Though it may sound intimidating to some, it actually is not difficult to learn how to become a book collector. There are some good acim on the subject and there is a lot of good help on the internet on everything you need to know about finding, identifying, buying, and selling antique books in a step by step format.
Places where you have opportunities to find valuable antique books being sold sometimes well under their actual value are local auctions, book fairs, antique book stores, flea markets, and even on the internet. You can often buy them for a great price and then turn around and sell them for a decent profit.
Before talking about where to look let’s look at what makes a book a good one to buy. Just being old is not enough to make it a good book to buy. There also needs to be some demand for the book and the condition of the book is also very important. Books that are very close to their original condition or mint condition are very rare but obviously have the most value. Books that are dirty or have been written in have a lot less value. One exception to this rule is when the book was written in by someone famous. First editions of a popular book signed by the author or owned by someone famous can make a huge difference to its value.
Let’s look at one of the places to find great antique books; the Internet. The internet can not only help you discover information on collecting them but it is a great place to buy them. The Internet can bring you all the information on book collecting you need to know to become an accomplished book collector. Things like recognizing first edition books and how much they should cost.
If you are looking for a specific book or author it is easy to dig deeper and find what you’re looking for on the internet. A good way of saving some money is to search on eBay or Amazon first. Great books can be found on eBay and at prices that are much cheaper than a lot of local book shops. It’s good though to shop local as well. You can start shopping for the books you’re looking for on eBay within minutes.
