How to Find Rare Books

Series Summary

A first edition of “On the Road,” a signed copy of “The Man in the High Castle,” a early version of Wilde’s “Salome” with the Aubrey Beardsley cover intact…these are some of the holy grails of the rare book world and each worth a great deal. Indeed, the exciting world of book collecting has its share of fortunes to be made, but not all of these are through honest means. Illicit copies abound, so buyers must know exactly what to look for before investing in a rare book. Sellers must know exactly how to describe their books to potential customers wary of a scam and how to avoid inaccurate listings.

In this series of book collecting videos, a bookselling professional gives you expert advice on how to collect old books, including how to find rare books at trade shows. He will also demonstrate how to determine if a book is actually a first edition. You will learn how to determine the value of a book and decide whether or not you should attempt to repair it.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Erik Bosee with the Aldredge Bookstore. I'd like to talk about where you can go to find rare books. The best place still is a bookstore. And, if you're lucky enough to have a really nice used antiquarian bookstore in your town, by all means, go there. The people working there have years, decades sometimes, and generations of experience dealing with all the nuances of what makes a book rare, collectible, and desirable. And it's a place you can actually go and physically look at the books--examine them, see if it's something that's interesting enough to you to want to be able to buy it, to hold on to it for years to pass it on to your children or maybe, eventually, sell it for an investment or whatever. If you don't want to buy it from them, by all means, go elsewhere. You've seen it. You know what it is. You now have something that you're out seeking for maybe in some other venue. Which brings us to what's become one of the most popular ways to buy books and that's the Internet. There are thousands of book dealers advertising their books on the Internet. Some of them might just be working out of their garage. Some of them might have very large open shops that have been in business for years and years. This opens up a whole world to you. You can buy books from across the country and across the world. Many of these dealers are advertising their entire inventory online. Some of them are just doing certain select items. You can find a book dealer that might have something that you're looking for and begin a correspondence through email to see if, indeed, the title that they are advertising meets all of your parameters and then you can buy it from them. There are also auctions--of course there's Internet auctions. And there's also occasionally, in some of the larger towns, if you look in the newspaper or talk to book dealers--oftentimes there are book auctions, as well. Garage sales and estate sales are great places to buy books. Most of the specialty rare book dealers--this is where they get a good deal of their stock. So, get out there and start seeing what you can find. Because you never know until you're out there sort of poking through people's castaways."