Sex, Celebrities, Fly Fishing Among Most-Wanted Out-of-Print Books

While Madonna’s 1992 “coffee-table” book Sex is 2011’s most sought-after out-of-print book, Fly Fishing: Memories of Angling Days by J.R. Hartley (No. 17) and The Lovely Reed: An Enthusiast’s Guide to Building Bamboo Fly Rods by Jack Howell and Glenn Brackett (No. 64) are also in the top 100, according to Book Finder’s ninth annual ranking of the site’s most frequently searched for out-of-print titles.

“Did I mention that sex sells? That’s part of the appeal of ‘Codex Seraphinianus‘ by Italian artist Luigi Serafini. Clearly the strangest book high up on the list, one cover of ‘Codex Seraphinianus’ featured an illustration of a couple coupling and becoming a crocodile. The illustrations are unique, surreal, and, according to some, beautiful — and expensive.”  Carolyn Kellogg in The Los Angeles Times.