13th Annual BookFinder.com Report

Out-of-print and in demand

Welcome to the 13th annual BookFinder.com Report, in which we publish a list of the top 100 most searched for out-of-print book titles from the previous year. This year sees the queen of pop regain her throne on the top of the out of print book charts, we also saw other mainstays Nora Roberts and Stephen King remain among the most sought after volumes in America.

Moving up is this year's third most searched for book, Unintended Consequences by John Ross. This is a fictional story about the history of gun culture and rights in 20th century America. While entirely fictional this epic tome weaves heaps of real life historical information into the story, which also features real life figures playing minor supporting roles. Reviewers of the book consistently mention that it beautifully balances smooth accessible writing with a myriad detailed facts and explanations about firearms and gun culture making this book interesting for enthusiasts as well as novices to this interesting but polarizing topic.

One of the goals of the BookFinder.com report, when it was created was to help shine light onto books that were hiding behind the backlists, but still in demand. As such it is always very exciting for us when we see books from our list granted another print run. This made 2015 a very exciting year with two of our perennial favorites went back into print.

A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent & Mary Price had been featured on the BookFinder.com report every year since 2005 and was finally brought back into print on its 50th anniversary of publication by Vincent's daughter Victoria (who wrote a new preface). It should be noted that this is no vanity pressing, and Price was not your typical celebrity cookbook author. The man was a gourmand through and through. In addition to this book Price had his own cooking show in the 1970s (Cooking Pricewise), he narrated an international cooking course, and also wrote other cookbooks including Come Into The Kitchen and A National Treasury of Cookery (5 vols.)

Also making the jump back into print is Salvador Dali's illustrated edition of The Jerusalem Bible. The Jerusalem Bible (first published in 1966) was the first truly modern Bible for Catholics. The translation itself uses a literal approach that has been admired for its literary qualities, perhaps in part due to its most famous contributor, J.R.R. Tolkien (his primary contribution was the translation of Jonah). Add to this Dali's own artistica take on the work and you begin to understand why it remains so popular to this day. Originally published in one epic volume the 2015 reprint was separated into three volumes to allow for a softcover release at an affordable price point. Find Vol. 1, Vol. 2 and Vol. 3..

1. Sex by Madonna (i.e. Louise Veronica Ciccione) Warner Books; New York, NY, 1992 Full-Metal, Spiral Bound; First Edition 132 pages. 32 cm Madonna Sex (first published in 1992) was the highly controversial erotic photography book which features the queen of pop along with other early 1990s notables including rappers Vanilla Ice & Big Daddy Kane as well as model Naomi Campbell. The book itself is spiral bound and actually quite fragile making fine copies relatively rare; copies still found in their Mylar wrapping sheet command an extra premium. The book went beyond basic erotica of the day, with several shoots pushing various social taboos, and earned Madonna the moniker “Queen of the Obscene.” After the books initial, albeit large, print run Sex has never since been reproduced as Madonna has very typically moved on from this phase of her career. As such one can assume that Sex will probably remain out of print indefinitely.
2. Rage by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman) (*1947) Signet; New York, NY, 1977 Paperback, First Edition 211 pages. 18 cm Rage (originally titled Getting It On) is the first novel by Stephen King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1977. It was collected in 1985 in the hardcover omnibus The Bachman Books. When King decided to let Rage fall out of print in the United States, it was available only as part of The Bachman Books. The other novels that appeared in that compilation (The Long Walk, Roadwork, and The Running Man) are now published as separate books in the USA.
3. Unintended Consequences by John Ross Accurate Press; St. Louis, MO, 1996 Hardcover; First Edition 863 pages A novel about gun culture, gun rights, and gun control in the United States through the 20th century
4. Promise Me Tomorrow by Nora Roberts Pocket Books; New York, NY, 1984 Paperback, First Edition 296 pages ; 18 cm Described by some as the worst thing Nora Roberts ever wrote, Promise me Tomorrow has been out of print since this first publication, and will probably stay that way for the rest of eternity. Roberts has gone on record to say that this novel is so bad that she will never allow it to be republished, and that her fans should probably avoid it. That however has not stopped this novel from being a mainstay on the BookFinder.com Report, or from completest collectors regularly paying over $100 to aquire a copy.
5. Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting by Richard Schmid Stove Prairie Press; Manchester Center, VT 1999 First Edition 193 pages : color illustrations ; 22 x 28 cm Schmid is considered to be one of the greatest living American realist artists and this book is one of the most comprehensive instructional books on oil painting in existance. This book has been reprinted several times, most recently in 2013 as Alla Prima II, but is once again only available through the used book marketplace.
6. Finding the Winning Edge by Bill Walsh Sports Pub; Champaign, IL 1998 First Edition 550 pages : illustrations ; 27 cm Biography of 3 time Super Bowl winning coach of the San Francisco 49ers, who is credited with developing the "West Coast Offence" philosophy. Walsh took a strugling 49ers team and turned them into a dynasty in the 1980s earning him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
7. The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David R. Wilkerson World Challenge Publications; Lindale, TX, 2003 Paperback 143 pages ; 21 cm David Wilkerson brings the reader up to date and into the future. He firmly believes that we are now living in the time the Bible refers to as "the beginnings of sorrows" and that the world is racing toward Armageddon.
8. Permaculture: A Designers' Manual by Bill Mollison Island Press; Washington, DC, 1990 Hardcover 579 pages While out of print since 1990 in the US this book has been re-published numerous times, most recently in Australia. It is considered by many to be the go to resource for permaculture study even today.
9. Halloween by Curtis Richards Bantam; New York, NY, 1979 Paperback 168 pages The novelization of John Carpenter's horror classic.
10. Mastering Atmosphere & Mood in Watercolor by Joseph Zbukvic International Artist Publishing, 2002 Hardcover, First Edition 128 pages : color illustrations ; 29 cm This book is not only collected as a coffee table book displaying fine art but also as a well-written instructional guide where Zbukvic introduces the watercolor clock as a means to manipulate watercolor materials.

 

Top 100 most sought after out-of-print books in 2015

11	Cameron Crowe	Fast Times at Ridgemont High
12	Barbara Brackman	Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns
13	Toby Harnden	Bandit Country: The IRA and South Armagh
14	Norman Mailer	Marilyn: A Biography
15	Kyle Onstott	Mandingo
16	Carl Sagan	Murmurs of Earth
17	Ken Stabler	Snake
18	Lady Colin Campbell	A Life Worth Living
19	Arthur Koestler	The Act of Creation
20	Richard Rutt	A History of Hand Knitting

21	Elmer Keith	Hell, I Was There
22	Eugene M. Schwartz	Breakthrough Advertising
23	Sid Watkins	Life at the Limit: Triumph and Tragedy in Formula One
24	Arthur S. Maxwell	The Bible Story
25	Martin Caidin	Cyborg
26	Norman Rockwell	102 Favorite Paintings
27	David Wilkerson	Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth
28	Yasaburo Kuwayama	Trademarks and Symbols: Symbolical Design
29	Kit Williams	Masquerade
30	Conrad Richter	The Trees

31	Ricky Jay	Cards as Weapons
32	Paul Hoffman	To Drop a Dime
33	Niki Lauda & Herbert Volker	To Hell and Back: Lauda Autobiography
34	Sergeanne (Anne) Golon	The Angelique Series
35	Robert McCammon	The Night Boat
36	Rose Wilder Lane	Let the Hurricane Roar
37	John Blockley	Country Landscapes in Watercolor
38	Linda Dawson & Terry Furchgott	Phoebe and the Hot Water Bottles
39	James Herbert	The City
40	Peter F. Hamilton	The Reality Dysfunction

41	Jack Hamm	First Lessons in Drawing and Painting
42	Ray Bradbury	Dark Carnival
43	Stephen King	My Pretty Pony
44	Claudia Fleming	The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern
45	Stephen King	The Body
46	Richo Cech	Making Plant Medicine
47	Garry Winogrand	Women are Beautiful
48	Prosper Montagne	Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Cookery Encyclopedia
49	Bruce McConkie	Mormon Doctrine
50	Jack Handford	Professional Pattern Grading for Women's, Men's, and Children's Apparel

51	Patricia Cornwell	Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed
52	Robert R. McCammon	Baal
53	Johnny Cash	Man in Black: His Own Story in his Own Words
54	David Grafton	The Sisters: Babe Mortimer Paley, Betsy Roosevelt Whitney, Minnie Astor Fosburgh: The Lives and Times of the Fabulous Cushing Sisters
55	Melody Beattie	Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself
56	Joseph McElroy	Women and Men
57	Ed Brubaker	Daredevil Omnibus, Vol. 1
58	R.H. Blyth	Zen in English Literature and Oriental Classics
59	Rien Poortvliet	Noah's Ark
60	Robert Gordon & Andrew Forge	Monet

61	Sebastião Salgado	Sebastião Salgado: Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age
62	Robert Frank	The Americans
63	R.H. Blyth	The History of Haiku
64	Maisie Mosco	Almonds and Raisins
65	Patricia Crone and Michael Cook	Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World
66	Robert Wearing	The Essential Woodworker: Skills, Tools and Methods
67	Charles Tritten	Heidi Grows Up
68	Stewart Cowley	SpaceWreck: Ghost Ships and Derelicts of Space
69	Richard Avedon	In the American West
70	Edith Pargeter / Ellis Peters	The Heaven Tree Trilogy

71	Betty MacDonald	Anybody Can Do Anything
72	Kate Holmes	Too Good to be Threw: The Complete Operations Manual for Resale and Consignment Shops
73	Alvaro Castagnet	Beyond Technique: Painting With Passion
74	Donald Hamilton	The Big Country
75	John Peel	Doctor Who: The Evil of the Daleks
76	Steve Jackson	Knights of Doom
77	Leonard H. Stringfield	Situation Red: The UFO Siege!
78	Pearl S. Buck	Imperial Woman: The Story of the Last Empress of China
79	Arthur L. Guptill	Norman Rockwell Illustrator
80	Dorothy L. Retallack	The Sound of Music and Plants

81	John G. Fuller	The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours Aboard a Flying Saucer
82	Penny Lee Dean	Open Water Swimming: A Complete Guide for Distance Swimmers and Triathletes
83	Alan V. Brunacini	Fire Command
84	Tom Lea	The King Ranch
85	Ernest Cole	House of Bondage: A South African Black Man Exposes in His Own Pictures and Words the Bitter Life of His Homeland Today
86	Glen Cook	She Is The Darkness
87	Peter Cross	Trumpets in Grumpetland
88	William Sloane	The Edge of Running Water
89	Les Dane	Big League Sales Closing Techniques
90	Alex L. Shigo	Modern Arboriculture: A Systems Approach to the Care of Trees and Their Associates

91	Arnie & Cathy Fenner	Tapestry: The Paintings of Robert McGinnis
92	Fred Buller	The Domesday Book of Mammoth Pike
93	Alastair Reynolds	Troika
94	Michael Arlen	The Green Hat
95	James Lovell	Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13
96	Charles Sale	The Specialist
97	Edward Matunas	Practical Gunsmithing
98	Robert Redford	Robert Redford
99	Holly Hobbie	The Art of Holly Hobbie
100	Isaac Asimov	Nine Tomorrows