Martin Bairstow books mystery

[SquireBev]

For years I've been trying to get hold of a copy of Martin Bairstow's Leeds Huddersfield and Manchester Railway, having long ago foolishly given my old copy away to a charity shop.

As far as I can tell, unlike his other books it has never been re-released in the new series with a full colour front cover. The only editions I could find were the old series, and sellers were asking around £170 for a copy!

Recently I tracked down a copy for about a fiver, but upon arrival I realised it wasn't the same edition I used to have. Since then, all the editions previously on sale for £170 have reappeared at more sensible prices (£12ish).

Can anyone shed any light on this?

 

[plarailfan]

There's one here on ebay that recently sold for £12 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leeds-Hud...287190?hash=item41b4912c56:g:n8oAAOSwWTRW0F72
A few years ago, I was made redundant and so, in between jobs, I had a stall on Huddersfield second hand market.
Some of the railway books that I had on my stall were priced at around £3-£5 while the ones listed by other sellers on Amazon and ebay were unsold, often priced at £20 upwards.
A look around model railway exhibitions can often reveal traders with books and models at inflated prices, but more often than not, the seller is financially secure or retired and just doing it for a hobby. They are more interested in taking part in the event than actually selling things, while the traders who are trying to make some income, try and be realistic and fair with their pricing structure.
A minority of books are rare and sought after and those can sometimes fetch a good price, but what is popular today might not necessarily, be "in fashion" tomorrow.

 

[SquireBev]

There's one here on ebay that recently sold for £12 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leeds-Hud...287190?hash=item41b4912c56:g:n8oAAOSwWTRW0F72

Yep, that's the same edition I ended up buying. All the "New Enlarged Editions" were silly money.

I wish I got to enough exhibitions and fairs to make it a viable option, but Worcestershire is pretty barren when it comes to that sort of thing, particularly if you don't drive.

We've almost certainly crossed paths at Huddersfield market though. Before moving down here I used to have a good mooch around every few weeks.