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Oh, I agree with that sentiment. The books are for reference and enjoyment first.
And with things as old as the Davis title, there's the sheer joy of handling something that old, that you can imagine someone being given as a present 70 years ago.
Amongst my collection I have a quantity of Brooklands race programmes. I've been buying them whenever I see them, because they have detailed archive information I need for my own book. In my head, I tell myself that I can scan the information onto disk and sell them on.
And my heart won't let me. By my keyboard right now is the racecard for the Whitsun 1930 race, and someone who was there has neatly inscribed in a copperplate hand, the finishing times for all the races. I cannot part with the thing.
In answer to your question, yes, Pomeroy and Monkhouse are ridiculously expensive - when you can find them. Pomeroy so much so that its fame has spread to the general book trade, not just the specialists.
I saw both volumes of Pomeroy on an ordinary pile of titles at a book fair in Gerrards Cross a few years back. Thinking my luck was in, I did the usual noncholant browsing at them, mulling over them, and finally the casual...
"How much for these two, then?"
"£425.00 the pair, Sir."
"Ah, you know what they are, then."
"Indeed, Sir, and you are the third one today."
I'm still living in hope though.
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