bargain books

I read most of my books on my iPad Kindle app these days, but I was thinking recently about how much I have enjoyed bargain books in the past. Then what should show up in the mail but a catalog from Daedalus Books: one of the leading mail order sellers of bargain books.

Bargain books come in three categories:

• Remainders: where the publisher sells its stock of a title, usually but not always hardcover, to a distributor that gets the book out to retailers at a deeply discounted price.
• Reprints: books, generally out of copyright, that are reprinted and sold in less expensive editions.
• Imports: books imported from elsewhere and sold at a low price.

The catalog was just too tempting. I ordered three books, two for me and one for Terry: one remainder and two imports.

I love my Kindle books, but here’s to books on paper. And to bargain books.