# Ever had any luck with finding rare books in thrift stores? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754 "2012-06-20T15:19:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/21 "2012-06-21T02:47:03Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > I found a signed copy of _So Long and Thanks For All the Fish_ in a Half-Price bookstore years ago. It was signed, “To Todd, Best Wishes. Douglas Adams” > > Bonus- my first name is “Todd”. 😃 > > (Years later, I took it to an Adams booksigning. I put it in front of him and explained how I’d gotten it. He signed it, “… And Again, Douglas Adams”.) Hilarious. I found a signed copy at an SF book sale for $3 - also signed but not to Todd 😉 Not many thrift store finds, but was online checking out a new search engine and found a first of The Philadelphia Story - with a gorgeous photo do Kate Hepburn on the DM - for $35. I haggled down to $25. It was going for $1000 or so I found out later. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/22 "2012-06-21T03:15:10Z")
Not quite a thrift store, but an old paperback exchange had gotten in a selection of oldish SF paperbacks, in excellent condition. Normally this shop would sell its stock at a fraction of the cover price, but since these were books with cover prices around seventy-five cents, they just had the whole lot at a dollar a book. I went through, looking in part for better condition copies of books I’d read to pieces, or that I might want to be able to have a second copy for giving away. While doing this I found a copy of Larry Niven’s _Ringword_ in paperback, but with a cover painting I’d never seen before. So I opened it up, to check out the publishing information. What is well known to readers of Larry Niven, but less so to people outside of SF publishing and fandom, is that the first edition of that book contained a rather embarrassing blooper. Niven described, at one point, traveling around the planet, in advance of the midnight hour, to artificially extend his main character’s birthday to a 48 hour celebration. Only, in his book - he had his character going backwards, against the rotation of the Earth. This error was only recognized after the first edition was published. Very shortly after that, the majority of that print run was recalled, and destroyed. In my hands I had a nearly mint copy of this rare edition of a book that later went on to sell millions of copies. At the time I couldn’t afford to keep it and had to sell it on, but I made enough to eat well for a month off that one book. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/23 "2012-06-21T04:41:17Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > I found a signed copy of _So Long and Thanks For All the Fish_ in a Half-Price bookstore years ago. It was signed, “To Todd, Best Wishes. Douglas Adams” > > Bonus- my first name is “Todd”. 😃 > > (Years later, I took it to an Adams booksigning. I put it in front of him and explained how I’d gotten it. He signed it, “… And Again, Douglas Adams”.) Awesome. I’m still laughing as I reread it. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/24 "2012-06-21T04:51:46Z")
I don’t know about valuable, but I enjoy finding older books. Found one 1888 book of poems; binding was in crap condition, but I thought it was neat. I have a 1947 algebrae book running around, and found a book on bass fishing that I got for my dad because it was older than he is, and in better shape! Well, and he likes fishing, too. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/25 "2012-06-21T05:00:13Z")
Remembered the poet: Lamb. Charles Lamb fits, and according to the date it’s this book here. [Charles Lamb : Ainger, Alfred, 1837-1904 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](http://archive.org/details/charleslambbyalf00aingiala) No idea if it’s worth anything, but I wouldn’t sell it anyway. I have had a thing for the year 1888 since I found pennies with that date, remarkably often, when I was little. And I’m sure something I read here or there while growing up just cemented that year in there. Anyway…I just like old books 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Crime\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e495f1/32.png) [@Crime\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crime_Scene)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/26 "2012-06-21T05:30:38Z")
Are old children’s books worth a damn thing? I know I could probably find the information on the internet, but I do not have that ability at the moment. We have quite a few childrens books that are in pretty good shape from the period right before the great depression and even into it. Most of them have to do with cowboys; this may affect the value negatively, but then again there is probably a niche market for cowboy books. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/27 "2012-06-21T06:05:44Z")
> [@](#): > > SFWA got involved and forced Ace to pay (they claimed they always meant to pay but couldn’t find Tolkien’s address). Tolkien made changes to the edition (adding the maps and glossaries, for instance) so that the book could be copyrighted. If you look at some of the earlier Ballentine paperback editions, there was a note on the back from Tolkien saying that this was the authorized edition, and that out of courtesy, people should only buy this. I had those Ballantine editions. I did come across an incredibly battered copy of _Steal This Book_ by Abbie Hoffman at a used book store for about a buck. And, contrary to the title, I bought it. Hoffman had some interesting philosophies. For the most part, used book stores are going to have someone who knows at least a little bit about rare and collectible books on the staff, and this person will look over any incoming books, especially stuff from estate sales. Thrift shops might or might not have someone who knows about book values. I’ve been able to pick up books at thrift shops which I’ve been meaning to read, and paid only a quarter or dime for them. Most of them have been in barely readable condition, though. It seems that most people (around here, anyway) will take their boxes of books to a used book store first, to see if they can get any money for them, and then take the rejects to the thrift shop, so the books in the thrift shop have already been picked over. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/28 "2012-06-21T06:40:57Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The best I could do was to find the original Ace versions of **Lord of the Rings,** which are going from $45-$218 on eBay (though mine are not in great condition). So should I mention I saw them this week at a used book store selling for a dollar apiece? Okay, these were really poor quality: badly yellowed, spine shot to hell with loose pages, and covers held together with tape. They probably weren’t worth much more than three dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/29 "2012-06-21T07:40:38Z")
> [@Crime\_Scene](#): > > LOL! That was my response too. I called my wife and asked her if she had ever heard of the wedding edition. She said she would look into it and found the value of it online. I’m not sure why in the hell you would ever give that as a wedding present, but lo and behold there it was. I have a German friend who told me that “Mein Kampf” was given out by the Nazi government to newly wedded couples, much like Mao’s “Little Red Book” was issued to citizens on various occasions. I don’t think they were given out from friend to friend. Coincidentally enough, my German friend mentioned this little bit of trivia to me only last week. I’d never heard of it before either. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/30 "2012-06-21T07:54:35Z")
> [@Suil\_Dubh](#): > > I have a German friend who told me that “Mein Kampf” was given out by the Nazi government to newly wedded couples, much like Mao’s “Little Red Book” was issued to citizens on various occasions. It was partly a racket. The government printed up all those copies and paid for them out of government funds. But Hitler collected his royalties on each copy. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/31 "2012-06-21T16:42:02Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > I found a signed copy of _So Long and Thanks For All the Fish_ in a Half-Price bookstore years ago. It was signed, “To Todd, Best Wishes. Douglas Adams” We have Half-Price Books here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, too, and make regular shopping trips. When the 50%-off coupons come out, it can be an all-day pilgrimage as we hit several stores looking for good stuff. My best find was Games Workshop’s original _[Chapter Approved: the Book of the Astronomican](http://www.peteandkellie.com/wh40k/images/main/astronomican.jpg)_ - an extremely rare and ancient text with special rules for First Edition _Warhammer 40,000_ - the world’s greatest tabletop wargame. The author portait of Rick Priestley inside makes him look like he’s about 19. In the past few weeks, I’ve only seen two sold on eBay. Both were in England. One went for $70.83US, the other for $107.01US. I think I may have paid $8.00-$10.00 for my copy. Not gonna sell it, though; I have other 40K books from that era and enjoy looking them over periodically. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/32 "2012-06-21T18:21:15Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > They are asking for that, but who knows if they’ll get it. > > Note, too that this was the Ace edition. Ace published the trilogy without Tolkien’s permission because they were in the public domain due to a loophole in the copyright law at the time\*. To add insult, Ace didn’t pay him. > > SFWA got involved and forced Ace to pay (they claimed they always meant to pay but couldn’t find Tolkien’s address). Tolkien made changes to the edition (adding the maps and glossaries, for instance) so that the book could be copyrighted. If you look at some of the earlier Ballentine paperback editions, there was a note on the back from Tolkien saying that this was the authorized edition, and that out of courtesy, people should only buy this. > > The Ace edition sold well, but Ace stopped publishing it once the Ballentine edition came out. It’s value is at least partly due to the story behind it. > > \*Too many copies were printed in the UK and imported into the US, which put them in the public domain. I took Don and Elsie Wollheim around the MITSFS library around 1971, and when Elsie saw our copies of those books she was very happy. Her take was that they helped build Tolkein’s reputation in the US, and it was legal. I have both those editions and the early Ballantine ones with the nasty note. I doubt very much they are worth a ton of money. I bought a copy of the special Bradbury issue of F&SF in Change of Hobbit once, and found later that it was autographed. I don’t think they knew - it was cheap. I’ve never found much of interest in our thrift shop - though I look for old Golden books some times. ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/33 "2012-06-22T13:06:48Z")
Bought a Wyeth illustrated copy of A Boys King Arthur at a church yard sale. Decades later I saw the same book in an antique store for $100. In that same sale I bought a 100 year old copy of Gullivers Travels. It was pretty battered but I still have it. Both cost me a buck. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/34 "2012-06-22T15:05:05Z")
I had a copy of Eric Burdon’s autobiography _I Used To Be An Animal But I’m All Right Now_ that I had picked up for very little secondhand. A guy at work was leaving for a new job and, knowing he loved music of that vintage, I gave him the book as a farewell gift. He contacted me later to see whether I knew that it was autographed. I had never noticed even though I had read it. He was doubly pleased when he offered to return it and I told him not to bother. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/35 "2012-06-22T15:35:15Z")
I purchased a complete set of Sir Richard Burton’s _The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night_, along with all the supplemental volumes (a total of about 20 books), a limited-edition set from the 19th century for an amazingly low price. ---
**Author:** ![Sassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/36 "2012-06-22T21:35:55Z")
Matched set/first edition of 8 or 9 H. Rider Haggard books from the 1890s ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/37 "2012-06-22T21:56:16Z")
No, not really. I had a professor as an undergrad who bragged once about finding an Ossian that was pretty valuable. But a few months ago there was a kind of beat up compact OED at a Goodwill – probably didn’t have the magnifying glass, and definitely not with the Burchfield supplement. Was going to pick it up as a gift for my sister, but didn’t. I think older OED compacts are pretty cheap used, though – probably not that good a find. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/38 "2012-06-22T22:51:24Z")
I do a lot of thrift shopping (not for books) and the serious people that comb the books are armed with PDAs and price catalogs. Most thrifts are pretty well combed over in short order by people like this guy. > **[Confessions of a used-book salesman.](https://slate.com/culture/2010/10/confessions-of-a-used-book-salesman.html)** > > I make a living buying and selling used books. I browse the racks of thrift stores and library book sales using an electronic bar-code scanner. I push... > [@](#): > > Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman > > I spend 80 hours a week trawling junk shops with a laser scanner. I don’t feel good about it. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/39 "2012-06-22T22:58:04Z")
I collect sports books (mostly golf and baseball) and I have had good luck in thrift stores. It seems that most thrift store owners aren’t sports fans. My most recent find was a first edition (Easalen Institute) of _Golf in the Kingdom_, a classic golf novel. It goes for about $200 from a dealer. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754/40 "2012-06-22T23:37:17Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Not quite a thrift store, but an old paperback exchange had gotten in a selection of oldish SF paperbacks, in excellent condition. Normally this shop would sell its stock at a fraction of the cover price, but since these were books with cover prices around seventy-five cents, they just had the whole lot at a dollar a book. > > I went through, looking in part for better condition copies of books I’d read to pieces, or that I might want to be able to have a second copy for giving away. While doing this I found a copy of Larry Niven’s _Ringword_ in paperback, but with a cover painting I’d never seen before. > > So I opened it up, to check out the publishing information. > > What is well known to readers of Larry Niven, but less so to people outside of SF publishing and fandom, is that the first edition of that book contained a rather embarrassing blooper. Niven described, at one point, traveling around the planet, in advance of the midnight hour, to artificially extend his main character’s birthday to a 48 hour celebration. Only, in his book - he had his character going backwards, against the rotation of the Earth. > > This error was only recognized after the first edition was published. Very shortly after that, the majority of that print run was recalled, and destroyed. In my hands I had a nearly mint copy of this rare edition of a book that later went on to sell millions of copies. > > At the time I couldn’t afford to keep it and had to sell it on, but I made enough to eat well for a month off that one book. If you sold it in Anchorage, I might have bought it. Probably not, since my copy I got from a second-hand book shop for about $.75. I had a chance to have Larry sign it a few years later. He raised and eyebrow, asked if I knew what I had, then gave me a very nice inscription. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-any-luck-with-finding-rare-books-in-thrift-stores/625754.md?page=3)