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Debate: Should you trust that old librarian who told you to 'never judge a book by its cover'?
I got told by a retired book scout at a garage sale in Austin to always flip through any book with water damage because it hides first editions, but I tried that on a soggy old copy of 'The Swiss Family Robinson' and got a stained moldy mess with no hidden value, so has anyone else found that logic actually holds up or is it a myth?
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logan2995mo ago
Man, I had a buddy try that exact thing with a stack of damp books from his grandpa's basement. He found a first edition Hemingway in a moldy copy of The Old Man and the Sea, so maybe @grant_ross27 is onto something about it being a rare, old-school trick. Meanwhile, I'm still picking mildew out of my copy of Swiss Family Robinson.
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grant_ross275mo ago
A retired book scout in Austin gave you that advice? Man, that sounds like some old timer trick that might have worked back when people actually left valuable books in soggy piles. I've flipped through plenty of damp books at estate sales and all I ever got was a headache from the mildew smell. Guess that advice is about as reliable as finding gold in a random creek bed.
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the_brooke4mo ago
Wait, a retired book scout gave that advice specifically in Austin? That's almost too specific to be a random garage sale story - though I guess it worked out way better for logan299's buddy than it did for you or me with that Swiss Family Robinson mess.
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