I need to find book appraisers???

Question

I have a large amount of late 1800-early 1900 books that I'm trying to sell. What I'm having a hard time doing, is finding someone who will appraise them for me, and not overcharge for it. I don't know if these books are worth a whole lot, but they're old, and some of them are fairly rare. Do you know of anyone or a company that does book appraisals & is reputable???

Answer 1

you can get a general idea on your own at no cost. Just go to www.used.addall.com and do a search on your book title or by the author. (You can search in various ways.) Addall works like a super search engine for used books. It will give you a listing of books for sale that correspond to your title. There is usually a description of the book condition included. This description will usually include the publication date and edition version and publisher. You will be able to compare the condition of your book to the conditions of the books being offered for sale. You will be able to ascertain the price range for which the title is selling.

This will enable you to determine if any of your books are worth any money. If any are worth money, then you can work on finding an appraiser. If you really have rare books worth a decent amount of money, you will probably want to use more than one appraiser - it's a cut throat business. Also you may need a specific appraiser. Sometimes you have to go to a specific appraiser or "authenticator" for a specific author or book. For example, I have a specific book signed by the author that if authenticated is worth a lot of money. The person I need to authenticate the signature lives on the west coast and I'd have to take the book to that specific person.

Most books are worth less than you think. I own first editions from 1824. I own Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle, Talbot Mundy, Jack London, Sabatini and PC Wren - all from around the turn of the century or older. There is considerable difference between what I pay for these books and what I can sell them for.

Good luck.

addition: Abbe books and Alibris and many other book stores place their books on line with Addall.com. So when you use addall.com, you will be searching Abbe and Alibris and others all in one search.

Answer 2

Check your yellow pages. There may be antique book dealers listed and if so, you may just call and ask if they do appraisals or if they buy old books. It's a narrow subject and finding folks who really know might be a challenge.

Another way might be to visit www.abebooks.com and do a search for your titles there. There are literally thousands of book sellers listed and if you find your titles listed, you'll also find information about the price they are asking, the condition and the edition.

It'll take some research. Good luck.