Talking as we were of Sodbury ...
I was staggered to see a dealer asking £150 for a less than spartan
2 volume set of the large version of Modern Power Generators. Not surprisingly, he still had them at the end of the day. Mine were a fiver (admittedly a few years back)I also notice what I regard as amazing prices for some manuals on UK eBay. Rare manuals always were highly valued in the US, although only if in excellent condition. We pay top price for tat more readily...
If this is a trend, perhaps I should sell off my rather too-large collection, clear some sheds & fund another Blackstone! Real risk of then having to watch TV rather than read, but I'm sure something new would turn up.
On the other hand, books have remained ridiculously under-valued for decades. I see there is a Janes Aircraft 1939 on eBay for £150 today, but that's unusual. I've recently bought aircraft design books published pre-1910 & manufacturers books on specific aircraft engines from the '13-'16 period for around £20 each, & a copy of an orginal 1903 Scientific American detailing the Wright's first flight cost me $3! Even as a Petter fan, I then blink at what I see paid for routine Petter & Lister literature.
So, do we see books as ignored & undervalued, another example of investment inflation -- or priced just right.
BTW, I'm a great fan of the worldwide trend to put scarce technical stuff on the web -- those of us rebuilding stuff or doing research benefit enormously by accessing the content, whilst the collectors, investors or speculators can breath a sigh of relief that no-one is actually soiling clean copies of originals! In the old days, I'd copy a page in an old original in fear & trembling that the back would break.
Funny, one of the first things I did when playing with the Internet back in the mid-80's was to exploit all that Unix command line stuff to create FTP libraries of scarce aircraft & engine stuff. 'Twas easier when you had a vast bank of servers & comms stuff that your big computer company employer paid for, & we were trying to build interest in the Internet! All my on-line content is long since lost, along with the company...... but at least web hosting & access costs are vastly cheaper now. Do miss command lines 'tho -- the nanny state browsers are so slow!
Colin