Old books

We have two old family bibles and I did think of getting them rebound but I thought it might be very expensive and I don’t think any family members would really appreciate them.

Mother’s!

Re family bibles and other old, treasured but delicate books, have you thought of having them rebound? Inspired by the Repair Shop I have had my mother’s 1930s Complete Shakespeare beautifully skilfully repaired by a local bookbinder. It cost much less than anticipated and delighted my actor grandchild as a present. I have also had my other’s precious’Palgrave’s Golden Treasury’ rebound.

Google ‘ where can i sell my vintage books in the uk’ and it comes up with several sites that will buy your vintage books online

there have been several intersting articles in a range of newspapers recently about how people are buying books by the yard to make their houses look as if its owners are wellread.

There are severally companies who will consult with yoy and discuss what you want from you library - its cintribution to your decor, to you rimage of yourself and your claaimed interest.

I will stick to the old fashioned way of buying books I will buy books I want to read - and then read them and put them on my bookshelf for later consultation with otu worrting about how the colours of the covers and size fit in with my decor.

Thanks AmberGran . I will have a look at Ziffit.

Anglo Doorstep Collections take books.
I heard about them on here.
I find them v convenient.
They make a donation to charity

Do you have a community library? We have one in our village and they are happy to take all books. Some go in the library, some that might be worth something, are auctioned on Ebay etc, and even the ones that can't be used are sold to be pulped and raise money to keep the library going.

Old books are only of any value if first editions in excellent condition, with dust jackets.
I volunteered in charity shops for years and saw most donated non-fiction thrown out. If we need information now we Google it.

I just google title and author and some site or another will throw up a copy and its selling price. I am too lazy to bother with ISBN codes. Anyway, most of my books do not contain them. Much of my library is archaeological reports or other 'grey' literature

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.

WeBuyBooks and Ziffit will take books without ISBN and bar codes but you need to email them with the book details to find out if they want it and what they will pay for it.

I've got loads of books without ISBNs that I will be clearing out soon so that's what I will do first.

JamesandJon33

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

Our Red Cross shop has started sending those they don't sell to World of Books. At least they have another chance.

Even chairty shops are turning away books these days. We are downsizing and several have tuned down offers of books.

Why not google to find some proper antique bookshops like the ones in Hay on Wye to buy them, or sell online and give the money to a charity close to your heart.

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.

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 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!

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

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

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.

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

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

Apologies, the books are dated 1913, not 1911.

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.

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.