliber, or soil degradation, or the cost of tin in Classical Mediterranean). I think it's more convenient to keep all these posts in a single thread, rather than opening a new thread in General Chatter every time a single post does not specifically talks about GURPS rules.

If you meant that the whole thread should not be in the GURPS forum, as it doesn't talk about GURPS rules but just about physical GURPS books, I could agree with you, but it's a bit late for that :)

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

And also: How has GURPS evolved over the years?

That question would require a very long answer!