# Best way to sell collection of non-mainstream art books?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-sell-collection-of-non-mainstream-art-books/318904>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 27, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-sell-collection-of-non-mainstream-art-books/318904 "2005-08-27T21:01:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kitchen\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-sell-collection-of-non-mainstream-art-books/318904/1 "2005-08-27T21:01:36Z")

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I’m hoping to sell a few books my Dad left behind. He was an avid book reader, and collected a lot of 1st editions, rare prints, & prehistoric books. He also had a collection of coffee table style art books, mostly erotic in nature. Example: a very large Tom of Finland book.

The thing is, he had quite a few books that are worth a lot of money, and my bro and I don’t know their value. We’re leery of taking a box full of books to a generic book dealer in town and totally getting screwed on the price. I’ve already called a few used book stores and they don’t want to have anything to do with this certain collection.

Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![Pixisis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Pixisis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixisis)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-sell-collection-of-non-mainstream-art-books/318904/2 "2005-08-27T21:12:26Z")

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have you tried checking with a university or art museum ?

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**Author:** ![Kitchen\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-sell-collection-of-non-mainstream-art-books/318904/3 "2005-08-27T21:15:04Z")

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Nope. That’s why I’m asking you guys… I haven’t a clue aside from the obvious: book dealers.

Thanks! I’ll be making a list (if anyone else responds).

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-sell-collection-of-non-mainstream-art-books/318904/4 "2005-08-27T21:47:05Z")

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Well, you can look up the books on eBay or Abebooks to see what they’re typically selling for. It may be worth the trouble of seeking out a specialty rare book dealer to evaluate them in person. I suspect you’ll be able to identify such a dealer after seeing which ones sell the type of art books you have.

But I have to ask. Prehistoric books? Isn’t that some sort of oxymoron?

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**Author:** ![Kitchen\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-sell-collection-of-non-mainstream-art-books/318904/5 "2005-08-27T22:08:04Z")

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> [@Dewey Finn](#):
>
> But I have to ask. Prehistoric books? Isn’t that some sort of oxymoron?

Just my feeble attempt at humor

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**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-sell-collection-of-non-mainstream-art-books/318904/6 "2005-08-28T04:51:31Z")

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I’ll add my usual suggest of [craigslist](http://www.craigslist.org) .