Tuesday, August 28, 2012

How many of these 'Most Sought After Out-of-Print Books' have you read?

Earlier this week, the good people at BookFinder.com put out their yearly list of “100 Most Sought After Out-of-Print Books.”

This year marks the tenth year in which BookFinder.com has released such a list, which it compiles annually based on searches on its Web site during the previous 12 months.

Before I get to the list, allow me a few words about out-of-print books. In essence, an out-of-print book is a book that is no longer available for sale or distribution or is a book that is difficult to find because the only copies remaining exist in libraries, private collections or archives. In other words, these books are rare and difficult to get your hands on. According to BookFinder.com, 98 to 99 percent of all books ever published are now out of print.

BookFinder.com, which was founed in 1997, comes into play because it mainly serves as a search engine of over 150 million books that are for sale, including used, rare and out-of-print books held by booksellers in over 50 countries.

Without further ado, here is BookFinder.com’s “Top 100 Most Sought-After Out-of-Print Books in 2012” list.

1. “Sex” by Madonna
2. “Rage” by Stephen King
3. “Promise Me Tomorrow” by Nora Roberts
4. “My Pretty Pony” by Stephen King
5. “Pure, White and Deadly: The Problem of Sugar” by John Yudkin

6. “Mandingo” by Kyle Onstott
7. “Man in Black” by Johnny Cash
8. “Codex Seraphinianus” by Luigi Serafini
9. “365 Bedtime Stories” by Nan Gilbert
10. “Tudor Roses” by Alice Starmore

11. “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” by Cameron Crowe
12. “A Treasury of Great Recipes” by Mary and Vincent Price
13. “Dark Carnival” by Ray Bradbury
14. “The Jerusalem Bible,” illustrated by Ray Bradbury
15. “Sisters” by Lynne Cheney

16. “Arithmetic Progress Papers” by H. Henry Thomas
17. “Beyond the Plough” by Janet Woods
18. “Labyrinth: A Novel” by A.C.H. Smith
19. “In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting” by Ray Garton
20. “I Go Pogo” by Walt Kelly

21. “Phoebe and the Hot Water Bottles” by Linda Dawson and Terry Furchgott
22. “Advise and Consent” by Allen Drury
23. “The Centurions” by Jean Larteguy
24. “Fly Fishing: Memories of Angling Days” by J.R. Hartley
25. “Little Witch” by Anna Elizabeth Bennett

26. “Collector’s Guide to Colt .45 Service Pistols” by W. Clawson
27. “Reflections of Nero: Culture, History and Representation” by Jas Elsner
28. “The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition” by C.S. Lewis
29. “The Bishop’s Wife” by Robert Nathan
30. “Ilsa” by Madeleine L’Engle

31. “Reluctant King: The Life and Reign of George VI, 1895-1952” by Sarah Bradford
32. “Murmurs of Earth” by Carl Sagan
33. “Cards As Weapons” by Ricky Jay
34. “British Battleships of World War II” by Alan Raven and John Roberts
35. “Book of Indians” by Clancy Holling

36. “Halloween” by Curtis Richards
37. “Good Vibes” by Jay Cronley
38. “The Golden Book of the Civil War” by Charles Flato
39. “Ticket to Ride” by Dennis Potter
40. “Hell, I Was There” by Elmer Keith

41. “House of Bondage” by Ernest Cole
42. “The Pink Dress” by Anne Alexander
43. “The Big Country” by Donald Hamilton
44. “Stuart: A History of the American Light Tank” by R.P. Hunnicutt
45. “Big League Sales Closing Techniques” by Les Dane

46. “A Payroll to Meet: A Story of Greed, Corruption and Football at SMU” by David Whitford
47. “Too Good to be Threw” by Kate Holmes
48. “A Treasury of American Prints” by Thomas Craven
49. “To Drop a Dime” by Paul Hoffman
50. “Country Landscapes in Watercolor” by John Blockley

51. “Crochet Lace: An Illustrated Guide to Making Crochet Lace Fabrics” by Mary Konior
52. “The Glass of Fashion” by Cecil Beaton
53. “The Act of Creation” by Arthur Koestler
54. “Bowman of Crecy” by Ronald Welch
55. “The Windflower” by Laura London

56. “The Bishop’s Wife” by Robert Nathan
57. “The King Ranch” by Tom Lea
58. “The Assembly Line” by Milt Tenopir
59. “Practical Gunsmithing” by Edward Matunas
60. “Tellers of Tales: 100 Short Stories from the United States, England, France, Russia and Germany” by W. Somerset Maugham

61. “Eve of the End” by Allan D. Richter
62. “Mastering Atmosphere and Mood in Watercolor: The Critical Ingredients that Turn Paintings into Art” by Joseph Zbukvic
63. “The Star Conquerors” by Ben Bova
64. “Second Sight” by David Williams
65. “Covenant with Death” by John Harris

66. “The Blood Star” by Nicholas Guild
67. “McCoys: Their Story as Told to the Author by Eye Witnesses and Descendants” by Truda Williams McCoy and Leonard Roberts
68. “The Magic Talisman” by John Blaine
69. “The House Without Windows” by Barbara Newhall Follett
70. “The Vision and Beyond: Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come” by David Wilkerson

71. “Pancakes A to Z” by Marie Simmons
72. “She Is The Darkness” by Glen Cook
73. “Cyborg” by Martin Caidin
74. “Currier & Ives: Printmakers to the American People” by Harry Twyford Peters
75. “The Wonderful Fashion Doll” by Laura Bannon

76. “Jennie” by Paul Gallico
77. “The Bumper Book: A Harvest of Stories and Verses” by Watt Piper
78. “The Modern Gunsmith” by James Virgil Howe
79. “DRUM” by Kyle Onstott
80. “Birds of Britain” by John D. Green

81. “Carriage Entrance” by Polan Banks
82. “The Septuagint Bible” by Charles Thomson
83. “Basic Building Data: 10,000 Timeless Construction Facts” by Don Graf
84. “Notations” by John Cage
85. “Apple Pigs” by Ruth Orbach

86. “The Ideal Community City” by Alexei Gutnov
87. “Coal” by J. Jason Grant
88. “A Treasury of Grand Opera” by Henry W. Simon
89. “War in the Modern Great Power System, 1495-1975” by Jack S. Levy
90. “Our Journey in the Life” by Doyle C. Barnes

91. “Approaches to Translation” by Peter Newmark
92. “The Black Sun” by Kyle Onstott and Lance Homer
93. “Turkish Delight” by Jan Wolkers
94. “Almonds and Raisins” by Maisie Mosco
95. “Alvin Fog, Texas Ranger” by John Thomas Edson

96. “Basic Medical Laboratory Subjects” by Hugh Woosley
97. “Hand and Rod Puppets: A Handbook of Technique” by Hansjurgen Fettig
98. “The Lost Boys” by Craig Shaw Gardner
99. “102 Favorite Paintings” by Norman Rockwell
100. “The Imperialists” by William Stuart Long

In the end, how many of these books have you read? How many of these books do you happen to own? Which did you like or dislike? Which would you recommend and why? Let us know in the comments section below.

(To learn more about the books mentioned above or to see earlier rare books lists, visit BookFinder.com’s Web site at www.bookfinder.com.)

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