Listing Old Books

[Daij]

I have been asked to look at selling a collection of books that were in a library that has been closed for over seventy years. They were recently found in the attic - put there when the building changed use.

I am going to list them and approach antique booksellers to ger a value and to offer them for sale. What should I include n the list? 

Obviously, title, author, ISBN number and date. How do I determine if they are 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc editions? Anything else apart from the above should I include?

 

Thanks in advance

[wolf63]

Look at sites that sell used books, search for each book and get an idea of its value:

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/.

https://www.bookfinder.com/

 

 

 

[DTCwordfan]

the edition is usually stated on the inside title page, either midpage or at the bottom.

[Hazlinny]

https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/fiction/how-to-tell-if-a-book-is-a-first-edition

[Buenchico]

Given that the ISBN system has only been in place since 1967, I can't see how you can include ISBNs in the information that you provide!

I've dabbled in a bit of book dealing over the years and I know that 'old' and 'valuable' are far from synonymous terms within the field.  Indeed, I'd estimate that about 99% of 'old' books have absolutely no value whatsoever (other, possibly, than as 'reading copies').

Further, any book (that's actually got any value at all) that's without its original dust wrapper will have lost well over half of its value (and probably closer to 90% of it) when that dust wrapper went missing.

Lastly (unless it's very, very rare), any book classed as 'ex libris' (i.e. from a library source) will have close to zero value anyway.

To be honest, I'd be amazed if any antiquarian bookseller has even the slightest interest in the books that you've got.  (Sorry!)

I've often found the British Library catalogue useful though when, for example, checking a publication date to see if it matches with the first edition of a book:
https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en

[Daij]

Buenchico, I have not yet seen the books so I assumed that ISBN numbers would be present. I was merely trying to find what information I would need to list before I get access to them

 

[Daij]

Thanks to all for your help

 

[Canary42]

Chris is correct on low expectations of value.  There are a number of online booksellers who sell via Amazon or Abebooks.co.uk who deal in ex-library books (I've bought some!). The latter include a "sell with us" link at the bottom of the home page.