Frequently Asked Questions

Actually, if the question is a good one, I'll answer it here anyway...

I have a first edition of... Is it worth anything?
The short answer is probably no! Barstow's books tended to sell fairly well, and there are a reasonable number of each of his first editions. You can normally buy a good Barstow first with dustcover for around UK£20 (US$30). (You'll probably have to pay a bit more for A Kind of Loving - dealers tend to mark it up because it is his first and most famous book.) If you assume a 50% markup by the dealer (and that seems not unreasonable!) then your book might be worth at most £15 ($20) or so.

In general, the older and scarcer the book, and the better the condition, the more likely it is to be worth something. If it is signed, then it's worth a bit more. But it is unlikely to be a large sum in any case - and without the dustcover, forget it!

I am looking for a Barstow book. Can you recommend a bookshop which might have it?
If you're looking for Barstow in general, my experience is that most UK second-hand book shops have a few in stock. If you are looking for a particular one, there are four standard ways to find it.

• Scour the second hand bookshops - you might get lucky! (And even if you don't, a second hand bookshop is a nice place to spend a half-hour...)
• Pick a second hand bookshop that you like, and ask them if they have a search service. In the UK at least, you pay for the book if they find it, and if you like it - otherwise you pay nothing.
• Go to the links page, and check out the Internet second-hand sites. This is by far the most reliable way of getting your book. I have obtained about two-thirds of my collection using ABE. If it is not there, then register a "want" - if the book appears in the database, an email will automatically be sent to you to tell you about it.
• There are also some Internet book search services. I have not used any of these, so I cannot make any recommendations.

I have now made this easy for you. On each book page, you'll find the logo at the bottom - click on that to search for the book! (This site is affiliated to abebooks.co.uk, and I earn a small percentage if you buy books via these links.)

I really enjoyed the TV series of A Kind of Loving that was on in the 1980's. Is it available on video?
Not so far as I am aware. I have never seen this TV series myself, but I would like to; a lot of people have praised it. It was made by Granada TV - why not try emailing them? If enough people write to them, they may put in on TV again, or release it on video.

I am doing an assignment/some homework/an essay; can you answer some questions for me?
Probably not! Please see the feedback page.

Are you the Martin Benson who was a TV and film actor in the fifties, or are you related to him?
I've actually been asked this twice now - I guess that counts as frequently enough. No, I am not the same person, and as far as I am aware I am not related to him.

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