Who Buys Vintage Books
Rare and antique books can be collectible items if they are in good condition and in demand, but it can be hard to determine whether your books are valuable and, if they are, where to sell them to get the best price for your items. Rare and antique book buyers often frequent certain web pages and auction sites in the hopes to find themselves a special edition. Whether you are selling old classics, rare cookbooks, or a signed first edition, we have a few tips and tricks to help you out.
who buys vintage books
BookScouter.com is a great option if your rare book has an ISBN number. Simply enter the number and receive offers from over 30 buyback vendors, allowing you to find the vendor ready to buy your book. For older books without an ISBN number, however, you cannot use this site. There are several alternatives that we recommend. They are:
If you are looking where to sell your antique books, online rare book auctions are a great way to do so, as this is a great platform to expose your book to rare book buyers around the world. An auction houses job is to market their products effectively to the correct audience, meaning that they may be able to get you a great price for your book.
Many booksellers have the habit of storing vintage books in the basements, attics, or garages, which is a terrible idea. They are the worst places to store books that can earn you thousands of dollars.
First of all, you expose the books to harsh conditions because the temperature is not controlled. That can cause long-term damage, decreasing its monetary value. If you have no other option but to store in such places, we recommend stabilizing the temperature and relative humidity.
There are oils from your hands that can cause the deterioration of the book. This is why experts use cotton gloves to handle valuable books in museums. The gloves provide a clean layer between the book and your skin.
ABAA was established in 1949 with the mission to promote interest in rare or vintage books. The company does this with professionalism and ethical standards in the book trade. ABAA lists various books from its booksellers (who are members) on its website.
Bibliophile is one of the best places to sell vintage books online. The company has hundreds of booksellers worldwide with huge book buyers. Even though Bibliophile is based in Switzerland, they are primarily located in the United States, United Kingdom, German, French, and Italian.
The bookselling company provides booksellers and customers with outstanding services that exceed expectations. They also offer charitable works. Bibliophile has more than 5,600 booksellers with an over 100 million selection of books.
PBFA has an extensive list of books; you can also sell your vintage books. They usually have occasional events that bring thousands of people together. Such events serve as a perfect time to sell your books and get many sales.
TomFolio was established in 1999 and has steadily grown into a big company. If you join the organization, you have to follow some code of ethics. The company has more than 120 reputable independent booksellers from the United States and other countries. You can sell numerous vintages, books, antiques, and collectibles on the platform.
A rare book fair is a trade show of sorts where booksellers from a specific region, country, or from across the globe gather, bringing their best and most interesting books to sell. These events are an excellent chance meet a large number of booksellers and see a vast number of books.
Among independent bookstores which specialize in rare books there are different varieties. Some will be a traditional bookstore which you have visited, with a store front, regular business hours, and a shop keeper where you can browse and handle various books. Other more high end rare book stores will more resemble art galleries, again keeping regular hours but very different in appearance. Different still are the rare booksellers who work out of their home or a small warehouse, sell most of their items via catalog, auction, or the Internet and only open their doors to the public via appointment. You should never hesitate to set up an appointment with this sort of bookseller but be aware that you should never arrive un-announced. Lastly there are independent book dealers who conduct their entire business online.
The Internet has vastly changed the world of bookselling. Gone are the days of placing a classified advertisement in the AB Bookman magazine explaining your desire to buy a specific volume all in the hopes that a book dealer (or collector) who had the volume on offer also happened to read that specific issue and contact you. Now a collector can simply search the inventory of booksellers from around the globe from the comfort of their home, and purchase books they require for their collection to be shipped to their doorstep. On the Internet there are a few different types of businesses that you, as a buyer, should be aware of.
More often than not here is where you will learn that an old book is usually just an old book, but if you really know your stuff occasionally you can find highly interesting books and nearly always at a fantastic bargain price.
Whether it's at a world famous auction house like Christies or Sothebys or a small auction house in a rural town, auctions can be a fun and exciting way to buy books. Attend previews, do your homework and plan your purchases.
Booksellers produce catalogs for two reasons, first to highlight the cream of their inventory. Second a bookseller will produce a catalog as means of distinguishing themselves as a destination for the finest books available, and because of this a bookseller can spend an immense amount of time and money to create an amazingly beautiful printed document.
Now that you are familiar with the various places you can buy collectible books here are some rules of thumb to contemplate when you are about to purchase a book. These should be considered rough guidelines rather than hard and fast rules, as there are a great many exceptions and the most important thing n is your personal preference.
Our speciality is in old and rare books, specifically early printed books before 1800 including incunabula, early Bibles (pre-1800), manuscripts in general, handwritten books, medieval manuscripts, books of hours, archives, natural history books, color plate books, books on travel and exploration and much more. If you can provide quality photos of the book(s) binding and title page with date, we are often able to make offers based on those. Sometimes, books do need to be seen in person, and in that case we are happy to provide you with our company insured Fedex account for reverse charge (upon request)
Our evaluations are based on years of experience buying and selling rare books and manuscripts to many clients. We rely on common pricing resources such as the American Book Prices Database for auction records, German auction databases, and other essential rare book pricing reference tools and bibliographies. We believe in complete transparency and whether you wish to sell or not, are happy to provide actual comparable auction records so you can understand the basis of our evaluations. We try to answer all enquiries within 24 hours.
We not only buy fine and important individual rare books and manuscripts , but also entire libraries, rare book collections, and archives. We travel nationwide sourcing important material, offer immediate payment, and handle all packing and shipping arrangements. Our size and facilities enable us to make en-bloc offers for quality collections.
Ultimately, you can sell any kind of book you want as long as someone is willing to buy it. As far as Cash For Your Books is concerned, we deal in large collections or collections that contain unusually rare or valuable books.
There are many organizations that are always looking for books, or you can drop off a book in a local Little Free Library. Or, donate your books to prisons. If none of these is an option, we have a few ideas for how to repurpose your used books.
Our used book buying counters are open with limited hours at all threeof our Portland-area locations! Please know that when selling yourused books in-store, we offer payment via store credit only (no cash).
Scan or enter the ISBNs of the books you wish to sell, box up yoursold books, and drop them off at a UPS store near you. Once your bidis processed, we offer payment through PayPal or store credit. Scanthe QR code with your phone or click the button below to begin.
Turn your hobby into a business by launching your own bookstore and selling books online. Or, circumvent publishers to transform your manuscript into a real book to sell directly to your fans. With books being such a wide-ranging product, there are infinite ways to differentiate yourself.
Joanna is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over 30 books, selling more than 600,000 copies in 162 countries and five languages. Her catalog includes non-fiction that helps aspiring authors write and publish books, and thriller fiction under the name J.F.Penn. She is also an award-winning podcaster, entrepreneur, and professional speaker.
Competing with large book chains means finding a specific corner of the book world to invest your energy. Narrow in on a book genre, sell vintage and rare books, or offer a unique customer experience.
Where you source books depends on your niche and business model. Vintage and secondhand books can be found through auctions, library sales, or thrift stores. New books can be sourced by establishing relationships with publishers or setting up an account with book distributors.
Book wholesaler: A company that buys large quantities of books from publishers and sells them to bookstores, institutions, and libraries. Wholesalers usually get volume discounts from publishers and can pass on a portion of that savings to their customers.
International Standard Book Number (ISBN): A numerical code used to identify a book. Publishers, retailers, libraries, and other businesses along the book supply chain use this unique number for inventory management and ordering. Books published up to the end of 2006 have a 10-digit ISBN, while all books after that period have a 13-digit ISBN. 041b061a72