Treasure Island for €2 as part of a 60-issue collection, with later volumes up to €12

Treasure Island for €2: the hook behind a 60-issue collection

Two euros for a hardcover book. Treasure Island, in a large-format edition, at that price at the newsstand. The figure has raised more than one eyebrow, and the answer lies in a word that doesn't appear on the cover: hook. Because the first volume of a collection isn't sold: it's given away at cost so the buyer comes back for the second one.

Why does a hardcover book cost only €2?

The key is public domain. Robert Louis Stevenson's work no longer pays royalties, so all the publisher is left with are the production costs. Some argue that those €2 are, in fact, the sum of production, distribution and logistics, with hardly any margin. And it doesn't sound far-fetched: individual titles circulate at €4, without a mass print run, that still turn a profit. The low price isn't charity. It's bait.

The rest of the collection no longer costs the same

The name, Grandes Novelas de Aventuras (Great Adventure Novels), matters little once the second copy arrives. The trinc instalments are no longer €2. Figures of up to €12 for the full set are mentioned, and some put the range at €5 or €8 as the series goes on. The structure is the classic newsstand one: the first volume at a bargain price, the rest at full rate. And it's worth keeping one figure handy: 60 issues. Fifty-eight opportunities to give up.

Weak translations and paper that ages badly

The price doesn't explain everything either. The translations of these editions are nothing to write home about, and the paper, of poor quality, tends to yellow and oxidize over the years. A €2 bargain can turn into clutter on the shelf over time. Anyone looking for a copy to pass down already knows where not to start.

Downloading it free and legally: where the problem lies

The counteroffer is radical and doesn't involve the newsstand: the full text is on Wikisource, in the public domain, free and legal. The problem is the format. Some readers remain faithful to paper and the familiar spine; others have crossed over to e-books and never looked back: a whole library in your pocket, a screen that doesn't tire the eyes, they say. These collections live precisely on the nostalgia of the first group.

From newsstand to recycling bin: the book as a decorative object

Cheap collecting has its uncomfortable flip side. In a paper recycling container, some 60 volumes from Círculo de Lectores (a Spanish book club) appeared, some still sealed. The underlying suspicion is that many part-work collections end up unread, decorating shelves or straight in the trash. Against that, the spending that is justified is the useful kind: a Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne for €3, bought so a child can read and enjoy it. There, the price hardly matters.

With these numbers, the 60-issue collection seems like an easy adversary to dismantle. And yet it will keep selling. Two euros for a hardcover classic: who's going to say no?