Actually, if the question is a good one, I'll answer it here anyway...
I have a first edition of... Is it worth anything?
The short
answer is probably no! Barstow's books tended to sell fairly well, and there
are a reasonable number of each of his first editions. You can normally buy a
good Barstow first with dustcover for around UK£20 (US$30). (You'll
probably have to pay a bit more for A Kind of
Loving - dealers tend to mark it up because it is his first and most famous
book.) If you assume a 50% markup by the dealer (and that seems not
unreasonable!) then your book might be worth at most £15 ($20) or so.
In general, the older and scarcer the book, and the better the condition, the more likely it is to be worth something. If it is signed, then it's worth a bit more. But it is unlikely to be a large sum in any case - and without the dustcover, forget it!
I am looking for a Barstow book. Can you recommend a bookshop which
might have it?
If you're looking for Barstow in general, my experience
is that most UK second-hand book shops have a few in stock. If you are looking
for a particular one, there are two standard ways to find it.
Scour the second hand bookshops - you might get lucky! (And even if you don't, a second hand bookshop is a nice place to spend a half-hour...)
Go to the links page, and check out the Internet second-hand sites. This is by far the most reliable way of getting your book. I have obtained about two-thirds of my collection using ABE. If it is not there, then register a "want" - if the book appears in the database, an email will automatically be sent to you to tell you about it.
I am doing an assignment/some homework/an essay; can you answer some
questions for me?
Probably not! Please see the feedback page.
Are you the Martin Benson who was a TV and film actor in the fifties,
or are you related to him?
I've actually been asked this twice now - I
guess that counts as frequently enough. No, I am not the same person, and as
far as I am aware I am not related to him.
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