What do The Hobbit, Bridget Jones Diary and To Kill a Mockingbird have in common?
First-edition copies can be valuable.
Your bookshelf (or your local thrift store) could be a literary treasure trove.
Tofind and sell rare books,you need more than a love for literature.
You needa collectors eye.William Chrisant developed his knowledge of antiquarian books as a graduate student, hunting for sources.
I was able to buy books I thought were only available in museums and libraries, he said.
Theyre great sources of information, obviously.
But theres also the aspect of the binding, paper, and illustrations.
I started learning more and more.
Eventually, I had so many that I started selling them.
But any thrift store is full of dusty old books.
What makes that $30,000 tome different?
Everything from an intact dust jacket to a rare autograph can make a book valuable.
No Interest Til Almost 2027?
A first-edition Ernest Hemingway novel in like-new condition may be worth thousands.
But a beat-up, dog-eared copy could be worth… dozens.
Valuable books tend to be rare.
Only 200 copies of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone were available for purchase when it was first printed.
In 2022, one of those copies sold at auction for over$30,000.
Second, third, and fourth impressions are usually more attainable and less valuable.
A first-edition copy of Blood Meridian signed by Cormac McCarthy sold for over$20,000.
Dont just look for the authors name in pen and ink.
The most valuable books of all have a story other than the one found within their pages.
Chrisant once sold a copy of Aurora Australis, the first book published in Antarctica.
When explorer Ernest Shackleton sailed to the South Pole in 1907, he brought a printing press.
He and his crew spent their free time on the expedition producing 100 copies.
They were bound not with cloth, not with leather, but with the crates that held their supplies.
The cover of Chrisants copy read LIQU, for liquor, perhaps?
A similar copy sold at Bonhams for$97,500.
Look For Rare Books
Ready to rifle through the stacks at the thrift store or grandmas attic?
Keep your eye out for these valuable books.
A signed, first-edition copy is on sale for over $1,000 onAbebooks.
Another Y2K classic you might have on your bookshelf is Helen Fieldings Bridget Jones Diary.
An autographed first-edition copy can be worthhundreds of dollars.
A red carousel horse careens across the cover, New York in the background.
If the famously reclusive authorsignedthat first-edition copy?
Were talkinghundreds of thousandsof dollars.
But Whitman couldnt leave Leaves of Grass alone.
He published and republished it several times before his death in 1892.
If you find any of those iterations in good condition, youve struck gold.
The Deathbed Edition is available for $2,000 onAbebooks.
Where do you sell that rare book?
AbeBooks is the first place many bookworms will look for a rare, old collectible.
It costs at least $25 per month to sell on the website.
Thats not counting the 8% commission fee or 5.5% payment processing fee.
Those costs mean its probably not worth signing up unless youre in the bookselling business for the long haul.
Think you have the next record-breaking rare book on your hands?
Sothebys, Bonhams, and Christies auction houses regularly fetch premium prices for books at auction.
Of course, they will take a healthy cut.
Most antiquarian book sellers will be happy to take a look at your library.
I might say, this is a $100 book.
Ill give you $50 for it, Chrisant said.
After all, most people who sell rare books arent just in it for the money.
They want the book to have a good home, Chrisant said.
Contributor Ciara McLaren is a freelance writer with work in HuffPost, Insider and The Penny Hoarder.
you’ve got the option to find her on Substack (@camclaren).
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