In the door just after the Gollancz edition of A Better Mantrap comes the Gollancz hardback of one of Bob Shaw’s early novels, The Two Timers.

Again the book is in great condition, pretty good considering this is from 1969 – and was sold for 25 /-. It may be gobbledygook to most people nowadays and is fairly alien to me as I grew up just as decimilisation was coming in so I don’t really know ‘old money’, but I do know it means twenty five shillings (I hope that’s what it means).

I wasn’t taught pounds shillings and pence but pounds and pence and that’s what I can’t count in. I’ve a mind to read this novel again and I might just.

The Gollancz hardback edition of A Better Mantrap has arrived, and it’s in great nick.

I’m just wondering if people actually read his books or if it’s just me. A lot of the hardbacks I’ve bought second hand recently have been in immaculate condition, as if they haven’t been read. The hardbacks I bought when they first came out show obvious signs of being read, particularly Fire Pattern as I read that two or three times within a year of getting it. I’m not saying my books are library editions but it is noticeable that they’ve been read, not so with the books I’ve recently bought.

I got the one I wanted most out of all the items I’m bidding on eBay this week. Bob Shaw’s The Two Timers in the Gollancz hardback edition. £35 with free postage (postage can sometimes add up to as much as twelve pounds to the price; particularly if I’m buying from America). This is pretty good considering the prices elsewhere start at around about £50 plus postage for the cheapest copies available on the web. And it’s a very uncommon book to find on the web, particularly as it’s a very old novel of Shaw’s. It’s said to be in good to very good condition but I’ll see what it’s like when it arrives, which hopefully won’t take too long seeing as the seller is in the UK. I have an SF Book club hardback edition which I read years ago and found it to be a very engrossing book.