Am I being unreasonable where books are concerned?

Greenfinch. Maybe a museum would be interested in your family bibles?

I cherish my books like a treasure. Would never give them up. It is enrichment for any house. But this is just me..

If any of them are old school stories - Angela Brazil, Chalet School, etc - there are always eager amateur collectors looking for copies they don’t have!

I still have books I was given when I was 8. That was in 1948. Nobody except me would want them, though, because they are very battered through much use (and love).

Freecycle is good for giving things away . Ive just had a pre lit artificial xmas tree picked up by a local church. We're just having a small tree this year now my sons are all grown up. So we're going to go and visit it at xmas time !

I spend over 40 years trying to find my favourite book from childhood. My mum had given ( or thrown away) all of my books. When I eventually found a copy on EBay I was in tears of joy when it arrived. It was very old and in terrible condition and someone could easily have thrown it away thinking no one could possibly want it.

This is a good idea but wouldn’t work for me as we live on a very busy main road.I will try BlueBelle’s suggestions.

I often put stuff outsude our front door marked " Free to Good Home" Usually goes. Please try this with your books. We meaning, Gransnet value books and I think it's also the fact that we have read from them to our Grandchildren. If you can't get rid of them in anyway that has been suggested, then have them put back in the loft.They, ie son and daughter in law can just damn well wait get rid later, and you won't feel the hurt.

Our two local hospitals both take books for sale.

I sell books on Amazon also Ziffit and marketplace there is a market for early childrens books I have a lot of mine still my daughter took one look and put her hands to her head but they are too good to throw out they’re 70 odd years old
And it’s not true about charity shops we do a lot of sales in childrens books just got to find the right shop that would appreciate them as long as they are in good condition

Ours housed books for swapping but unfortunately it was vandalised.

We’d planned to use our village phone box as a community book swap. Then somebody stole it overnight.

Miss Adventure Yes it is a lovely idea. People leave children's books as well as the adult ones.
I won't ask what your phone box is used for

telling someone else to get rid of so-called clutter sounds like trying to dismantle their life while they are still living it.

I would second what Aldom says. Go through them and have a look on Abe Books www.abebooks.co.uk/ and do a search. You'd be surprised at the price that some books sell for. I've just bought a copy of an old childhood favourite for my DGD to read and it cost me £14.99, even in a not very good condition, as it was out of print and I could only find it on their website.

Although I am in the process of getting rid of lots of rubbish that is taking up far too much space in our loft, I would rather throw out old kitchen stuff, prints that I no longer want hung on the walls, clothes, shoes, bags, there is no way that I would ever just dump books. So many places that would be grateful to receive them. The only other thing I would say is that old children's books by some authors are a bit out of date in terms of current thinking (Enid Blyton being one example). We still read these to our young GC but often have to censor them as we read - beating donkeys and smacking children is not something that I feel comfortable sharing with them!

After my husband's death two of his old books were sold at auction. One for £5,000 the other £3,000. Look carefully at books before disposing of them.

Jemimasmum

We have one of the old red phone boxes near to us. It is used for people to leave their unwanted books in and anyone can help themselves to any book they fancy.

It's better than what the phone boxes around here are used for.
What a lovely idea about the books.

Advertise them. My daughter buys and sells secondhand books, she buys in bulk from advertisements, doesn`t make a fortune, but is definitely in pocket.

We have one of the old red phone boxes near to us. It is used for people to leave their unwanted books in and anyone can help themselves to any book they fancy.

That's good, Sussexborn. It isn't always easy to dispose of old books, and I hate to see them just dumped. So thank goodness for those places.

henetha

My local Co-op has a corner where we can take old books which are then sold and the money goes to charity.

Quite a few places do that locally. Tesco, Sainsbury’s the building society, local cafes etc etc

Google recycling sites in your area. We have at least three that I know of. Books are always very popular and get a number of takers. A local special needs school are always keen and a local mosque took some.

No harm in joining up and putting them on. It’s free!

PS if you should ever want to read an old paperback novel once again but have binned it you can buy them for pennies from an Amazon seller. Or Abe Books.

My son is a bookseller and I gleaned a little info from him.

Old books are usually without monetary value and are a fire hazard. Get rid of them when you can.

If there are any books as treasured objects, say childhood favourites, or family Bible, you may never read and they are worth no money but you want them.

Old books in good condition may be some value especially if signed by the author ,or maybe good condition interesting first editions. Very specialist antique books sometimes fall into this category.

My local Co-op has a corner where we can take old books which are then sold and the money goes to charity.