I maintain a private list of Easton Press collectors who have expressed an interest in being notified when I get new collections in.

All of these collections are purchased on the secondary market from other collectors.  I receive the collections, inspect each volume for flaws, grade them, and guarantee their condition and availability.  At that point, I place a price on the volumes that I would accept as a minimum bid if they were to be auctioned.  I then begin sending out notices to the members of that list.

The first group of notices goes to anyone who has provided me with an explicit want list of volumes starting with the oldest list on file and proceeding to the newest.  Once I am through that list, any volumes remaining are offered to the members of my notification list.  There is no bidding allowed during this process.  If more than one person wants a volume, ties are broken in the following manner:

1. Are they requesting more than 1 volume
2. When did the message arrive in my inbox

Preference is given to someone who is NOT requesting more than 1 volume.  Preference is also given to someone who needs 1 or 2 volumes to complete a collection or have had a long standing request for a difficult to find out of print volume.  This allows volumes to be spread out evenly instead of one person possibly taking all of the volumes.  I wait 3 calendar days, give or take a few hours, before finalizing anything.  (I don't live by a stop watch.)  Once a volume is finalized to a member, that volume is locked and taken unless that member subsequently decides they will pass on the volume, it then passes to the second on the list etc. until the volume is gone.

Consider the following example:

I receive a collection of 4 volumes: "Shakespeare's Complete Tragedies" from 100 Greatest Books, "Huckleberry Finn" from Mark Twain Library, "JFK" from Library of the Presidents, and "Tarzan" from the Science Fiction Library.  Bill, Jim, Bob, and Tim are all on my notification list.  Jim has sent me a want list for "Tarzan of the Apes" 9 months ago and it is the only volume he needs to complete that collection.  Bill, Bob, and Tim haven't sent in a want list.  Jim gets notified first of the volumes that have come in.  Bill and Bob get the second group of notices that go out.  Bill replies first that he wants all 4 volumes.  Tim replies second that he wants the "Tarzan" volume to finish his Science Fiction collection and Huckleberry Finn.  Bob relies third that he wants "JFK".  Jim replied last saying he wants the "Tarzan" volumes.  Each person would wind up with 1 volume as follows:

• Jim - "Tarzan" because he needed it to complete a collection and has had a want list for it for the last 9 months
• Bill - "Shakespeare's Complete Tragedies" because he is the only one who wanted that volume
• Tim - "Huckleberry Finn" because he was not allocated any other volume since Jim got "Tarzan" and Bill already has a volume
• Bob - "JFK" because he was not allocated any other volume and Bill already has a volume

Why do I do it this way?  It allows the volumes to get spread around and not monopolized by a single person.  Everyone gets an even shot at getting at least 1 volume as long as they respond within the 3 calendar day deadline.

Please don't start sending me massive want lists.  I only file want lists for books that are out of print.  If the volume hasn't gone out of print yet, I don't maintain want lists for those.

The notification list serves 2 additional purposes, but these are kept at a minimum.  The second purpose is to inform everyone if a particular volume or series is going to be discontinued by Easton Press.  (When I can find that information out.)  The third purpose is a protective one as was witnessed recently by the members of the list.  If I encountered someone selling Easton Press volumes that are stolen, grossly misrepresented, is abusive to customers, or falls into any of the description for extremely poor and possibly illegal or fraudulent business practices, I'll send an alert out to the notification list with as much detail as possible.  This list is not used for personal or petty squabbles between parties.  It is only used for that third purpose in cases where the conduct is so grossly outside the bounds of good conduct or business that everyone should stay as far away as possible.

The notification list I maintain is very large from my dealings with many people over the years.  I never disclose the members of that list or the size of that list.  All information is strictly private and confidential.  I have no automated mechanism to join the notification list and all maintenance of the list is done manually.  This keeps the list of subscribers at a high quality and keeps helps keep out those who would otherwise seek to corrupt or damage that list.  If you would like to be added to my Easton Press notification list, simply send a message with Notification List in the subject.  While I would hate to see someone depart that list, you can also send me a request to be removed from the list as well.

If you are looking to sell your collection for whatever reason, full or partial, contact me to discuss terms and payment schedules.