/lit/ - Literature

>>8754561
Because I don't mind them.

My used book store has beautiful leatherbound and hardbound books in addition to nicely maintained paperbacks. There are a lot of books in shit condition but that's not really a reason not to go to a used book store, it is a reason to not buy a shit book

>>8754561
you know some people take care of their books, right? plus some used books are just as fresh as retail, just that they've been bought and never used or read.

Cause I buy them to read not put on a shelf and look at.

>>8754594
>>8754594
fucking this. if anything, the more worn down a book is, the more character it has.

>>8754594
Of course, I buy books to read them. I never said I didn't, retard.

cause i'm cheap/poor.

>>8754561
>Implying a shelf of new books is more aesthetically pleasing than a shelf of new ones

Get off of this board pleb

Because fuck 8.99 for a 100 page novella

>>8754633
lmao i'm not the one who can't afford new books. An actual pleb calling someone else a pleb. That's rich.

>>8754561
I'm reading books from the library and when I'm rich I'm just going to splurge on a really nice book collection.

>>8754641
There were plenty of rich plebians and poor patricians by the late republic.

>>8754619

Then what does it matter? Your library may be pretty, but it is pure vanity and a waste of money comparatively, also the best libraries are full of read books.

>>8754561
Used books are cheaper than the bus fare it would take for me to get to my closest library

>>8754641

Buying new isn't that expensive, it's lumenprole tier at best. Call me when you are actually collecting something of value.

>>8754654
Which brings us back to the original question I posed. Since buying new books isn't that expensive, why buy used?

>>8754662

Value

>>8754652
How much is the bus fare? You must live very far away or buy very cheap books.

(Can't you check out like 10 books and cut down on trips?)

I think, rather you need to justify why you should buy new books at all.

There are so many second hand ones about for so little that buying a new book is practically an act of wasteful vanity.

Do you vainly want to appear as some pipe-smoking turn of the century intellectual who lounges about in a bathrobe in a regency study?

>>8754662

Also paying four dollars for a like new copy is the wiser choice.

>>8754619
>harboring this much anger towards someone who didnt insult you
>being this paranoid of being accused of being a pseud

wew lad

>>8754561

I genuinely don't give a shit about the aesthetic of whatever edition I'm buying -- only the content. I can understand why people value interesting cover art or large thematically consistent shelves of books but personally those things hold no value to me.

Why do you mind an ugly cover when you're only going to look at it standing in a shelf?

Also I take my books everywhere, and no matter how hard you try to avoid it, they always end up looking a little used around the edges. So I'll just buy the used ones that don't mind being crammed in my bag.

This board is for the proletariat, you bourgeois scum

>>8754561
Worn out spines are less of a problem in slimmer volumes, and not all used books have been read, either. As for covers, older ones are often better, this is particularly true for genre fiction.

But it's true that some books wear better than others. Those black Penguin classics that flake away to the white underneath.

In Denmark there is a lot of book stores with used books in a really good quality. And compared to new books they are much cheaper - A new novel is 40$+...

>>8754561

>Why do people buy used books?

I buy them for rare/obscure books that have been long out of print. Short of a Bibliotik account (which I don't have) there is literally no other way for me to obtain them otherwise.

Or I'll buy used for one that is in print if the retail option is ludicrous but I can get a good or above quality far cheaper.

I want to read stuff, but I have no money to buy new ones, so I buy cheaper used books instead :)

>>8754561
Is this the stupidest thread on /lit/?

Smelly second-hand books are an essential part of the authentic bohème lifestyle, my friend.