>Beau & Paul, I know that the Collection is separate from
>this site and now closed.
>The Short Story Collections Vols 1-7 are showing up on E-Bay
>(usually in mint condition) at significantly higher prices
>than other leatherette books.
>1. Were these significantly low print runs due to lowering
>collection subscriptions? and
>2. Have Random House dumped the residual stock of these on the
>second hand market? e.g Vol ^ is currently listed at $US180

The collection was cancelled because of waning interest ... of course we sold it for 30+ years when it was supposed to last for 7! The reason the books could be sold for reasonable prices was that they only printed as many as there were subscription holders ... thus later books with fewer subscribers means fewer (rarer) books. That is also why there is no "residual stock" ... the collection worked financially because we never over printed. Just wait. The price will come down and try checking several sources.