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Any good places to find old (but good condition) hardbacks?
So, I’ve recently remodeled my home office and added a big Murphy bed and bookcase wall unit. It is massive, amazing, and not nearly full enough for my literary standards. :)
I’ve been hunting for older, good condition, hardbacks from some of my favorite authors. I’m a massive Clive Barker fan (Imajica, Weaveworld, The Great and Secret Show, etc) and have been trying to track down good editions on eBay. I find it’s really hit or miss, and Amazon is really no better. Short of exploring Etsy for stuff (and my local thrift stores, which have not been remotely useful) are there any good places on the internet I should check out?
There was a time when googling for this worked, now it’s rather useless.
Thanks, all!
On the internet I find that AbeBooks is reasonably good (unfortunately it was purchased by Amazon so there's always the labour rights question there). There is also WorldOfBooks but I believe that they list all their stuff on AbeBooks.
There is also Skoob Books which has a warehouse and delivery. If you live in (or are in) London, they have a shop in the Brunswick Centre.
+1 on AbeBooks, I'm not fond of the fact they were acquired by Amazon
a few years back1., but they are certainly one of the better resources. They tend to have very low priced books, and usually with free shipping. It's more eBay for books from thousands of global indie bookshops, than Thriftbooks which is a monolith.1. Edit: 2008, wow, 15 years ago. Surprised they still seem far more independent than any other Amazon owned properties, not even an inkling of branding to be seen.
I'd recommend checking in on Powell's City of Books from time to time. I've always had good experiences buying books from them.
I've had astounding luck with Thriftbooks.
I have yet to get a book from them that didn't match their quality ratings, and its hard to beat their selection. I've even had 'missing dustjacket' books come with dustjackets, admittedly needing some work at sticker removal.
Average is gonna have a good bit of wear, and probably more than one old library tag on it...which adds some charm IMO.
Related, libraries often hold book sales unloading their old inventory, and many accept book donations for the sale.
Physically going to second hand or thrift stores in RICH areas. Estate sales also of rich people area. You want copies used as decor only and never actually read.
Estate sales are usually good for stuff like this if you can find good ones. You can't go in expecting to find anything specific, but the spirit of serendipity can turn up some interesting stuff. I basically stocked a lot of my record collection this way. In my experience, they usually like to sell all the books at once or by the shelf unless they're rare collector's volumes or something similar. So it's a good way to stock a shelf if you're not too picky about what goes on it.