Book Collecting Tips

We encourage reading for fun and pleasure and collecting whatever you have a passion for. We love helping you grow your collection and develop your Literary Addiction (called Biblioholism, according to best-selling author, Tom Raabe).

Numerous books have been written on collecting and valuing books. We offer only a few of the primary tips that you should know to successfully collect, and buy or sell, books.

A book is valuable because...

RARITY. For a book to be valuable it must be rare. The ideal collectible book would be one of a small printing of a famous author. If there are tens of thousands of copies of a book available, no one would much interested in adding it to their collection. The fewer remaining copies of a book the more valuable it will be.

CONDITION. The nearer to unread condition a book is the more valuable it is. The terms typically used in collecting / valuing books are:

Very Fine – Perfect condition; virtually no sign that book has been read. Bright shiny dust jacket.
Fine – very minor signs of use, wear, fading or torn pages. Close to new. Jacket may have lost some sheen.
Very Good – some evidence of use, rubbed edges and corners of cover. Dust jacket on and reasonably unmarred; but perhaps price clipped.
Good – physically intact but showing some wear; foxing of pages, chipping and soiling of covers, and may have prior owners name / notes inside. Jacket may have tears, large chips, and be clipped. Good is usually out of the range of serious collectors.
Fair – Shows much wear with multiple defects. Stains, foxing, loose hinges, cracking, library markings. No jacket or very poor condition. Not a collectible copy.
Poor – for use in reading at the beach.

FIRST EDITION. The term usually means “first printing”; the way the book appeared when it was first available, or on the shelves. Considered as being closer to the author. There too many books on and ways to identify “Firsts” to address them all here. The identification can be quite tricky. Call us for assistance.

SIGNATURE. The author’s signature or inscription of the book also enhances value. Again, there is a closeness to the author.

These are basics. Please contact us for more information or assistance in collecting.

How much is that book in the window?

A recent article published online, "In the book world, the rarest of the rare" - MSNBC.com, indicated that book collectors might pay as much as $25 - $25 million if presented with the opportunity to purchase a first-edition Gutenberg Bible (the first book published in 1456). There are always opportunities to discover hidden treasures!

Learn more about book collecting

There are many excellent resources online where you can learn more about book collecting:

Wikipedia's "Book collecting"
"A Guide to Book Collecting in the 21st Century" by Roger Gozdecki
Digital Librarian's "Book Collecting and Book History"