Getting ahold of a scalped book

I often use Abebooks ( https://www.abebooks.co.uk/ ) if I am trying to ascertain the marketplace value / likely availability of UK / globally difficult to source books.

If the book had a US printing then have a browse on ebay.com and amazon.com as they have a lot on there, including lots of out of print and rare editions.

A book won't become expensive just because some sellers want it to be - it will be down to supply and demand so if it had a small production run or is a quite niche book with few copies in the format you want then the sellers are just seeing that there is competition for the available copies so they will match what others are willing to pay when listing them.

The market does not care what the original price was - it is all about what people will pay now. That is market forces at work.

I found this with some of the early books by Gary Gygax (the guy who created Dungeons and Dragons) which sold for peanuts originally due to lack of demand but now are scarce so start at about £15 for a rough copy with plenty in the £40 bracket - for something you could pick up for 50p at the time.

I suspect you may just need to accept that this is now the price and decide if it is worth it for you or not.

By scalped copy I mean that by far the cheapest copy I can find is five times the original sale price and most likely a stolen library book. Also other books in the same series just before and after this volume are being sold secondhand at less than the original sale price so I’m fairly sure that either too few of the book was printed or a bunch of people are trying to upsell it for a ridiculous amount of money.

As for printing out the ebook, one the only places it is sold have DRM that I’m unsure on how to crack. And two, because I have already gotten the books before I this one in the series I would like it to resemble the original book otherwise it’ll just continuously trigger my OCD every time I see it on my shelf.

Do you have an ISBN or title/author for us to help search for it?

There are loads of sources of second hand books both in the UK and overseas that can have it.

What would you consider a reasonable price though? Some books are expensive because they are rare and supply/demand will dictate the prices.It can be rare to track down an affordable copy although you can sometimes buy it in a job lot of books and then sell on the other books you don't want to mitigate the cost.

What do you mean a "scalped copy" by the way? Is this a stolen library book?

Lastly, are you aware you can print out ebooks and then bind them so you have something approaching a regular book?

I suggest creating a "saved search" on eBay, using the book's title and/or author. You'll then be notified as and when any items are newly listed.

Instructions are available here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/search-tips/saved-searches?id=4051 

Apart from mayve ringing round secondhand bookshops I haven't got any helpful suggestions for buying it. Sorry

Try Amazon. Some second hand books are available for sale on the same webpage as the new editions. Usually the condition of the book is stated.

Also, try searching online for second hand bookshops and contact each one you find.

What about if I also want to own a copy of the book?

Try the local library. If they don't have it already they should be able to either buy a copy or order it in from the intra-library lending thingy. Anyone living in the local authority area can join the library for free and if you just want to read a book(not own it) they should be able to help in most cases.