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First Editions
Christopher Collector adds five new first editions to his librabry.
August 22, 2005
By clue 1, Mr. Collector bought a first edition at Bibliotheque, then purchased Look Homeward, Angel for $10 less than the Bibliotheque buy; while by clue 3, he bought a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, then made a purchase at Past Tomes that cost $10 more than To Kill a Mockingbird. There is no way, therefore, that these two clues overlap, so they give four of the five first edition purchases in one of the following arrangements: 1) Mr. Collector made his 1st purchase at Bibliotheque and bought To Kill a Mockingbird 3rd; 2) he made his 1st purchase at Bibliotheque and bought To Kill a Mockingbird 4th; 3) he made his 2nd purchase at Bibliotheque and bought To Kill a Mockingbird 4th; 4) the 1st purchase was of To Kill a Mockingbird with the buy at Bibliotheque 3rd; 5) the 1st purchase was of To Kill a Mockingbird with the buy at Bibliotheque 4th; or 6) the 2nd purchase was of To Kill a Mockingbird with the buy at Bibliotheque 4th. Trying 1), that Mr. Collector made his 1st purchase at Bibliotheque and bought To Kill a Mockingbird 3rd, then he would have bought Look Homeward, Angel 2nd (clue 1) and the book from Past Tomes 4th (3). By clue 7, The Old Man and the Sea would have been the 4th and All the King's Men the 5th purchase, with East of Eden then bought at Bibliotheque for $30 (2). Look Homeward, Angel would have cost $20 (1); and, by clue 5, The Old Man and the Sea would have cost $10--no, since the least expensive first edition sold for $20 (2). Trying 2), that he made his 1st purchase at Bibliotheque and bought To Kill a Mockingbird 4th, then he would have bought Look Homeward, Angel 2nd (1) and the book from Past Tomes 5th (3). However, there is no way for clue 7 to work given this arrangement. Trying 3), that Mr. Collector made his 2nd purchase at Bibliotheque and bought To Kill a Mockingbird 4th, then he would have bought Look Homeward, Angel 3rd (1) and the book from Past Tomes 5th (3). By clue 7, The Old Man and the Sea would have been the 1st and All the King's Men the 2nd purchase, with East of Eden then bought at Past Tomes for $30 (2). To Kill a Mockingbird would have cost $20 (3), All the King's Men then $40 (5), and Look Homeward, Angel $30 (1)--the same as East of Eden and a conflict with the introduction where each first edition cost a different sum. Trying 4), that the 1st purchase was of To Kill a Mockingbird with the buy at Bibliotheque 3rd, Mr. Collector would have made his purchase at Past Tomes 2nd (3) and of Look Homeward, Angel 4th (1). By clue 7, then, he would have bought The Old Man and the Sea 2nd and All the King's Men 3rd, with his $30 purchase of East of Eden (2) 5th. By clues 1 and 3, neither the Bibliotheque nor the Past Tomes first edition cost the least. If Look Homeward, Angel cost the least, $20 (2), then the Bibliotheque book would have sold for $30 (1), the same as East of Eden and a contradiction; and if To Kill a Mockingbird had cost the $20, the Past Tomes find would also have cost the same $30 (3) as East of Eden--according to the intro, no. So, there is no way for arrangement 4) to work. Trying 6), that the 2nd purchase was of To Kill a Mockingbird with the buy at Bibliotheque 4th, Mr. Collector would have made his purchase at Past Tomes 3rd (3) and of Look Homeward, Angel 5th (1). By clue 7, then, he would have bought The Old Man and the Sea 3rd and All the King's Men 4th, with his $30 purchase of East of Eden (2) 1st. By clues 1 and 3, neither the Bibliotheque nor the Past Tomes first edition cost the least. If Look Homeward, Angel cost the least, $20 (2), then the Bibliotheque book would have sold for $30 (1), the same as East of Eden and a contradiction; and if To Kill a Mockingbird had cost the $20, the Past Tomes find would also have cost the same $30 (3) as East of Eden--according to the intro, no. So, there is no way for arrangement 6) to work and we have 5): that the 1st purchase was of To Kill a Mockingbird with the buy at Bibliotheque 4th. Then Mr. Collector bought the book from Past Tomes 2nd (3) and Look Homeward, Angel 5th (1). By clue 7, either Mr. Collector bought The Old Man and the Sea 3rd and All the King's Men 4th, with East of Eden the Past Tomes find; or he bought The Old Man and the Sea 2nd and All the King's Men 3rd, with East of Eden the Bibliotheque find. If East of Eden had been the Past Tomes find for $30 (2), however, the Bibliotheque buy would have been for $15 (5)--no (2). So, Mr. Collector bought East of Eden at Bibliotheque for $30, with The Old Man and the Sea his 2nd and All the King's Men his 3rd buys. Then Look Homeward, Angel cost $20 (1), The Old Man and the Sea $60 (5), and To Kill a Mockingbird $50 (3). By clue 4, All the King's Men was purchased at Read It Again, Sam for $40. Mr. Collector bought To Kill a Mockingbird at Cook's Book Nook (6) and Look Homeward, Angel at The Little Old Lady's. In sum, Mr. Collector bought the five first editions in the following order:

  • To Kill a Mockingbird at Cook's Book Nook for $50
  • The Old Man and the Sea at Past Tomes for $60
  • All the King's Men at Read It Again, Sam for $40
  • East of Eden at Bibliotheque for $30
  • Look Homeward, Angel at The Little Old Lady's for $20

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