Trump - How to get rich

Hard to believe that some fool paid $4,999 for a copy of the ghost written EP book by Trump “How to get Rich”. There are plenty of Trump devotees out there willing to add this book to their religious shrine to this perverse demagogue. Now is the time to sell if you have a copy before he is appropriately denigrated before multiple courts of justice. But then again, it may increase in value after his indictments.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Easton-Press-How-to-Get-Rich-by-President-Donald-Trump-...

>1 HugoDumas: I actually think it was sold via "best offer" so less than $5k. How much less we'll never know because ebay is craptacular and doesn't list how much an item sold via best offer because that way they can keep prices inflated. I hate ebay. At any rate, even if someone paid $1k for that book that's still ridiculous in my opinion. Prices will go down for this book, although I don't know why anyone would want it in the first place.

>2 astropi: Actually..... that book sold with a bid of 4999.00, not best offer. For items that sell with best offer, Chrome has an extension that you can get that will show the actual sell price of those best offers. I haven't been able to get it to work properly, but it is a thing. And, you can always sort by highest price in sold listings and see where the item falls to get a good estimate of what price best offers sell for as well.

>1 HugoDumas: Are you starting a political thread?

If you take a look at the auction quite a few things are suspect. One, the seller has a reputation score of 3. The winner has a reputation score of 2. There are other such copies on ebay for thousands less. If I had to guess, I would say this was a fake listing. This is real
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SIGNED-COA-LIMITED-EASTON-Press-HOW-TO-GET-RICH-by-Pres...
Sold for $1300... sheesh.

If I had to guess, I would say it sold because it was sealed, and no other copies available are. Some collector's like that wrap on their books. And FYI, that is not the feedback number for the buyer, that is a random number that ebay puts there, it is not actual, at least in my experience. I have went back and looked at auctions that I won from another computer not signed in, and it is just a random feedback score. Ebay trying to protect buyer identities. I'm not going to say it was legitimate, but I wouldn't assume it was a fake sale.

Okay now I will eat a little crow. >4 astropi: is technically correct. The sale actually ended as a Buy It Now. It was started as a 7 day auction, but ended when someone used the BIN. The end time and bid time are the same.

>6 Wootle: The auction ended by Best Offer; whether it was less than the asking price or more remains a mystery. When you click on 1 bid next to the selling price, you will see a Best Offer icon next to the price. Listing was a 7 day listing with a starting price of $4,999.00. Per eBay rules, BIN price has to be at least 30% higher than the starting bid and eBay would show that price after the sale...

Here is a more realistic recent sale of a sealed copy:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Easton-Press-How-to-Get-Rich-by-President-Donald-Trump-...

It probably sold to Trump who bought it with some donated funds.

>8 kdweber: Fake News! Believe Me!!! You're gonna hear from from my man, Giuliani! Big league, tremendous lawyer! This time he will dye his hair right! By sheer coincidence, my campaign has a recount fund, but the money won't go to it unless someone gives more than $8,333 and that is a FACT! $4,999 is less, do the math! My two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. :D:D:D

Eyeroll

>5 Wootle: it is actually the feedback number. Here is the seller's feedback, 3, as I noted


And although I don't know the buyer's identity, I guarantee you the feedback is 2

>1 HugoDumas:

Flagged for unnecessary political commentary. Feel free to cry in your pillow at home, but leave the politics out of here.

>12 mortalalliance:

Disagreeing with the content of a message is not grounds for flagging. See our Terms of Use.

>12 mortalalliance:

1. perverse: adjective (of a person or their actions) - showing a deliberate and obstinate desire to behave in a way that is unreasonable or unacceptable, often in spite of the consequences.
2. demagogue: noun - a political leader who seeks support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument.
3. Perverse demagoguery is closely linked to the cult of personality/cult of a leader. To those unfamiliar, here is a Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality

*Food for Thought:

"In the realm of politics, how can one intelligently decide which candidate to support or which program to endorse if one has no intellectual frame of reference in which to place the issues? If they are to be more than emotional expressions, political judgments need to rest on a set of deeper convictions about the proper nature of government, the relationship of the individual to the state, the question of whether human beings are ends in themselves or may be treated as means to the ends of others, the meaning of justice, and a good many other ethical issues. And all these questions lead to a still deeper question: What are my grounds for holding the views I hold? ("Because it's what my heart tells me" is not an answer.) A genuine concern with such issues is what it means to operate consciously in the political arena-what it means, for example, to vote consciously or to legislate consciously."

Nathaniel Branden ("The Art of Living Consciously")

On a quasi-related topic —

The only signed-by-the-author books I collect are presidential memoirs, and I have them all dating back to Coolidge (except of course for Roosevelt and Kennedy who died in office). Many of the more recent ones have been published by EP, so there is a pretty fair chance that Obama’s “A Promised Land” will be too at some future date.

In the meantime, Crown Publishing will be issuing a signed limited edition in the next week or so. Many resellers are already offering it on eBay at $390 and up, and it will probably be available directly from Crown also.

>12 mortalalliance: I hope that was a joke.
LibraryThing prohibits personal attacks, name-calling, commercial solicitation and spam, but not much else. Disagreeing with the content of a message is not grounds for flagging. See our Terms of Use.

There is nothing wrong with having a political thread or discussing politics. You are welcome to ignore the thread, at the top right you can click on "Ignore This Topic". However, flagging because you don't like the topic is against LibraryThing rules.

>16 jroger1: jroger

Any idea on what Crown Publishing will be offering the Obama book at? Or what the presellers originally paid for it?

>18 robbieac:
Unfortunately not. I don’t see it listed on their web site. Also, none of the resellers seem to know what the limitation is.

Agreed with 12 and flagged as well. Not political commentary when you are insulting people as fools because they bought a book you disagree with the politics of the author. I managed to voice my displeasure recently at a book that actually was political without calling anyone names who might be interested in it or even getting into politics.

>20 NyBSfP: I think he was referring to someone as being a "fool" for paying so much, not necessarily the contents of the book.
Also he was not referring to anyone by name, just some random buyer, so I don't feel that there is any grounds to flag.

Hello All,

This is Shawn. This group has great people. I know that folks have strong political opinions. I also know that folks in this group represent the entire spectrum of political, religious, and ideological beliefs.

Out of respect to one another, and to the purpose of this group, I ask that political discussion be taken elsewhere. There are plenty of other places to have these discussions. This forum is not the place.

Respectfully,

Shawn,

The founder of this group.

We must have stimulated interest in this masterpiece. There are now five copies available for lucky collectors ranging in price from $2,800 - $10,000. The one at $10,000 was sold on 11/26 and then relisted probably due to a retracted bid.

>21 astropi: Except plenty of books exist where someone could pay that kind of money. The cost wasn’t the focus, it was the excuse, and you all know it. So it was this book that was the problem, backed up by the immediate rant about the author and degradation of the group of people who do not share the OPs beliefs and would dare find this author appealing. And just like picking on a religion, there is no place to be spewing bigotry against a group you disagree with on this board. This is actually much more harmful behavior than a specific attack. Take it to Twitter if you can’t help yourself but stop infecting every place on earth with it. It absolutely deserved to be flagged because name calling and hatred spewing is ignorant garbage and not adult conversation no matter what the subject matter is.

>24 NyBSfP:
Great Post NYBSfP.
Thank you.
Everything you said is completely true.

I don’t come to this site to read someone’s garbage opinion and their hate filled propaganda.

There was as much “hate being spewed” by >24 NyBSfP: as there was by >1 HugoDumas:.

Can we all just get along and talk about Twain or Frankenstein?

>26 jroger1:

Jroger1: "Let me type some lies about NyBSfp first and then make a plea for us to 'all get along'."

LOL

Please point to one item that counts at "hate being spewed" by NyBSfP

>26 jroger1: Twain!!! Give it to me ... Let's discuss!!!

Just started reading EP's "Mark Twain's PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF JOAN OF ARC".

So excited to get deeper into it!

Oh ... and the trump book was crazy price. lol!!! No political judgement ... just ... uhh ... yeah, I don't get it ... but it's not in my personal interest to 'get it'. That's for others to 'get'.

So ... back to Twain! Like a swing state ... lets turn this post! hahaha. Ignore my silly humor!

>28 thisGuy33: Reading the EP Joan of Arc by Twain now, nearly finished and loving it. It is very different for Twain, but undeservedly neglected today.

Here’s a better question - what is the most expensive signed book you bought? I think I paid $750 give or take for the Franklin Jurassic Park signed by Crichton. But only because it was the true first edition as well and have built a pretty nice first edition signed collection of his. I don’t think I’d pay for a signed copy of anything that was more than that unless it was also a first edition or a long, long dead author.

>29 Betelgeuse: I think that's what excited me most about picking up the new EP version ... the claim that it's supposedly Twain's favorite book he wrote ... and that everyone said it was a different 'twain' ... call me intrigued at that point.

>30 NyBSfP: I have never purchased a 'signed' book ... because of its 'singed' feature. I have a ton of signed books ... I think the most expensive one I purchased was the FS 'book of the new sun' set ($750ish?).

But I'm not a collector so ... I would much rather buy these EP and FS titles minus the signatures if that would save me $$$. I love the way the books are produced (feel, smell, look) ... but I wish I didn't have to pay a premium for a signature.

lol

I actually am a fan of signatures. I think when an author signs a book, that makes it "special". Signatures carry weight and meaning.
That said, they don't have to be expensive. Some signed books are of course incredibly expensive, but many are not. EP is rather unique in that they have produced a tremendous amount of signed editions. One edition I really love is the DLE Slaughterhouse-Five. Not only is it signed by Vonnegut but it's also beautifully illustrated. You can find copies for around $500, so it's not cheap, but it's not particularly expensive as far as books go. I personally think it's underpriced to be honest - and will probably remain so until a new Slaughterhouse movie is made (one supposedly has been in development for a few years now).

Actually, it should be feasible to calculate the practical value of a signature. For any given book tour by an author (who presumably signs books while on said tour), there are only so many stops and those stops are generally located in fairly populated areas. Assuming one could obtain a numerical population density map, a few book tour itineraries, and a numerical average cost of living map, one could calculate the average travel costs for anyone within the region of those maps. In the US, most people would indeed have to travel a considerable amount to get to the closest book tour stop. To me, that's the most value I could place on the extra cost of the signature in a signed EP book - the amount of money they've saved me in travel expenses to get the signature in person. Of course, that ignores the possible interaction with the author, which would have far more value to me than the signature itself.