Loads of books

[AInightingale]

I couldn't think of anywhere else to post this, so apologies, it is not health or wellbeing related. My mum is downsizing and can only take a small bookcase of books with her. We have selected her favourites and those that mean a lot to her, but I really don't know what to do with the rest. I can't take more than a few. They are mostly quite old and I don't think charity shops would be interested in more than a few bundles of thrillers, etc. A lot of cookery books, encyclopaedias (70s vintage), old hardbacks from the 40s/50s, biographies of historical figures, a full set of those purple kings and queens books she bought from one of those book clubs years ago. The thought of binning books or throwing them on a skip is too harrowing. Any thoughts? I am in NI so the 'We Buy Books' website does not cover us.

Tip for old encyclopaedias, book club books and text books.

Dated cookery and gardening books probably the same.

Anything else, charity shop or one of those book donation shelves in supermarkets. Contact charity in advance to see if they'll take them - our local charity shops won't take them in the shop and you won't want a wasted journey but I did get rid of a load via an Oxfam book bin in a supermarket car park.

Or get a house clearance company to take them away.

A local auction house.

I agree with the book tables in supermarkets - ours always has the most god-awful collection of random shite so it sounds like your mum’s books would be a substantial step up. It’s hard to describe just how utterly crap the books there usually are; I mean sub-sub-charity shop level by some measure. Guides to Windows 95, a directory of bed and breakfasts in Shetland from 1984, the user manual from a long-obsolete Sanyo microwave, a half-filled Moshi
Monsters sticker album and a souvenir book from Andrew and Fergie’s wedding. That sort of thing.

This is what I saw on one visit in case you think I’m exaggerating!

Sorry no help but this is why I got rid of 1000s of my books a few years ago.
I don't miss them, prefer having the shelf space back and prefer reading on kindle.

Our local council tip has special enclosed skips for book recycling. A lot of my parent’s had to go in there when they downsized.

This is so sad to read.

I've got so many books in my house.

Sad to think what would happen to them after I'm gone. It's all fiction though.

@AtomicBlondeRose that really made me laugh. Our suburban Tescos is at least a little better than that!

I’d love to read the copy of Mein Kampf. I can image finding it difficult to read but it’s an important part of history.

Have you looked up any of the books on AbeBooks That will give you a good idea if anything is particularly valuable.

@AInightingale that's the kind of thing I'd be really interested in - was it published to show British people the nature of the regime they were up against? Or was it a German translation that was deliberately selective? The initial English translations very carefully omitted the most bloodthirsty parts to try and conceal the true intentions of the regime. Your parents' library sounds like something I'd love to peruse!

Also, do you know any craft groups that do book folding? I did a one day class on it and made a hedgehog. 😁

Is it worth sticking them on eBay as a job-lot, buyer to collect only, for a tenner? You could always wave away their money if the collector seems genuinely interested in rehoming as many as possible.

I agree it's very sad to just tip them all, even if that's where some of them may well end up.

As you've kept the favourites I'd honestly take them to the tip and release yourself from the burden! They've had their time and given pleasure.

This is why I'm an avid library user these days.

You could always stick them in a box outside your house with a 'Help Yourself' sign.

It's always difficult to know what might be somebody else's treasure and what will be everybody's trash; but at least you've then given people a fair chance to rescue anything that's wanted.

sort into piles

• keep
• get a valuation
• charity shop
• tip

you may well end up with 50% or more going to the tip, but it is better to put them straight into the paper recycling section in reasonable condition than to leave them on the street or dump them on a charity shop that can't sell them.

I was waiting for someone to suggest school libraries! Please don't do this! If a charity shop won't take them why on earth would a school library want old, out of date, inappropriate books?

🤣@AtomicBlondeRose . The Tescos book table makes me laugh out loud too! Half of ours is Barbara Cartland novels and books twocked from schools forty years ago with the 'Property Of' stamps inside. Although sometimes you can hit gold dust- our B&Q had a pile of Virago paperbacks from the 80s in once, they were a real find.

The Mein Kampf, it's interesting historically but I just look at it and realise it's the blueprint for a bloody genocide too. Growing up, I recall our local flea market selling emblems and banknotes and coins from the Third Reich, among other old currency, then attitudes to it seemed to change, and it's no longer acceptable. Think many found it distasteful to think of it being bought up by neo-Nazis and sickos, although many people would collect it just out of historical interest. Same with this book of ours, I could probably sell it to a collector but where might it end up?

Prompted by this thread, I've spent the evening checking Ebay for prices for some of my older books. Surprisingly I've discovered that a couple of cookery books are worth quite a bit (£30+) and several of my art books are really valuable (£100+). There are also a few first-edition children's books here in varying states of usage, which could be worth something.

I'm not sure if this knowledge will help me to get rid of them or to hold on to them though!

People will take books if they are free, but charity shops only take new books. I would take it too little libraries, trainstations, kerbside with a note saying 'free' etc.
Where I live people do this regularly and it gets taken. All of the books I have put in the little library get taken too, no matter how old.

https://littlefreelibrary.org/map/ although not all of the ones near me are on here.

NSPCC and Samaritans do book fairs. Samaritans do it once a month where I live. I emailed them, organized a date and the guy came and picked them all up from my house.

Just take them in batches to charity shops. Around here we have 2 charity bookshops - Amnesty and RSPCA - but most charity shops take them hereabouts. The more old fashioned ones are usually more attractive

You could contact a second hand bookshop to see if they are interested in any. They often buy from house clearances or when people are downsizing. You might get a small amount of money for some of them.

Ziffit covers the UK.

www.ziffit.com/en-gb/?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=1023829872&cq_con=51935433113&cq_med=&cq_plac=&cq_net=g&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn4Kc_-LGgQMVS9btCh3t2AlWEAAYASAAEgIPFvD_BwE

Atomic I loved your description... those are exactly the sort of books we get donated in huge quantities in our charity shop .. no one wants to buy them ... some of our less knowledgeable volunteers spend hours sorting them and displaying them ... only for me to go in and take them all of display..... so depressing that so many books are published in the first place really. Typically they are the 'Christmas gift' type books that are issued ever year ... Z list celebrity biographies or 'fitness guides'.