Try to get first editions, even better first printings. Make sure you buy the book in at least very good condition. If you know what you are looking for, you can often find bargains on eBay if the seller doesn’t realise that a particular edition is sought after and lists it poorly – so search the listing contents not just titles. Track prices on eBay (click the heart button next to your search results to get regular emails) to learn what’s reasonable, and what’s popular or scarce. Good for you! I recommend picking a market segment that interests you and getting quite knowledgeable about it. Okay, so you really want to make it as a book reseller. Take my advice and collect for personal enjoyment.īut I really want to get rich selling books! But many more people found they spent a lot of money for a book that was popular a few years ago, and now they can’t even give it away. Some collections go under the auction hammer for very substantial sums. Sure, someone got rich selling their first edition of Harry Potter or the signed Jane Austen they found in their attic. Let me be brutally honest here – collecting books as an investment is pretty risky. I want my physical books to bring me joy – special bindings, pretty covers, clever hidden details, incredible illustrations, and made to last. I run this website because I think book aesthetics matter – content, obviously, is king, but I read plenty of books just for fun on my e-reader. Be selective about which books you bring into your home. So if you let yourself be driven by the latest ‘Instagrammable’ find that everyone else is buying you will soon be broke, and out of shelf space. There are so many books out there, and more are being published every day. That means having an idea of what sort of books you would like to have in your personal library, and spending some time working out which copies, or titles, best fit that ideal. However, a good piece of advice is to collect with intention if you can. Others (like me) collect all sorts of different things that take their fancy – I have lots of mini-collections, such as different interpretations of Alice in Wonderland, and books that contain removable ephemera like letters you can pull out and read. baseball), or an author, a title, or even a publisher (e.g. He owns the largest ‘private book collection’ in the world at the moment with over 1.5 million books that have filled his house, his six-car garage, a separate two-storey building and are even piled up outside under tarpaulins.Ĭollect what you love! Some people build collections based on their favorite genre (children’s books, fantasy, or science, or mystery), or a time period that fascinates them (e.g. A book collection can be the enjoyable work of a lifetime.īy the way, if you want to feel better about your own overflowing shelves, spare a thought for John Q Benham of Indiana. Of course, some collect books as an investment, and many people do it for a combination of all of these reasons. Some do it to increase their knowledge, some enjoy the aesthetics of illustrations, some love the feeling of nostalgia from a vintage collection, others do it for social connection, or even the thrill of the hunt or competitive challenge. Kinda puts our libraries back in perspective, doesn’t it?Īnyway, people collect books for all sorts of different reasons. People collect all sorts of things – the Guinness World Records site recognises collectors of traffic cones, air sickness bags, owl paraphernalia and even belly button lint. Most likely, our ancestors managed to accumulate scarce objects that helped them to survive, and through the miracle of natural selection, they went on to have more offspring, who also had a propensity to ‘collect’.
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