Cheapest chess book

Ok. Seen a lot of posts as to the best chess book, but most of them aren't cheap. I'm a 1450 player and want to grow up to join to big boys (and girls). I'm looking for a single purchase, cheap book that will help with all the basics / tactics. Any ideas, or am I wanting something in one book that doesn't exist?

Cheap + Basics + Tactics?   Don't buy the "good" books at list price. Look for discount / used book stores (ebay?). Try to get your hand on Paul Coakley's Winning Chess Exercises / Strategy series. The most under-rated books for improving players I've EVER seen!!!

How about FREE? Dan Heisman's Novice Nooks (100+ PDF articles) on chesscafe.com.  You can download them from the archives section. Assimilation of each of them from cover-to-cover guarantees you'll break into the 1600 club rather quickly.

Yeah, chesstactics.org is a terrific site. It is better instruction on tactics than any print book I have ever seen except "Understanding Chess Tactics" by Martin Weteschnik

Brilliant. Just had a chance to look through the first twenty or so pages and it looks spot on. Thanks for spending your time replying, and I look forward to beating Deep Blue any time soon.

If you want a particular book and if it's expensive then look for the book at Amazon. They almost always have a link for "new and used" with some terrific bargains sometimes. In addition there is lots and lots of free info on the web. Wikipedia has lots of articles about chess. Use google.

Greatest bang per buck (1104 pages):

Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games by Laszlo Polgar

Can be had for under $6