There was a time when I did not know what I was doing when it came to book searching and buying. I still don't -- much. I find myself buying books just for the wonderful covers particularly if they had anything to do with astronomy or astronauts. These books just had to come home with me.
About two years ago I found this book entitled Starhaven. For a long period of time this book sat on a bookshelf and I forgot all about it. Somehow it ended up on the floor months ago. I finally picked it up a couple of days ago and looked it up online to see what info was available for it. It was only then that I saw it was an Ace Double Novel paperback. All this time I didn't notice the spine or that there was another book cover on the back known as Sunsmasher. And all this time I didn't even know that Ace Double Novel paperbacks existed. According to Wikipedia, some rare titles in mint condition can fetch up to $1,000. From Wikipedia: "Ace Books' first series of paperbacks, the D/G/S series, began in 1952 and ran until 1965, by which time other series from Ace had begun. The D/G/S series used a serial number from 1-599, and a letter code to indicate price. D-series books cost 35 cents; S-series titles were 25 cents; and later there were several G-series books, priced at 50 cents." You can also find a complete list of Ace Doubles here.
My slightly battered and nicely foxed copy could probably fetch about $3 but that's fine with me - it's a keeper.
Starhaven/ The Sunsmasher sold at the original price of 35 cents.
Reference is D-351 SF Edmond Hamilton The Sun Smasher / Robert Silverberg (as Ivar Jorgenson) Starhaven (1959)
Here is the spine
