100 Most Wanted Out-of-Print Books by Abebooks: fascinating even with nothing I’m eager for

Today, the book seller Abebooks put together its annual list of the “100 Most Wanted Out of Print Books”. The list was first published in 2003, and has become an annual event.

In my younger days, the fact of a book being out of print attracted a lot of attention especially if I could find it in a library. With the exception of certain special topics (and by no means all specialist topics) where the perspective of the past time is critical – for example football or rugby club histories – this is not so much the case nowadays. In most cases, an easily-found book will do “the trick” just as well as something that is rare and expensive – though, again with old Wisdens there is a conspicuous exception and even the Willows reprints can be costly.

Most of the books listed below have been on the list for a number of years and in many cases the authors – sometimes very well-known people as with Sex’s author Madonna and for vice-President Dick Cheney’s wife’s Sisters – will refuse requests for a reprint or even a print-on-demand copy.

1. On the Psychology of Military Incompetence by Norman F. Dixon
2. The Lovely Reed: An Enthusiast’s Guide to Building Bamboo Fly Rods by Jack Howell
3. Sex by Madonna
4. The Body by Stephen King
5. Rage by Richard Bachman (Stephen King)
6. The Colorado Kid by Stephen King
7. The Road We Are Traveling by Stuart Chase
8. On the Nature and Existence of God by Richard M. Gale
9. 365 Bedtime Stories by Nan Gilbert
10. Collector’s Guide to Colt .45 Service Pistols by Charles W. Clawson
11. Dark Carnival by Ray Bradbury
12. The Harvard Classics (51 volumes) edited by Charles W. Eliot
13. A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price
14. Promise Me Tomorrow by Nora Roberts
15. The Jerusalem Bible by Salvador Dalí
16. Vibration Analysis for Electronic Equipment by Dave S. Steinberg
17. Fast Times at Ridgemont High by Cameron Crowe
18. Mastering Atmosphere and Mood in Watercolor by Joseph Zbukvić
19. The Thwarting of Laplace’s Demon: Arguments Against the Mechanistic World-View by Richard Green
20. Arithmetic Progress Papers by H. Henry Thomas
21. Racing Toward Judgment by David R Wilkerson
22. My Pretty Pony by Stephen King
23. Cards As Weapons by Ricky Jay
24. History of Art by H.W. Janson
25. The Angelique Series by Sergeanne (Anne) Golon
26. Murmurs of Earth by Carl Sagan
27. Ilsa by Madeleine L‘Engle
28. The Modern Gunsmith by James Virgil Howe
29. Mandingo by Kyle Onstott
30. The Afronauts by Cristina de Middel
31. Airport by Arthur Hailey
32. British General Staff: Reform and Innovation by David French
33. 102 Favorite Paintings by Norman Rockwell
34. The Pink Dress by Anne Alexander
35. An American Exodus: A Record of Human Erosion by Dorothea Lange
36. Sisters by Lynne Cheney
37. Unintended Consequences by John Ross
38. War in the Modern Great Power System 1495-1975 by Jack S. Levy
39. Pookie by Ivy Wallace
40. Fly Fishing: Memories of Angling Days by J.R. Hartley
41. Analysis of Beam Grids and Orthotropic Plates by the Guyon-Massonet-Bares Method by Richard Bares and Charles Ernest Massonet
42. Cyborg by Martin Caidin
43. Golden Book of the Civil War by Charles Flato
44. I Go Pogo by Walt Kelly
45. Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth by David Wilkerson
46. A History of Hand Knitting by Richard Rutt
47. Hell, I Was There by Elmer Keith
48. A Pattern Book of Tatting by Mary Konior
49. The Book of Indians by Holling C. Holling
50. Phoebe and the Hot Water Bottles by Linda Dawson and Terry Furchgott
51. Women Are Beautiful by Garry Winogrand
52. Basic Building Data: 10,000 Timeless Construction Facts by Don Graf
53. In A Dark Place by Ray Garton
54. A Complete Guide to Learning and Understanding Chi Mind Control by Mike Dayton
55. Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words by Johnny Cash
56. The Bumper Book, A Harvest of Stories and Verses by Watty Piper
57. The Act of Creation by Arthur Köstler
58. Be Not Conformed to This World: a Narrative History of the Weaverland Mennonites, 1900-1975 by Roy Burkholder
59. The King Ranch by Tom Lea
60. The Riddle of Steel : Roleplaying with an Edge by Jacob Norwood
61. Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns by Barbara Brackman
62. The Holy Bible by Rev. Alfred Nevin
63. The Big Country by Donald Hamilton
64. Open Water Swimming by Penny Lee Dean
65. Mastering Atmosphere and Mood in Watercolor: the Critical Ingredients That Turn Paintings into Art by Joseph Zbukvić
66. Anglo-French relations and strategy on the Western Front 1914-18 by William James Philpott
67. Crochet Lace: An Illustrated Guide to Making Crochet Lace Fabrics by Mary Konior
68. First Lessons in Drawing and Painting by Jack Hamm
69. Stuart: A History of the American Light Tank by R.P. Hunnicutt
70. Turkish Delight by Jan Wolkers
71. Categories, Bundles and Spacetime Topology by C.T.J. Dodson
72. To Drop A Dime by Paul Hoffman
73. Anybody Can Do Anything by Betty MacDonald
74. Kalinda by Evan Green
75. Lost Tribes and Promised Lands: The Origins of American Racism by Ronald Sanders
76. Professional Pattern Grading for Women’s, Men’s, and Children’s Apparel by Jack Handford
77. Sam’s Sandwich by David Pelham
78. The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes by Kenneth Nathaniel Taylor
79. Kelso’s Shrug Book by Paul Kelso
80. The Negro motorist green book: an international travel guide by Victor H Green
81. We by Charles Lindbergh
82. The Story of Civilization by Will Durant
83. The Barrakee Mystery by Arthur W. Upfield
84. The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy
85. Isms and Ologies: A Guide to Unorthodox and Non-Christian Beliefs by Arnold Kellett
86. Precious Souls: A Culture Unraveling by Nazareth V. Asorian
87. Impact Dynamics by Jonas A. Zukas
88. The Theory of Isotope Separation as Applied to the Large Scale Production of U₂₃₅ by Karl P. Cohen
89. This World and That: The Autobiography of a Diver by Thomas Ferris Milne
90. Directory of Alternative Communities in the British Isles by Michele
91. The Erotic Art of Edgar Britton by Jane Hilberry
92. Halloween by Curtis Richards
93. A Different Kind of Life by Virginia Williams
94. The Innovators The New Holland Story Hardcover by Homer K. Luttringer
95. South African Botanical Art: Peeling Back the Petals by Marion Arnold
96. The Airgun from Trigger to Target by Gerard Michael Cardew and G.V. Cardew
97. Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor by Seth A. Klarman
98. Birds of Britain by John D. Green
99. Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual by Bill Mollison
100. Beyond the Plough by Janet Woods

On the whole, some of these books, notably those on the Mennonites, Milne’s autobiography and Richard Green’s work on mechanistic worldviews, would be of interest to me. Most of the rest, however, certainly stand at least largely replaceable.