Tell us what you have
A list, a spreadsheet or photographs of the shelves. Titles, publishers and limitation numbers help most.
Sell your books
What we buy, and what we do not.
We would rather tell you straight away that something is not for us than waste your time. This is the working list our buyers use.
We buy
- Easton Press. The 100 Greatest Books, Deluxe Limited Editions and signed firsts.
- Franklin Library. The 100 Greatest Books of All Time, the 25th Anniversary editions, full leather limited editions and any full leather copy, plus the Signed First Edition Society volumes.
- The Folio Society. Sets, slipcased singles and the numbered limited editions.
- Limited Editions Club and Heritage Press. With the monthly letter where possible.
- Private and fine press. Letterpress work from named presses, historic or current.
- Signed limited editions. Numbered, lettered or artist states, limitation leaf intact.
- Illustrated editions. Named illustrators, plate books, portfolios and suites.
- Fine and period bindings. Prize, armorial and named binder work, decorated cloth.
- Antiquarian volumes. Pre 1900, complete, structurally sound.
- Matched author sets. Uniform runs and collected works in original bindings.
- Whole libraries. Estates, downsizing, clearances and dealer stock.
We do not buy
- Book club editions with no collectable standing.
- Reader's Digest condensed volumes.
- Mass market paperbacks and modern textbooks.
- Ex library copies with heavy stamping, unless the title is scarce.
- Anything damp, mould or fire affected. Mould spreads to good stock.
- Incomplete sets missing the key volumes, other than case by case.
- Encyclopaedias and yearbooks in general runs.
Not sure?
Send photographs of the spines and one of a title page. That is usually enough for us to tell you what you have.
How it works
Five steps, no obligation.
We research it
Editions, states, points and recent sold prices, then questions back if anything is unclear.
You get an offer
In writing, itemised for a small collection and by lot for a large one. Valid for 14 days.
Collection or carriage
We collect in person for larger libraries. For smaller lots we cover carriage and send packing guidance.
Payment on receipt
Bank transfer once the books are checked against the list, normally within three working days of arrival. If something is not as described we tell you before we adjust anything.
Consignment
For scarce single items we can sell on your behalf and split the proceeds instead of buying outright. Sometimes that pays you more, and we will say when we think it will.
Valuations and advisory
Not everything should be sold to a dealer.
We also value books for insurance, probate and estate administration, and advise on where a collection is best sold, which is not always to us.
Valuations are a separate service with a separate fee, prepared independently of any offer we make to buy. Where auction will beat a direct sale, we say so and consign it.
We would rather pay properly for one right library than cheaply for ten wrong ones.