Thread Name: Interest in Modern Library declining??? From: Scot Kamins <kamins@removed> Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 10:19:32 -0700 I notice a decline in interest in Modern Library collecting. I base this on three things: 1) Decline in visitors to ModernLib as well as a decline in people applying for membership 2) Decline in general questions I get about the Modern Library (I used to get three or four a week, now I get maybe one a month) 3) Lack of traffic on this ListServ Does anyone else notice this as a trend? If it is a trend, I wonder why it is so? ------------------------------------- From: "Mark Braley" <mark.lscv@removed> Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 13:49:55 -0400 Scot: I also have noticed a slowdown on ML listings on e-bay. I attribute it to summertime. I am on a couple of favorite author listserves and they have also been slower the past few months. ------------------------------------- From: "JOSEPH HILL" <goodbooks@removed> Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:05:53 GMT With the advent of the net, we are having a great transition. ..some good things,some bad. The reasons, good & bad are legion. Just one small example; The Guide lists the Scribners Guide@ $75.00 in 1999. Today you can get copy for $10.00 as so many copies have materialized in the last few years. As to the Modern Library; the students of today know not of the ML, as our generation knows not of the Dodo All things have their time in the Sun, then fade into the twilight.. ------------------------------------- From: Greg Brister <jgbrister@removed> Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 16:11:38 -0500 From my perspective, I think the net in general and e-bay in particular have done much to quash the market for MLs. I got into collecting because of used bookstores with MLs all priced under 10 bucks (even for the rarest titles). Now, any bookseller with a jacketless copy of _Green Mansions_ thinks they can sell their copy on e-bay for any ridiculous price. I, for one, am looking forward to the day it's no longer fashionable to collect these things--then maybe I can go back to snapping them up at the prices they are really worth. ------------------------------------- From: Scot Kamins <kamins@removed> Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:57:54 -0700 Well, that's the whole point - is it still fashionable? That's what I'm questioning. (Idiots may price a jacketless four Plays by Shaw for $25- but nobody's gonna pay it. But that's a different discussion.) ------------------------------------- From: HTatML@removed> Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 20:11:16 EDT Interest in the Modern Library has been declining for years. The younger generation are not collecting them. Ten or fifteen years ago you could start a collection very cheap, three or four dollars per book in fine condition for both book and dj. Once you had probably around 80 ML you had to actually pay real cash for the more obscure titles, but by then you were hooked. Now it is difficult to pick up fine copies for a few bucks, consequently few new collectors are in the market. -------------------------------------