Do old books sell? If so, where and how do I do it?

[NameChangePropertyAdvice]

Following on from my thread about selling my parents' house - they've now accepted an offer and everything seems to be plodding along smoothly. Thanks for everybody who commented back then! Now they are in clear out mode and I'm trying to sell a few bits for them. Does anybody know if/how I can sell these old books please? Thanks.

Unless they're first editions, you won't get much at all. A few pounds for the lot.

Looking at those, although they’re lovely, they are also pretty much valueless. You could box them up and put them into an auction, I guess?

There may be individual books that could be ebayed. But you’d need to Google every book to find out which have value.

We've just been in this exact situation OP, my late MiL had over 1000 books. DH sold her Folio books very easy to a dealer, but so far hasn't managed to sell any of her old books. He contacted dealers he'd found online with detailed lists but they all said they weren't interested because covid meant that they hadn't been able to shift stock. We've boxed them up and will approach dealers again if/ when things are a bit more settled on the covid front. Best of luck.

Have a look through Abebooks.

As the poster above said, you can look up similar books on a website like abebooks and see what the going rate is. I think your books look lovely and there are people who are interested in old hardbacks. Second hand bookshops will often buy books from people but will obviously pay less than going rate as they need to profit when they sell them on.

Thanks - even a few pounds would be nice! The problem with ebaying individually is that postage isn't cheap. But when I get my hands on them maybe I'll look up the individual books in case there are any gems. I very much doubt there will be though!

How did you find dealers @Downthegarden?

The gems might not be the books you expect - your hardback The Load of Unicorn, for example, could get a few pounds.

What about contacting an interior designer see if they might use them in projects?

I’ve jus stayed in Hay on Wye and their bookshops advertised buying books.

It’s a literary town so maybe ring a few there?