Best book collecting guides according to redditors

We found 39 Reddit comments discussing the best book collecting guides. We ranked the 14 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top Reddit comments about Books:

u/VapidDelight · 12 pointsr/whatsthisworth

Congratulations on the great find!


I think that the $10k is a fairly reasonable offer.The dealer will likely try to sell the book for $15-20k and is unlikely to get the higher end of that unless the book is an exceedingly rare first edition as explained below. The condition is not as good as the higher price comps. The dealer is going to have to hold onto the book for several years before they are going to find someone that wants to buy it. I would do the homework below, copy all the relevant pages out of BAL, highlight the applicable parts, and try to get $12-14k in cash from the dealer.


I can tell you exactly what the book dealer is doing to determine the price of your book. A little background information on what collectors are looking for will help you understand the market.


The majority of book collectors want the earliest edition and printing possible. To get the best idea for the value you need to figure out the state and issue of the book. These refer to either deliberate or accidental changes to the printing of the first edition. Ignoring condition factors, a book that is a first edition, first issue, and first state is going to be the most valuable version of the book. Here is a better definition of state and issue. Also, the blue cover is approximately 20 times rarer than the green cover, making your book more valuable.


The first edition points you have listed, aren't to determine if the book is a first edition or not, they are to determine the issue and state of the book. There are comps that I found below that list a variety of factors that are used to determine the state and issue of the book. This information comes from a set of books call the Bibliography of American Literature (BAL). Your library might have a set of these books. If not, a university or larger library will have a set. You need to find a set of these books so you don't miss any important factors.


More detailed pricing information will be available in the American Book Prices Current (ABPC). They charge a yearly subscription so gaining access to the information might be difficult.


You're going to encounter lots of book jargon. I'd suggest picking up a copy of ABC for Book Collectors as it will be a helpful reference guide. This book will also help you determine how the book would be graded.


Here are comps. When reading the description pay attention to their description of the state and issue of the book being sold.

http://www.abaa.org/books/247848094.html
http://www.mabks.com/Huckleberry_Finn.htm - Green cover
http://forum.biblio.com/index.php?topic=9547.0;prev_next=next
http://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/twain-mark-kemble-edward-w-/adventures-of-huckleberry-finn-blue-/83771.aspx


u/Leadpipe · 6 pointsr/funny
u/mmm_burrito · 5 pointsr/booksuggestions

People of the Book is almost pornography for bibliophiles. This book had me seriously considering going back to school to learn about document preservation.

I went through a period of wanting to read a lot of books about books about a year ago. I think I even have an old submission in r/books on the same subject. Here are a bunch of books I still have on my amazon wishlist that date to around that time. This will be a shotgun blast of suggestions, and some may be only tangentially related, but I figure more is better. If I can think of even more than this, I'll edit later:

The Man who Loved Books Too Much

Books that Changed the World

The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages

How to Read and Why

The New Lifetime Reading Plan

Classics for Pleasure

An Alphabetical Life: Living It Up in the World of Books

The Library at Night

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop

Time Was Soft There

I have even more around here somewhere...

Edit: Ok, found a couple more....

Among the Gently Mad: Strategies and Perspectives for the Book-Hunter in the 21st Century

At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries

Candida Hofer

Libraries in the Ancient World

The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read

A Short History of the Printed Word

Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption

Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work

The Book on the Bookshelf

A History of Illuminated Manuscripts

Bookmaking: Editing, Design, Production

Library: An Unquiet History

Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms

A Passion for Books: A Book Lover's Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Lore, and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books

A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books

And yet I still can't find the one I'm thinking of. Will get back to you...

Fuck yeah, I found it!

That last is more about the woman who own the store than about books, but it's awash in anecdotes about writers and stories we all know and love. Check it out.

u/flapjack · 4 pointsr/funny
u/hapaxLegomina · 3 pointsr/nasa

Okay, for sci-fi, you have to get The Culture series in. Put Player of Games face out.

I don't read a lot of space books, but Asteroid Hunter by Carrie Nugent is awesome. I mostly have recommendations for spaceflight and spaceflight history, and a lot of these come from listeners to my podcast, so all credit to them.

  • Corona, America's first Satellite Program Amazon
  • Digital Apollo MIT Books
  • An Astronaut's Guide to Earth by Chris Hadfield (Amazon)
  • Capture Dynamics and Chaotic Motions in Celestial Mechanics: With Applications to the Construction of Low Energy Transfers by Edward Belbruno (Amazon)
  • Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration by Buzz Aldrin (Amazon)
  • Red Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson (Part 1 on Amazon)
  • Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War by Michael Neufeld (Amazon)
  • Space Shuttle by Dennis R Jenkins (Amazon)
  • The History Of Manned Space Flight by David Baker (Amazon)
  • Saturn by Lawrie and Godwin (Amazon)
  • Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by Lovell (Amazon)
  • Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz (Amazon)
  • Space by James A Michener (Amazon)
  • Encounter With Tiber by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes (Amazon)
  • Ascent to Orbit: A Scientific Autobiography by Arthur C Clark (Amazon)
  • Fundamentals of Astrodynamics by Bate and White (Amazon)
  • Space Cadet by Robert Heinlein (Amazon)
u/AMWJ · 3 pointsr/Judaism

You should read Outwitting History, if you haven't yet.

u/queerpenix · 3 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

Writing in a journal about the issues I’m having sometimes symbolically helps me feel as if I’m taking the burdens off of my and keeping them elsewhere. So a journal that would at least give me a quick grin each time would be the handbook for the recently deceased

u/amazon-converter-bot · 2 pointsr/FreeEBOOKS

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

u/dowhatyouwant · 2 pointsr/guns

gunbroker is all over the place with prices... few real good deals, average amount of blue book prices, tons of way over priced stuff. Using them as a price guide is like using a used car dealer as a NADA guide.

Okay .. I know, I know .. stop being a troll and post something useful. Here are some good ones to start with, these are in no particular order of preference.

  • Gun Listings
  • VA Gun Trader Forum - There are interstate deals to be had here, search for forums for your particular state.
  • ArmsList - There seems to be a more even spectrum of good and bad prices here.
  • SlickGuns - Mainly new stuff... lots of deals, my condolences to your wallet.
  • Guns America - Some good deals here, some overpriced.

    A lot of the listings prices have to do with your location, Northern VA for instance seems to have a lot of people who think that their used gun without the box or any materials is worth the same as a brand new one. If you buy used guns you absolutely NEED a Blue Book of Gun Values by S.P. Fjestad. The prices of common stuff don't fluctuate that much, so you can buy one every 2-3 years. Knowing the Condition Standards of Firearms is also a MUST.
u/theRobisaur · 2 pointsr/AskMen

There's a handbook actually.

u/jasnbekr · 2 pointsr/pics

I, too, have written for a year and gotten mine done! It feels great! I'm a bit jelous that you got so much recognition. I did the same a while back and got a few downvotes! I'll check yours out. Did you do it through create space?

also if you want a copy send me a message

shamefull self plug
http://www.amazon.com/Culminate-Matthew-J-Vince/dp/1477649204

u/SmutBabe · 2 pointsr/eroticauthors

Thank you. They're all lovely covers, especially Bright Shiny Morning.

For more info about pin-up art, and even vintage pulp fiction, these guides may be of interest to readers of this reddit -

www.amazon.co.uk/Great-American-Pin-Up-Charles-Martignette/dp/3836532441/

www.amazon.co.uk/The-Art-Pin-up-Sarahjane-Blum/dp/383653570X/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0896899683/

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1440213577/

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1932595058/

u/depressed_realist · 1 pointr/books

Before (as a warning) or after (as a reflection), I would suggest reading A Great Idea at the Time. While not about the Harvard Classics per se, it is an off-beat book that is very, very funny.

Does it have dense scientific material?

u/Wintermuse · 1 pointr/ottawa

Amazon.

Wife got me this one for Christmas

http://www.amazon.ca/Handbook-For-The-Recently-Deceased/dp/1482665328

The reviews are good for a chuckle too.

u/Feanux · 1 pointr/Detroit
u/raechelas · 1 pointr/RandomActsofMakeup

I have coconut oil on my list but apparently it is not as weird as I thought! You can seriously use it for EVERYTHING!

As for non makeup related items:

This - because I love Beetlejuice!

This - because they are magic, really.

This - because it is awesome and sloths are my favorite.

This - because it would be majestic as hell to drink my home brew out of.

And this - because they are delicious and I can't find them anywhere anymore!

On top of all that, I have a wishlist full of rabbit supplies for my baby buns.

Edit: We all know interspecies romance is weird!

u/EraserGirl · 1 pointr/BookCollecting

Document repair tape ...'archival tape' is reversible. it is not diminishing the value unless you are using it wrong. When you do a repair you are trying to stop a bad thing from becoming worse.

Not all books are WORTH the tissue/paste solution.

Book Repair for Booksellers

u/strychnineman · 1 pointr/books

a bit out-dated, but always good: 'A Gentle Madness'; Nicholas Basbanes

u/headtale · 1 pointr/books

The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski is a history of the bookshelf that inevitably talks a lot about the history of books by extension.

u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/rarebooks

OMG. Dude. You have to read this as well as their other books (but start with that one). It's a couple who accidentally stumble into the high-end rare book World. They're great.