A good price for Hortus III?

I've about decided that I *need* Hortus; and I could be a very old woman by the time Hortus IV comes out so I started looking on eBay. Somebody has a decent-looking hardback for bidding right now. Current bid is $20 plus shipping (how much does that thing weigh???) and I asked the seller how he/she plans to ship it - I don't want to pay an exorbitant shipping price.

I also saw where I can get a two-volume paperback set at Barnes & Noble for $32, with free shipping if I order something else (geez, why don't they twist my arm a little harder, LOL!)

Any pros/cons to paperback vs. hardback (aesthetics aside)? And - even better - any ideas where I can pick one up for less than $35? (I know they run $150 new, but I'd like to get it as inexpensively as possible, and save my pennies for more plants!) Thanks!!!!

Vols,
Have you tried half.com?
I've found some great deals there
on books and tapes.
Shipping there is usually Media rate,
pretty reasonable.
Good luck! :-)

Vols - I got a brand new paperpack off e-bay for about $12 - still in the plastic package. I'm pretty sure it's the same as the hardbound book. If you have the patience to wait you may be able to find a good deal.

If you have a Barnes & Noble or Borders Books near by, you can order directly from the store - and pick it up there to avoid a shipping charge.

Sue, the patient route is probably the best way to go :( although it's not my strong suit.

Melissa, thanks for the tip - I looked at half.com, and the best rate they had was $75 for a new hardcover edition, which is a great price for new, but I don't mind a used one, especially for the price difference.

While I was browsing, I saw reviews for:
William T. Stearns' Botanical Latin (I think Copperbaron said he recently purchased it);
Gardener's Latin (Bill Neal is the author, I think);
Dictionary of Plant Names (Allan Coombes); and
The AHS A-Z Plant Encyclopedia

Pardon me while I try to wipe away the drool. Does anybody have a recommendation out of these? (Or another reference book you prefer over all of them?)

This is EXACTLY why I avoid even thinking of buying books - when I find one I like/"need", I find a whole slew of them, and rarely do I find one that is modestly priced, LOL!

Have you tried abebooks.com http://www.abebooks.com/ ?

Jean

Well - I have William T. Stearns 'Botanical Latin' - I bought it used. To be honest... this books deals a lot with grammer and vocabulary [it's beyond me]. To pick it up and look up a plant name I find impossible. Many of the names have to be broken down into suffixes & prefixes to figure out what they're supposed to mean. Honestly ... this book is BORING. If I could force myself to sit down and read it I'd probably be a Latin whiz.

I love my 'AHS A-Z of Garden Plants' - It's the book I use most often. It gives Latin names but not very many definitions if that's what your after. I bought my copy used for about $35 after searching on the Addall book search.

This message was edited Thursday, Mar 21st 5:46 PM

go_vols,
I bought the "Hortus III" 2 vol. paperback at barnes and nobles last year. I like the 2 volume set because it's easier to handle, I can't imagine hoisting the hardback up on my bookcase every time I use it!!! I guess this set weighs at least 10-12 pounds.
Becky

Terry, I got a good used copy of Hortus a couple of years ago - it was in the $30 range then. It does weigh aobut 10 - 15 pounds in hard cover, but there's a lot of info in there. I go back and forth between it and the AHS A-Z, they cover things a little differently and if one doesn't have what I'm looking for the other probably does. I look at these two books as investments in education.