This guy is Too much to believe. The only reason he is coming back to this transaction is because the book that he bought - and subsequently refused to pay for- has escalated in value in the three months since the busted deal. Now he has the perfect opportunity to come back and mea culpa and try and get Rich to sell him the book at the original strike price.
Now, I don't know if Rich still has the book or not, but even if he does, there is no way he is going to sell it to him at the auction price from November or December or whatever. That would give this cat the opportunity to profit from his own deal breaking.
As far as being a brazen, opportunistic, self-serving attempt to profiteer off ones own bad actions, this is one of the best attempts I have ever seen.