A man walks into a bookshshop…..

[Sane Max]

…………..a second hand bookshop that is, and sees a copy of Yigael Yadin, ‘The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands’ on the shelf. ‘Squeak!!!!’ cries he (for he is an erudite chap). With trembling hands he draws the copy from the shelf. Hardback, 1963, excellent condition….£3.99 “Squeeeeeeeeak” he adds, and then stands there in a lather of greed and guilty indecision – for the punchline is…… It’s the second hand bookshop I used to work at as a volunteer, and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. So I gently explained to a member of staff it might be worth getting the price checked on t’interweb, and waved a sad farwell to the bargain of the month.

Ah well, if there IS some sort of afterlife, I may yet get to attend.

[Mike]

Jolly nice of you. Amazon has it for about £55?

[vtsaogames]

Sane Max, saint.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[Thuseld]

You are a better human than I.

Experiments here: http://inexperiencedmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Tranquil Stars updates: https://tranquilstars.wordpress.com

[Fredd Bloggs]

If I wished to own said volume, I would have quietly bought it.

Otherwise I would have informed them.

[Truscott Trotter]

I would have offered them 10 quid for it 🙂

[zippyfusenet]

Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest. – Mark Twain

Max, you did right. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but you can take comfort.

You'll shoot your eye out, kid!

[Harry Faversham]

I like people like you Max, I like them a lot. It makes my job of being a complete and utter rotter so much easier!

"Wot did you do in the war Grandad?"

"I was with Harry... At The Bridge!"

[telzy amber]

I miss Terry Thomas 🙁

[Sane Max]

Harry Faversham wrote:

I like people like you Max, I like them a lot. It makes my job of being a complete and utter rotter so much easier

Careful – I am not always on the side of the angels, you may need to temper your evil deeds with the occasional act of decency to ensure the cosmic balance is not thrown completely out of whack.

[deephorse]

So, had this book been an eBay ‘Buy it Now’ for £3.99, rather than in a bookshop you used to work in, would you have bought it?

Play is what makes life bearable - Michael Rosen

[Sane Max]

deephorse wrote:

So, had this book been an eBay ‘Buy it Now’ for £3.99, rather than in a bookshop you used to work in, would you have bought it?

 

Lord yes. And laughed as I did it.

It just seemed a bit…. counter productive to have spent about a hundred hours volunteering at the Oxfam Charity Bookshop, only to then rip them off for £50.00.

 

Like taking  a few dogs home from your day-job at the RSPA for a spot of bull-baiting really.

 

 

[Hafen von Schlockenberg]

A charity shop puts a different light on things. They can’t be expected to be as knowledgeable as a bookshop owner. If the latter doesn’t know his stuff, that’s down to him.

Good for you.

That said, I’m not sure I would have passed the “moral”  roll!

[Sane Max]

Hafen von Schlockenberg wrote:

A charity shop puts a different light on things.

 

some of them are good at that stuff, some are not. The Manager knows most of his stuff but has some blind spots. Me, I was good at the stuff you might expect – Military, History, also art and English Lit. Other things I was terrible at, and since I had to price up a few hundred books a day I am sure there were some amazing things that I priced at 2.99 and made someone’s day.

[Rob young]

The advantage of old age is that I’ve got a lot of books like this 🙂

Rob Young

[Sane Max]

I just remembered this thread as I was reading the book. they sold it to me in the end for £25 as an honesty discount, which made me happy.

 

[Kitfox]

This story reminds me of a book I found a few years back in a charity shop although it stood out for very different reasons.  It was a reprint of the 1941 edition of  “The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives” which was essentially a Chemistry textbook explaining in step by step terms how to make all sorts of deeply dangerous substances.  Cue a quick conversation with the manager explaining why selling it to just anyone at random could end badly!

Death to all fanatics!

[Alexander Hay-Whitton]

Reminds me of a student who forgot an exam, submitted a fake medical certificate, was granted an aegrot, then came to me a few days later to confess and demand she fail. She was a good student so I told her to keep quiet about it, but she insisted. Referred to the prof, who agree she was a naughty girl but also suggested she keep the whole thing under her hat. She wouldn’t play ball, and had to repeat the year.

[Mike]

Games and wargames please.

🙂

[Hafen von Schlockenberg]

So I can’t tell my bass clarinet story? 😢

[Author]

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