Old Book Values

Perhaps you found an old book at a garage sale or came across a box of books your grandmother has stored in her attic and you are wondering how to determine old book values.

Read about antique books

The Magic of Old Books

For many people old books have a magical quality. They can take you back to yesteryear, transport you into the future or shed light on topics that interest you. Many book lovers never discard a bound treasure, storing them carefully through the years to be passed on to others that share their love of old books.

While a great number of old book enthusiasts treasure their finds for their reading value, others search for treasures with monetary value. Determining if an old book has collectible worth requires finding where it fits into a specific set of criteria that includes:

• Rarity
• Condition
• Supply and demand

Other things to look for that may make an old book valuable are limited editions that are signed, books that were privately printed and editions that are of high quality and were printed and released in small quantities. Books that are oversized that include illustrations by famous illustrators may also be of higher value especially if the illustrations are also oversized.

Resources for Determining Old Book Values

Excellent resources exist for determining the values of old books both on and offline. The following are a few of these resources.

Websites

• Faded Giant provides a free online database that lists more than 50,000 values for old books. The book values are determined by the prices the books sold for at auctions, which are market drive prices. This gives you a realistic value rather than the retail value the book would sell for at a bookstore or from an online antique and collectible book website.

Although Faded Giant’s database includes books that are antique, rare or collectible, the majority of the books listed are modern hardcover first editions with a minimum value of $20.

• Abe Books offers more than 110 million books for sale from thousands of booksellers. Once you find the book you are trying to value, remember the price listed is the asking retail price, not necessarily the price it will sell for.
• Alibris is similar to Abe Books in determining book values. This website offers more than one million books with more than 10,000 booksellers.

A general guideline for valuing a book using either Abe Books or Alibris is estimating the value to be between 40-60 percent of the listed retail price.

• How to Identify a Rare Book a LoveToKnow article
• Ebay auctions are also a good resource for finding out the value of an old book. Just make sure to use the completed listing for books that sold and not the active listings with prices that may not be reached.

Price Guides

Price guides are a useful resource in finding out the values of old books. Even the information in old book price guides that are outdated will be useful in determining whether a particular book is of value. Although the prices of books included will not be accurate, the records of previous sales and other information remains the same.

• Huxford's Old Book Value Guide: 25,000 Listings of Old Books with Current Values by Bob Huxford
• Richard Russell’s book Antique Trader Book Collector's Price Guide
• Pocket Guide to the Identification of First Editions by Bill Mc Bride
• Mandeville's Used Book Price Guide: An Aid in Ascertaining Current Prices by Richard L. Collins
• The Ian C. Ellis book Book Finds, 3rd Edition: How to Find, Buy, and Sell Used and Rare Books

The next time you are browsing in a used book store or come across a box of antique books at a garage sale, you will know how to determine the value of old books

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