"The prices in this book are intended only as guides. Most dealers in collectible books do not handle rare books per se; they handle scarce books. However, very fine copies of scarce books are rare. These fine copies command high prices from knowledgeable collectors and libraries because these buyers realize the true relative scarcity of such material. I am certainly not particularly knowledgeable about other collecting fields such as coins or stamps, but my impression is that if an individual wanted five very fine examples of a certain 'rare' coin or stamp and was willing to pay the going (not an inflated) price, they could be found within a few weeks. On the other hand, if an individual wanted to buy five very fine copies of a certain edition of a particular title, it might take a few years. And this is not just for books costing thousands of dollars; it's true of books that sell for only a few hundred dollars (or less)."