What to do with old books

[Hastoomuchstuff]

Posting here as it seems to be the busiest page. Do people actually buy books anymore? We have some beautiful hard backed books on all sorts of subjects left from my deceased pil. What do people do with them? The market is flooded with used books at very low prices. It grieves me to even give them to charity shops as they'll probably just gather dust & eventually be disposed of. Has anyone found a place to successfully sell them?

Oxfam used to have dedicated book shops (don't know if they still do). There was one in Hull and when I took my father's books in they said they sold any that were of value online to collectors etc.
A friend of ours sells books online but I am not sure who he does it through. I think it is a specialist book site.

Donate them to charity shops, Oxfam have dedicated book shops, I can't believe you're trying to sell the them.

It's worth checking out the values. I was really surprised to find we have some books that are worth way more than they were new, simply because they're popular books that are no longer in print.

Donating to oxfam is a gamble. They may or may not just bin them. Or worse, they’ll google the price on a site like a abebooks. Then a volunteer will come to a price conclusion which is massively inflated. Eg they’ll glance at the high price, not realising that the copy listed has a sought after cover design/ signature/ limited print run or something. Yours will be overpriced to match, then languish in a silly oxfam glass cabinet at a pie in the sky price, gathering dust.
It all really depends on the subject?
It’s difficult for any of us to advise without knowing.

@user1493494961

Donate them to charity shops, Oxfam have dedicated book shops, I can't believe you're trying to sell the them.

no, she wants them to go to a good home, as would most of us

Any books on a religious theme might be donated to the chaplaincy of a local prison. But check the rules first.

I sold a batch of not individually valuable but nice looking old books on a wedding forum to be used in table centres. Might be worth a try for you?

DH and I got rid of about 250 books a few years ago. I gave about 50 to the local library, I was a librarian so knew which knew which ones they would want. Libraries receive donations often and some books given are not used. We then gave the rest to Oxfam. DH also donated 10 years of private eye magazine and The Economist. The private eye magazines could have been sold but we like giving to charity this way as it saves time and hassle.

I have over a thousand Ladybird books which I should sell or donate but I am too attached to them.

“ It grieves me to even give them to charity shops as they'll probably just gather dust & eventually be disposed of. Has anyone found a place to successfully sell them?”

I get all my books from charity shops. Lots of book lovers do, a d we are pleased to have them.

Your local hospital might want them for mobile library if you’re so against giving them to charity shops.

Of course people still buy books. Mad post.

Another here who would suggest Oxfam. Look at their website and see if they have any of the same titles (they have an antiquariat section which is fabulous)

When we cleared my Dad's house, we put any books we didn't want to keep outside the front door with a sign saying please help yourself. Most of the books went and we only had to get rid of a few. We actually did this for all sorts of things and it started a bit of a trend in our village and now everyone puts things outside before they think of taking them to the tip just in case some one else can make use of it.

not sure where you are but in london there are specialist oxfam bookshops, one in highgate, and one in bloomsbury.
there are probably more dotted around.
i have given them lots of all sorts of books.
they make good use of them, know how to get the most of them.

If they are valuable contact a dealer. Check for first editions etc. If they’re just some old hardbacks, charity!

Try freecycle, sadly most donated books get pulped by charities.

Have a book dealer look at them.

Not all old books are worthwhile, and you might as well recycle any that aren't. Though if n some are particularly nice looking but not worth reading you may be able to make it into something like a box, or build a wall, etc.

Interested to hear people recommend ziffit. I downloaded the app after seeing the ad on Duolingo for the umpteenth time, and scanned a few books I had to hand. They weren't worth much - 50-80p, but since I bought most of them for £1 at our local charity shop that's not a bad return.

Have people ever had any dodgy experiences with ziffit?

If you are going to give them to a charity shop please phone to check first. We are absolutely inundated with book donations so have had to restrict the number we can take - can’t sell them quickly enough or have space to store them

I think it is also worth working out your feelings a bit.

I grew up in a bookworm family and when I reached adulthood I realised that some of my family's attitude to books was a bit odd. Books were revered as objects. God forbid a spine got broken or a corner got turned down. I can remember DM going to tell off one of my DCs for doing that with one of their own books (DM told keep out).

Books do reach a 'sell by date'. Keep or pass on the individual books which have merit but dont fret about binning the ones which have no merit.