Over 100 new old books for sale, December 2024.

From my own library.  Many 1800s.

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This website rewards time and thought. Not for “tl;dr” simpletons. Suckers seeking instant oversimplifications should retreat back to the rest of the Internet. No “artificial intelligence hallucinations” — everything here is by and for real humans.

Email: normsperling@gmail.com Postal: 2625 Alcatraz Avenue #235, Berkeley, California 94705 USA.

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Dobson on Dobsonians

How and Why to Make a User-Friendly Sidewalk Telescope,

by John L. Dobson, edited by Norman Sperling.  978-0913399-63-7.  

To Dobson’s mind, the “why” led the “how”:  everyone should see nature’s wonders.  So he developed telescopes that more people could use, and make.

I edited and published this classic in 1991.  I was criticized for its $39.95 price, though it saved $200 for everyone who did what it said to.  I earned enough to complete the down-payment on my first house.  Used copies now sell for >15 times original retail.  

I was criticized for the plywood covers, which make you feel the telescope you’re building.  Many said it couldn’t be done — a dare I mastered.

The first printing, 100 copies with foil-stamped binding, sold very well at that year’s Riverside Telescope Makers Conference.  The second printing, 1,000 copies, continued selling briskly.

I have 2 copies for sale, one from each printing.  Both are autographed by John Dobson.  At the buyer’s option, I can autograph them, too.  Retrieved from the farthest depths of deep storage, neither copy was ever sold or given, so you will be its first owner.  Free US shipping.

#1: First printing.  $700.00.

#2: Second printing.  $650.00.

Contact me at normsperling@gmail.com .