Just for fun...

[S]

Greetings All,
Just a bit of fun for Friday: For those of you interested in history with *lots* of dinero, shillings, dollars et al to spend, I see on the Internet you can pick up some interesting books..
Susan, for your study collection:Alexander the Great- An Account of His Life...from Ethiopic Sources, only $233.75 USA dollars;
Nick, so you have a complete set:John Malcolm's History of Persia (1815) for only $9000 (*surely* a misprint?!?);
And for the Roman versus Greek set: Sigonius's History of Rome for a pittance of $1350.00..
I suppose I will not complain about the price of in-print books again!
What is the highest priced Greek-Roman book others have seen? What is the highest priced Alexander book?
All in fun,
Regards,
Sikander

[Tre]

There was a very old copy of Curtius that all the translations derive from, which I believe sold for millions at auction.

[nick]

Thanks Sikander -If I ever win the lottery, I know what to do now:
- buy ourselves a new home
- by myself a new Porsche again (I had to sell my old one in 1998 - you know, costs)
- start building up my Alexander library of really precious books. They all look good! I would enjoy the Ethiopian one very much - probably best of all.Regards -
Nick

[susan]

I borrowed the Ethiopian version of the Alexander Romance on loan from the British Library ( only -ú3) and it was totally incomprehensible - there was scarcely a name that I could recognise. There were a lot of lists of conquered peoples, none of which made any sense - so I wouldn't spend too much money on it ! The Syrian version of the Romance was much better.My favourite Alexander book is Arrian, which was the first book that I bought when I went to University. Having come from a small English seaside town with a small public library, I was amazed to find that I could buy these books from an ordinary bookshop. The most expensive Alexander book I've bought is Heckel, which is very good but I wish there was an index; the next is Fraser's Cities of Alexander, which is quite heavy-going.Susan

[Nicator]

I inherited my Arrian book from my brother. He took a humanities class in high school. Years later I found the book in some box with some of his college books while trying to find some calculus books to assist me with a take home test (of which I scored the class high on). The book bounced around unread for years, and then one day my now ex-wife tossed it into the trash. Fortunately, I saw it and managed to recover it. It's doggy-eared, dark yellow pages, and falling apart at the seams. I have taped it back together on a number of occasions, but I'm afraid eventually, I'll have to retire it for a new copy. Right around the same time, I was finishing "The Nature of Alexander" and needed a new book to dig into. She gave me the ultimatum...either her or the book. I think I made the right choice, and sent her on her way.(just kidding, but the post heading does say just for fun).later Nicator

[gahauser]

Hi Sikander!!I know of one Alexander book that's reasonably priced! Mine! But its priceless to me!
Imagine having that kind of wedge to invest in one book. It must be nice. I guess I'll have to be satisfied with trade paperbacks for now though-GA Hauser
http://www.authorga.com

[davej]

Hi Nick ,I have been in the same situation many times. My wife is not a classicist and "all that antiquity stuff is dumb, they are all dead, who cares".. "Get over it" is a common arguement. However having said that she tolerates it and me and is a great mum to my two kids (Alexnader and Parker). The books or the kids now there a choice. Not really, Bye bye books.

[davej]

Sorry GA, I responded to the wrong post. This was for Nick. What I wanted to say to you was, if I read fiction I would love to give your book a bash. You sound as if you have done your homework which means your book is even more dangerous to me. The closer fiction is to factthe more likely it is to creep into your own historical work. Maybe some day when I am smart nough not to get confussed I will read it. I might buy a copy for my wife for xmas anyway.

[marcus]

Sorry, Dave, I think you have your priorities wrong (with emphasis on the ).Marcus