Friday, February 24, 2006

When Is A Sale Not A Sale?

Barnes and Noble has put some of its "Barnes and Noble Classic Editions" on sale. Classics--a word which here means "stories written long enough ago, with authors dead enough that there is no longer copyright on them." Also known as "Public Domain."

But still--these are hardcover books, substantially sized so they are, in fact, easy to read. Some of the greats are represented: Dickens, the Brontes, Kafka. Last week, they were three for $10--a very nice price for some solid and good looking books. So I bought some.

This week, they were further discounted to $1 each. The stock was quickly snapped up.

That--of course!--was when I noticed I had purchased only volume 2 of "The Complete Sherlock Holmes." So, in fact, it was NOT complete.

Could I find volume 1? Anywhere? Of course not! But you CAN'T have just volume 2! That's ridiculous! It's not so much the complete Sherlock Holmes as "e plete lock mes." And who wants to read that?

So I had to go online. The matching edition is still available. Full price. Plus shipping. Dang.

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