Used books

Grampa Don

Grampa Don

Yep, that's me
Location
Orange county, Calif.
Do you ever buy used books? I just bought another one on E-bay.

I do most of my reading now on the internet or my Kindle. But, sometimes a real book is nice, especially if it has illustrations. And, there may not be an e-book version. A fresh new book is great, but it may be out of print, and in any case a used copy is a lot cheaper.

We still have a couple small bookstores I can browse, and our library has a semi-annual used book sale. It’s a fun way to spend some time, and I’ve found some treasures, but selection is hit or miss.

If there is a specific title I want, E-bay has been great. Here are a few of my astronomy books from E-bay. They were less than five dollars each including shipping, and they're in good shape. The scruffy one on the left I got at a library sale many years ago.

books.jpg
 

I just bought a guide to the Burrell Collection Museum in Glasgow. Why I did not buy one when I was there I do not know. This one was only $5
 

Love, love, love used books! E-bay and Amazon have about anything you could ever want!
I know this is silly but I love children's books from the 1930's! Margaret Ely Webb, for instance. and I used to collect antiques children's books from that era.
I get art books, philosophy books, science (physics) books, spiritual books, metaphysical books; kind of a passion!
I used to go to a used book store in Las Cruces and I would stay there all day!
 
I used to have good luck with the large used book sellers on Amazon. Most of them graded the condition very conservatively.

I used to increase my cost for shipping because when I found something that I wanted I didn’t want to wait for the slower book rate shipping.

These days I don’t buy much and am still working to find homes for many of my books on local history. The book market is just as soft as the antique market now that you can get just about anything from an on demand book printing company.

I’m still very happy with the time I spent scouting my books, learning and building the collection.
 
I don't get out much to used book stores anymore. Few and far between here, so I'll hit the GoodWill
and other thrift stores locally. Mostly they have a lot of Romance type books, but you can find a rare gem
sometimes if you spend the time. Like others here, I've turned to on-line ordering for books I just have to have.
 
Gaer said:
Love, love, love used books! E-bay and Amazon have about anything you could ever want!
I know this is silly but I love children's books from the 1930's! Margaret Ely Webb, for instance. and I used to collect antiques children's books from that era.
I get art books, philosophy books, science (physics) books, spiritual books, metaphysical books; kind of a passion!
I used to go to a used book store in Las Cruces and I would stay there all day!
Click to expand...
It isn't silly. I used to have a collection of about 1,000 out-of-print children's books. My husband had a very successful side business selling used children's books (out of print). He had a ton of customers, and most of them were collecting their childhood favorites. The customers would be so happy when they got the books. I used to think that if anything happened to him, I would be able to support my family from that business, which I started. I donated my personal collection to his endeavor when he took the book business over.

Used book businesses don't do as well as they used to. I could not support my family on that income now, if indeed I had to. My husband had 45,000 books in stock (down from twice that) and hundreds of bookcases. By the time he closed the business, about 5 years ago, none of his many contacts could afford to buy it, and no one wanted all those bookcases either. His was an internet-based business.

Many of our most valuable books (over $100 ea) are now available on the Kindle. What makes a used book valuable is that there is high demand, they are scarce, and the children who owned them didn't mess them up, so their condition ranges from good to fine..
 
WheatenLover said:
It isn't silly. I used to have a collection of about 1,000 out-of-print children's books. My husband had a very successful side business selling used children's books (out of print). He had a ton of customers, and most of them were collecting their childhood favorites. The customers would be so happy when they got the books. I used to think that if anything happened to him, I would be able to support my family from that business, which I started. I donated my personal collection to his endeavor when he took the book business over.

Used book businesses don't do as well as they used to. I could not support my family on that income now, if indeed I had to. My husband had 45,000 books in stock (down from twice that) and hundreds of bookcases. By the time he closed the business, about 5 years ago, none of his many contacts could afford to buy it, and no one wanted all those bookcases either. His was an internet-based business.
Click to expand...
Wow! That's incredible! Lucky YOU!
 
Gaer said:
Wow! That's incredible! Lucky YOU!
Click to expand...
Yes, I used to love going to his office to look at books. He was always hovering, just sure I'd take the best ones. I only took a few over all the years. Friends used to call our house "the library". I used to wish we were a musical family, or a sports family, because our personal books took up most of the wall space.

The other problem was every dog I took there used to pee on the carpet once per visit, usually at the beginning. I'd have to hurry and clean it up before my husband discovered it. The bookcases were in long rows and my dog used to love running around them at full speed. Then he discovered that he could knock the books off the bottom shelves with his paws. So I spent a lot of time reshelving them. This is Aidan, the terrier. My collie also marked his territory, but luckily both male dogs squatted their entire lives, and no books were harmed. If they had decorated the books, my husband would have had a coronary. Literally.

The entire reason my husband won't move to place that is all on one level is that he can't get one big enough to hold the many books (2000 or so) that he still owns. He can barely walk from having 5 or 6 strokes, but he refuses to budge. Books are the loves of his life, and now that is a double-edged sword (a benefit that is also a liability).
 
I also have tons of used books (several years ago, when Wonderbooks had their books for sale at 1 dollar, my late husband and I were buying!!). We also bought at Goodwill and local library book sales.

Because I'm running out of bookshelf space, I now check the Internet.Archive.org site for a book I'm interested in before I buy it. If it's there, I read parts of it first, and if I feel it's important to have, I'll search for it online to buy. Some books might be out of print, and I've been able to read them on this online library.
 
I bought a used book at a Library sale. It was a 1910 Livestock brand book that I got for $1.00.
I sold it on E-Bay for $975.00!
Kept is for a few years first because I have a collection of Livestock brand books! (Don't need them anymore!)
 
Gaer said:
I bought a used book at a Library sale. It was a 1910 Livestock brand book that I got for $1.00.
I sold it on E-Bay for $975.00!
Kept is for a few years first because I have a collection of Livestock brand books! (Don't need them anymore!)
Click to expand...
That's interesting! Did you know its value when you bought it, or did it just go up in Ebay? Just curious.
 
A used book's value is what someone will pay for it. That's why old Nancy Drew books are so cheap -- they are not scarce. A used copy hardcover of Behold Your Queen, by Gladys Malvern, now sells for $90 - $200, and some of them (I didn't check them all) are not first editions.

Most dealers find the find the value of a book based on what other booksellers are selling them for currently. Sometimes a book will be listed for a lot of money by a lot of people, yet they are still priced and listed for years - which means they are not selling. Some dealers think that is because those people with overpriced books are using some sort of computer program to price them, or they are selling books they don't own, but will have drop-shipped from another dealer.
 
I used to buy them often at the used book sale at the library. Since I have lived here though, not as much. We have a couple bookshelves in the community room. Folks bring their old books, and everyone can just take what they want. Just got to bring more to trade
 
Grampa Don said:
Do you ever buy used books? I just bought another one on E-bay.

I do most of my reading now on the internet or my Kindle. But, sometimes a real book is nice, especially if it has illustrations. And, there may not be an e-book version. A fresh new book is great, but it may be out of print, and in any case a used copy is a lot cheaper.

We still have a couple small bookstores I can browse, and our library has a semi-annual used book sale. It’s a fun way to spend some time, and I’ve found some treasures, but selection is hit or miss.

If there is a specific title I want, E-bay has been great. Here are a few of my astronomy books from E-bay. They were less than five dollars each including shipping, and they're in good shape. The scruffy one on the left I got at a library sale many years ago.

books.jpg
Click to expand...
I sometimes buy used books from ABEbooks.com I have picked up some nice art books published by Taschen . They quite accurately describe the books condition. Recently I have gone back to reading short stories which I've always liked and they have a lot of the good old authors. Right now I am reading Alice Adams from the 70s.
 
WheatenLover said:
Yes, I used to love going to his office to look at books. He was always hovering, just sure I'd take the best ones. I only took a few over all the years. Friends used to call our house "the library". I used to wish we were a musical family, or a sports family, because our personal books took up most of the wall space.

The other problem was every dog I took there used to pee on the carpet once per visit, usually at the beginning. I'd have to hurry and clean it up before my husband discovered it. The bookcases were in long rows and my dog used to love running around them at full speed. Then he discovered that he could knock the books off the bottom shelves with his paws. So I spent a lot of time reshelving them. This is Aidan, the terrier. My collie also marked his territory, but luckily both male dogs squatted their entire lives, and no books were harmed. If they had decorated the books, my husband would have had a coronary. Literally.

The entire reason my husband won't move to place that is all on one level is that he can't get one big enough to hold the many books (2000 or so) that he still owns. He can barely walk from having 5 or 6 strokes, but he refuses to budge. Books are the loves of his life, and now that is a double-edged sword (a benefit that is also a liability).
Click to expand...
Would a revolving bookshelf solve the book storage problem? They're not cheap but might solve the storage-in-a-smaller-place issue maybe?
 
Grampa Don said:
I do most of my reading now on the internet or my Kindle. But, sometimes a real book is nice,
Click to expand...

Same here, mostly read free online books on my iPad but sometimes (like when the power goes out!) I like a paperback. Has to be a weak sort of paperback that my hand can keep open easily though.
I've been reading Charles Dicken's 'David Copperfield', and it is apparently the full version but I think I must have only read shortened versions in the past because a lot of the book isn't familiar, so then I remembered when I was a kid I had a subscription to the "Readers Digest Best Loved Books for Young Readers" and I see them on used book sites, but they would be too hard for my hand I think. I'm guessing they had condensed versions in those books.
 
palides2021 said:
That's interesting! Did you know its value when you bought it, or did it just go up in Ebay? Just curious.
Click to expand...
Didn't know when I bought it, but I knew the values of the later year books. I priced it high because I knew what people would pay for a brand book that old and in great shape. I have many old West collectibles and antiques. A brand book that old was extremely rare and worth that price.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top