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Going through some old books, I realized I have a first printing of Truman Capote, In Cold Blood. Pretty sure I picked it up some some 20+ years ago at a thrift store, but alas, I'm not a collector, soooo....
Wondering if there is a reputable dealer who will give an honest appraisal and pay a fair price? Prefer not to sell online, just rather deal with a real person, locally, and who has a reputation to uphold.
Initial research shows that they are selling for several hundred dollars in "mediocre' condition.
Reader's Corner deals mostly with "secondhand", not "rare" books. I place in Durham is a good bet although I don't know how they have fared with COVID.
There used to be a wonderful place in Chapel Hill called simply The Bookshop, but they sadly went out of business a few years ago.
Let us know how you fare, as I inherited some supposedly "valuable" old books, as well, but I understand the market for rare books is MUCH less than it used to be. I always check eBay to get a very general idea of how rare something is before bothering going through the trouble of getting it looked at by a rare book dealer.
Reader's Corner deals mostly with "secondhand", not "rare" books. I place in Durham is a good bet although I don't know how they have fared with COVID.
There used to be a wonderful place in Chapel Hill called simply The Bookshop, but they sadly went out of business a few years ago.
Let us know how you fare, as I inherited some supposedly "valuable" old books, as well, but I understand the market for rare books is MUCH less than it used to be. I always check eBay to get a very general idea of how rare something is before bothering going through the trouble of getting it looked at by a rare book dealer.
And when checking eBay, make sure to look at SOLD, not active listings. What someone lists an item for is immaterial. Market value is determined by what items like this are actually SELLING for.
eBay has gotten easier to use.
As long as the book is young enough to have a ISBN number, (readable from the book with a cheap barcode reader or an app in your phone), then eBay will populate the listing Description with name, author, page count, description, cover picture etc. One more input from you about condition, and they'll also provide a suggested sale price.
Also, eBay now lets you list books until they are sold, paying their fee only if sold.
If you have lot of books, say 50+, it might be worth your while to get a program I use, https://www.readerware.com that is a database program. I have about 2,000 books, and I scanned each (with a $60 barcode reader) into the program. Super easy and quick.
Then I had it use those inputted ISBN number to check a bunch of websites, getting all the description information, PLUS the average selling price for NEW, Like New, and other conditions. Most of my books were simple paperbacks, but I scanned them all into the program, let it spend a few hours scraping data out of the web.
I went into the result and could easily see which books were of little value and to donate to the library, and which had value worth me trying to sell on eBay or Amazon.
Going through some old books, I realized I have a first printing of Truman Capote, In Cold Blood. Pretty sure I picked it up some some 20+ years ago at a thrift store, but alas, I'm not a collector, soooo....
Wondering if there is a reputable dealer who will give an honest appraisal and pay a fair price? Prefer not to sell online, just rather deal with a real person, locally, and who has a reputation to uphold.
Initial research shows that they are selling for several hundred dollars in "mediocre' condition.
Not a book dealer but Sanford Antique Mall has dealers who specialize in just about everything. I would bet if you gave them a call they could give you some contacts.
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