First editions of PGW! Where can I find them?

CharlasThe Drones Club (all things P.G. Wodehouse)

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First editions of PGW! Where can I find them?

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1doktorn
Editado: mayo 12, 2010, 10:49 am

Hello all my friends,

I'm glad to join this group, if you would have me, of course,
it may be just in and out!

I have nearly all of PGW's books, but in cheap pocket or reprinted versions.
Since a month back I started on a big project!
I'm going to build a collection of first editions, with dust jackets, and I have so far reached 10 books, inside reasonable prices.
Lot of time in front of this PC..
Living on the countryside in Sweden outside a small town, which don't have any antiquarian, I have over the 10 last years bought most books by the net. Mostly from ABEbooks.
I read a lot, often 2-4 books at same time on different subjects.
I have quite many first editions of WSC before, all fron UK.

My question is, where I can find most first editions at ABEbooks or some antiquarian,
who doesen't specialize on PGW, since they have prices you only can forget!
All hints would be warmly wellcomed!

More about me later on ;-)

Cheers

doktorn

2scarper
mayo 12, 2010, 2:22 pm

Hi there

eBay is good place to look and often less expensive than Abebooks. You can also save your searches and be emailed when the books you want are up for auction.

If you're looking for nice editions of PG, the recent Everyman's Library editions are lovely and readily available.

3abbottthomas
Editado: mayo 14, 2010, 6:20 pm

Welcome to the group, doktorn. I hope your wallet is deep - the early PGW books are what I for one would call expensive, and if you want dust jackets, the sky's the limit. Good luck in your quest, anyway.

Your post did prompt me to buy a copy of this: A bibliography and reader's guide to the first editions of P. G. Wodehouse by David A Jasen. I would really like this http://www.librarything.com/work/3360729
but a copy on Amazon was $900+, and on Abebooks £300+. Too much for me :-(

4doktorn
mayo 15, 2010, 11:40 am

Hello my friend,

I retired a year ago so my wallet is limited in some way...but we maniacs in literature are
willing to suffer the most!
I have Jasen's biography.
I have a better book and cheaper than you suggested which is just perfect and thatr's Joseph Connolly's 'P.G. Wodehouse An Illustrated Biography'.
It's perfect, no prices, since they are of no interest in real life, but perfect datyes about the books, when, where, colour of boards, dust jackets, missing printing years etc etc. SThin and elegant. A bargain at ABEbooks.
Buy it, and good lucjk to you my friend

doktorn

5abbottthomas
mayo 15, 2010, 12:27 pm

>4 doktorn: Thanks for the recommendation, doktorn. I'll look out for that. I have a 1977 book by Connolly - Collecting Modern First Editions - which does offer prices, but, of course, it is hopelessly out of date. As you say, though, prices are not important ;-)

6abbottthomas
Jun 1, 2010, 6:40 pm

Jasen's bibliograpgy has arrived and excellent it is. Clear (and hopefully accurate) descriptions of first editions are useful but the comprehensive lists of characters, places and things, and publishers are very valuable. Highly recommended (for those who like lists!)

7thorold
Jun 2, 2010, 3:56 am

It would be nice if someone did a reprint of McIlvaine some time! Jasen is probably the best source for most purposes. The most boring of Wodehouse's biographers, but a fiend for details. Even the short bibliographies in the back of his biography are a very useful guide.

For characters, I find Professor Garrison's who's Who in Wodehouse very handy - it does have a few errors, but on the whole you can trust it.

As for sources of cheap first editions - please tell us if you find one! :-)
In these days when any charity shop can check the price of a book on ABE in a matter of seconds, the chance of finding a bargain in an obscure little bookshop is minimal. If you want a first edition of any of the pre-1914 books, you might need a second mortgage. On the other hand, some of the more recent ones, especially post-1945, are reasonably easy to find at sane prices. And if you're not super-fussy about pristine condition and dustjackets (i.e. you're buying for the pleasure of owning and reading, not as an investment), you should even be able to get back as far as the thirties without breaking the bank.