Old books

Research the titles on the Internet. Sometimes info comes up on auction sites then you’d have an idea of the value.
Oxfam and other charities have sites/shops dedicated to books. They might be interested.

Wouldn’t your family like them? What about selling online?

I just give books like that to charity. Why on earth does the fact that a book does not have a bar code and an ISBN mean it cannot be passed on in the way other books are passed on?

I have a lot of books published over 100 years ago that still have real value as key texts in their field and I have bought books published well over 100 years ago to add to my library.

Charity shop for me too - even ‘family’ bibles, which mean nothing to me.

You could try AbeBooks, which will give you an approximate value for each book. It’s a bit painstaking, but if you’re unsure of whether the books are of interest or value it’s a good starting point - we used them for some old military books which none of us had any knowledge about.

Donate to a charity shop………there’s all manner of crafting that can be done with old books with a certain patina.

I think book numbers only came in in the 1960s and ISBN later still.
1972??

Try the National Trust if there's a property near you.
The one by my daughter has a second-hand bookshop in the courtyard where the other retail outlets are.

Try Vinted. It's good to know that your book is going to someone who really wants it instead of putting it to a charity shop and not know what happens to it. Advertise them in the other memorabilia section and you won't need to supply a bar code. I have passed on a few old books this way.

Thanks Parsley3. I will try that and thanks to everyone else who responded. I will follow up some of the ideas. The charity shops around here are unfortunately overwhelmed with donations and certainly won’t take old books. I mentioned bar codes because on the sites I have looked at they require a bar code or ISBN code for an estimated value.

My charity shop often states no books or CD's.
I second looking for a aution site.

A lot of auctioneers do specialist book sales. It's worth asking around.

I have 3 books, Sunday school prizes from 1911. They have the fancy stickers inside with the child`s name. About 15, maybe more, years ago, when Michael Aspel was still there, I took them to the Antiques Roadshow, but was told they weren`t worth anything. I won`t part with them, they belonged to a couple of "aunties" long since departed, but when I`m gone my family will probably dispose of them.

Greenfinch

Thanks Parsley3. I will try that and thanks to everyone else who responded. I will follow up some of the ideas. The charity shops around here are unfortunately overwhelmed with donations and certainly won’t take old books. I mentioned bar codes because on the sites I have looked at they require a bar code or ISBN code for an estimated value.

I get values by just putting the title and author in google. It will bring up the prices bookshops with copies are charging. Then I look on ebay and that gives me the price range for the book

Only yesterday I put details of a first edition Tolkien children's book into google and discovered book shops charging £50-£90 for it, while the ebay price was about £20. I will put it onto ebay for ease of selling.

Oh that is so interesting MOnica.I have just looked up an illustrated book of the Holy Land that I once bought at a jumble sale.The bookshops were charging up to £110 while on eBay it was going for about £15. Mine has a Sunday school label stuck on the inside which could make a difference.

Apologies, the books are dated 1913, not 1911.

Unfortunately if you have researched it and they are not worth money to you they won’t be worth anything to a charity shop either. If you saw how many books are sent off with the rag man every week you would weep
We do research most books to go on eBay or world of books but all the rest are sent to their death
First editions or books with a hand written message by the author will fetch some money but if you are looking on eBay you need to look at the ‘Sold section’ as they may be people who have estimated £20 but unless it sells for £20 it could be worthless

Oxfam collects books. My DD buys many old and interesting books from them .

BlueBelle

Unfortunately if you have researched it and they are not worth money to you they won’t be worth anything to a charity shop either. If you saw how many books are sent off with the rag man every week you would weep
We do research most books to go on eBay or world of books but all the rest are sent to their death
First editions or books with a hand written message by the author will fetch some money but if you are looking on eBay you need to look at the ‘Sold section’ as they may be people who have estimated £20 but unless it sells for £20 it could be worthless

Checking in the 'sold' section of ebay is what I do. How other can you get the price the book sold for on ebay?

If the charity shop has someone who will take books, covers and all to recycle in some way, so much the better. You cannot put them in the paper recycling bins, so otherwise they go into the landfill/incinerator skips.

If someone is not used to eBay they may just look the price up without realising they need to check the sold and not just the ‘for sale’ section that’s all Monica, you are obviously an old hand at it, not everyone is

In my town we can put books both hardback and paperback in our recycling bins

However obviously the charity shop has far too many per week for a bin, so they go with the rag man collection

ebay has so many regular users, that most will be very familiar with how it works.

I sell used books. I'm sorry to say that just because books are old it doesn't make them valuable. Have a look on Amazon or Ebay and check that they really are not worth anything, and then donate to a charity shop - our local Tesco has shelves where customers can leave books that they no longer want. It's surprising how much they make (books cost 50p). Good luck!

At a NT book shop at Christmas,I saw some Readers Digest condensed books arranged in decreasing circles and threaded with small LED lights as a Christmas Tree. The manager had more than enough RDBooks for several trees.
I also make security boxes by cutting out a box sized centre from any unusable thick book. They can hide in plain sight with other books on a shelf.

I faced the job of disposing of two huge religious tomes. Just a name on one so distant family connection. They were in excellent condition. I was told that they had no value unless they had some provenance ie belonged to someone famous. I loaded up my wheelie carryon bag and took to a branch of charity that specialised in books in the local town.