Wednesday, September 25, 2024

I've outwitted myself

So I want the newly-released 3-volume edition of Tolkien's collected poetry, but I haven't got it.

I don't usually pre-order unpublished books, but I did in this case, a few weeks ago. My first instinct was to support my local independent bookstore, but to my surprise the book was not listed in their online catalog of books available for pre-order. (The Last Dangerous Visions was, and I ordered that.)

So, since that implied they wouldn't be carrying it, I placed my order with Barnes and Noble, figuring it'd get shipped so that it arrived on publication day, the way the Harry Potter books were. US publication day was yesterday, Tuesday. It hasn't arrived. My order status says it's expected to arrive today, but it's also listed as on back order.

So it may not come for some time, despite the order status's promise. Meanwhile, now that the work is published, the independent bookstore now has it, and their online catalog says there's a copy for sale in their local branch.

I could rush down there this morning and buy it, and make the booksellers happy with a big sale (it's over $100), but it's too late to cancel my Barnes & Noble order, even though it hasn't been shipped. I don't want to buy two copies of such a large and expensive work, so I'm stuck. Why didn't the local bookstore have it listed on pre-order?

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