# Old Books & Other Antiquey Stuff **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724 "2004-05-05T22:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/1 "2004-05-05T22:05:10Z")
…but mostly old books. Long story, short version: I’m cleaning out my in-laws’ house as they prepare to move into a retirement community. They just have TONS of stuff. I can figure out what to do with a lot of it - some will be handed down to my husband, some to his brother, some to the grandchildren. Some is definitely garage-sale stuff. But then there’s the books, and a few other antiques. First off, I’ve checked a number of websites about identifying old books, and they seem to think old books have ISBN numbers in them. Got news for them… some of these books are so old they don’t have COPYRIGHT dates. How the heck can I tell if these are worth selling? One, I know for certain after three full days of research, is a first edition Mark Twain book, and doing a little searching leads me to believe it’s fairly valuable. But then I have to “grade” the condition and how the heck do I know what’s A+ and what’s A-? Does anyone here know ANYTHING about appraising old books? Second, the other antique stuff: we’re having an appraiser come in to estimate the value of some stuff we KNOW is valuable. But…they charge for appraisals, and I don’t want them to come in and charge me $50 to tell me something’s worth $100. So… how do I know what’s worth appraising?? Help me, please… ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/2 "2004-05-05T22:10:10Z")
It’s too bad my grandparents are long retired from the antique biz; they used to do this sort of thing all the time. I would ask around and see if anyone you know s a reputable antique and/or book dealer; it sounds like you don’t need a written appraisal of each item, but you just need a ballpark figure for what the stuff is worth from someone you can trust. If my grandparents hadn’t been retired for so long, I’d ask them for some names; they used to do 3-4 shows a year in this neck of the woods and knew a lot of good people. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/3 "2004-05-05T22:20:54Z")
Try [Bibliofind](http://www.bibliofind.com) to see if they list the books and current selling prices from dealers. You might also try searching on ebay. A lot of old books and manuscripts are sold there. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/4 "2004-05-05T22:22:19Z")
By the way, if any of them are books on Alaska or the Yukon, I may be interested in buying them. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/5 "2004-05-05T22:45:09Z")
Post some titles! I might be interested. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/6 "2004-05-05T22:54:12Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > By the way, if any of them are books on Alaska or the Yukon, I may be interested in buying them. And let me know if any are on Panama . . . As a rough guide to grading, the Advanced Book Exchange ([http://www.abebooks.com/](http://www.abebooks.com/)) provides this: > [@](#): > > Condition of a book is usually in the form of VG/VG, Fine/Good, VG/–, etc. The first part is the condition of the book, the second is the condition of the dust jacket. If a “/–” is present, it usually means that the dustjacket is not present. > > As New - To be used only when the book is in the same immaculate condition to which it was published. There can be no defects, no missing pages, no library stamps, etc., and the dustjacket (if it was issued with one) is perfect, without any tears. > > Fine (F or FN) - Approaches the condition of As New, but without being crisp. For the use of the term Fine, there can be no defects, etc., and if the jacket has a small tear, or other defect, or looks worn, this should be noted. > > Very Good (VG) - Describes a book that does show some small signs of wear - but no tears - on either binding or paper. Any defects require a note in the book description. > > Good (G) - Describes the average used worn book that has all pages or leaves present. Any defects require a note in the book description. > > Fair - Worn book that has complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc. Binding, jacket (if any), etc., may also be worn. Any defects require a note in the book description. > > Poor - Describes a book that is sufficiently worn, to the point that its only merit is as a Reading Copy because it does have the complete text, which is legible. Any missing maps or plates should still be noted. This copy may be soiled, scuffed, stained or spotted and may have loose joints, hinges, pages, etc. As Chefguy says, you can get at least a rough idea of the price range for the books by searching for the title at a site like abebooks, alibris, or bibliofind, and seeing what booksellers are asking for them. Of course, what they will offer you will me substantially less. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/7 "2004-05-05T23:50:15Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Try [Bibliofind](http://www.bibliofind.com) to see if they list the books and current selling prices from dealers. You might also try searching on ebay. A lot of old books and manuscripts are sold there. Holy cats. I found a few of these on there, and it looks like the in-laws may be sitting on at least a little cash. Unfortunately, I’m only getting a really rough idea here, because for instance the Mark Twain book I mentioned is listed from $14 to $400, and there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of distinction between those two in terms of condition. (I’d consider this one to be in fair condition, based on that scale, but there’s one up there in way worse shape than this one that is listed as “VG”.) I’m also making the assumption that these books are listed because they’re not sold yet, so that may mean these prices are unreasonable, or that the books aren’t that interesting to collectors to begin with. So far I haven’t turned up any on Panama, Alaska or the Yukon, but if I do, I’ll let you know. **Bosda** - I’m thinking it might be bad form to list these here, as it could be construed as spamming - but give me a couple genres or authors you’re into and I’ll see what’s here. My email is in my profile. Thanks for all the pointers so far, everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/8 "2004-05-06T12:08:09Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > So far I haven’t turned up any on Panama, Alaska or the Yukon, but if I do, I’ll let you know. **Bosda** - I’m thinking it might be bad form to list these here, as it could be construed as spamming - but give me a couple genres or authors you’re into and I’ll see what’s here. My email is in my profile. > > Thanks for all the pointers so far, everyone. My e-mail is listed, as are (no doubt) many of the other Posters/Lurkers. Make a list, & batch e-mail it to us. Attention Lurkers! If you’re interested, get your e-mail addy to **LifeOnWry** ASAP! ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/9 "2004-05-06T13:16:08Z")
**LifeonWry** - how about $5,000 for the Lot? Can you provide titles? What Twain book are we talking about? My wife and I are voracious **first edition** collectors. We have a first edition Huck Finn we bought at auction for $2,500. It is in mint condition fully illustrated. My email is listed. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/10 "2004-05-06T13:48:02Z")
Sheesh! **Phlosphr** , don’t do that to me. My eyeballs just about fell out of my head there. I’ve sent email to both you and **Bosda**. If anyone else is interested, let me know, but know this before you do: it’s safe to assume that NOTHING here is in mint condition. It’s all “poor” to “fair”, with maybe a couple of “goods” (going by that grading list.) Thanks all, for at least making this an interesting udertaking! ---
**Author:** ![Erroneous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71c47a/32.png) [@Erroneous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erroneous)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/11 "2004-05-06T13:55:46Z")
One thing you might think of doing is giving them to a local bookstore, one that lists their books online, to sell on commission. [Abebooks.com](http://Abebooks.com) has a nice bookseller search function - maybe check out the listings of some prospective stores first, to make sure they know how to describe a book well. They’ll do all the work of assessing your books and describing them and listing them online, and (especially for the more valuable books) they should be pretty flexible when it comes to negotiating what your cut of the sale price will be. The bookstore where I work lists on abe, and we’ve sold a few valuable books on commission for people; it really does work out as a win-win arrangement, as far as I can tell. The only catch is that you can’t be in a big hurry to see your profits, as it can take a while for books to sell sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/12 "2004-05-06T14:15:41Z")
It’s a long shot, but maybe worth it. If any of them are travelogues by a man named John H. Skinner, I would be very interested in working out a deal for their purchase. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/13 "2004-05-06T14:51:53Z")
I just emailed you **lifeonwry** - **Erroneous** has a good idea as well… For us Bibliophiles, getting the books to an appraiser or sold a t the best price is the priority! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/14 "2004-05-06T15:20:24Z")
Are there any collections of poetry by Martin Farquar Tupper? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/15 "2004-05-06T15:26:48Z")
Anything music-related, my email’s in my profile 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/16 "2004-05-06T15:28:10Z")
No Skinner or Tupper — so far, but I will keep my eyes open when I go over this afternoon. I’ve got some Wordsworth and Browning. Anyone interested in an old set of World’s Famous Orations, by William Jennings Bryan? There are ten volumes, and I think that’s all of 'em. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/17 "2004-05-06T15:31:10Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Anything music-related, my email’s in my profile 🙂 I haven’t come across any music-related books yet, but we’ve got an ancient saxaphone and an enormous box of old sheet music… ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/18 "2004-05-06T15:32:58Z")
Since others are asking, how about naval history (Nelson, hearts of oak, all that stuff), or travel and exploration up through that era. Email is in my profile. (Of course your best bet is to get a good bookseller in to give you an idea, and then consign the lot as suggested above. I’m not about to spend $400 on a book!) ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/19 "2004-05-06T15:46:10Z")
There isn’t a copy of the Necronomicon by chance? Failing that, any on the American Civil War? ---
**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:** [May 6, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724/20 "2004-05-06T15:57:13Z")
> [@Erroneous](#): > > One thing you might think of doing is giving them to a local bookstore, one that lists their books online, to sell on commission. [Abebooks.com](http://Abebooks.com) has a nice bookseller search function - maybe check out the listings of some prospective stores first, to make sure they know how to describe a book well. They’ll do all the work of assessing your books and describing them and listing them online, and (especially for the more valuable books) they should be pretty flexible when it comes to negotiating what your cut of the sale price will be. The bookstore where I work lists on abe, and we’ve sold a few valuable books on commission for people; it really does work out as a win-win arrangement, as far as I can tell. The only catch is that you can’t be in a big hurry to see your profits, as it can take a while for books to sell sometimes. It’s quite common for people to bring in boxes and boxes and BOXES of books to the bookstore where my daughter works. Then someone (sometimes the owner, sometimes the manager, sometimes my daughter, sometimes all of them working together) will go through the books and offer a price for some or all of them. I don’t know if this particular bookstore sells on commission, but for a big lot, I’m sure they’d consider it. If you just want the books graded or appraised, be prepared to pay for it. Grading books takes time and some knowledge. > [@LifeOnWry](#): > > Unfortunately, I’m only getting a really rough idea here, because for instance the Mark Twain book I mentioned is listed from $14 to $400, and there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of distinction between those two in terms of condition. (I’d consider this one to be in fair condition, based on that scale, but there’s one up there in way worse shape than this one that is listed as “VG”.) Judging a book’s condition is somewhat subjective, and an old book is likely to be graded more leniently than a new book. Unfortunately, some people are not good at grading books and do it anyway. And, of course, some people just flat out grade their books higher than they should, from ignorance or greed. The book store where my daughter works will grade the book at the lower of two grades, if it’s borderline, as they want repeat business, and as the manager says, they’d rather have people get a pleasant surprise instead of being disappointed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-books-other-antiquey-stuff/243724.md?page=2)