Hobbies And Interests
Instructions
Look at the title page or the spine for the name of the author, then type this into your computer's online search engine. This should bring up a mixture of fan sites and entries in online encyclopedias. Browse these entries until you locate a detailed bibliography -- a list of the author's works. Look through the bibliography until you find the title you happen to own. A good bibliography might give you important information such as the date of a title's first publication, its original publisher and other useful facts such as whether the book was ever reprinted. You can take that information and compare it to your own copy. For instance, if your book carries a date much later than that of the first edition, then it probably won't be of much interest to collectors. If you can't find any entries on your author, move on to Step 2.
Type the title into your search engine and review any hits. Perhaps someone is selling an identical book on one of the many specialist book trading sites which flourish on the Internet. With luck, you may find your book offered for sale by a serious collector who has written a full and illuminating description. If so, jot down any salient points. If, on the other hand, you've still had no luck finding your book, then go on to Step 3.
Ask yourself what variety of book your title is. Is it fiction? If so, what kind of fiction is it: romance, adventure, historical? If it's nonfiction, what subject does it cover -- cookery, mountaineering or some branch of science? If it's a cookery book, then type "antique cookery books" into your computer's search engine. This should result in a list of specialist dealers in this subject. Search their databases for books on the same topic to get a sense of how common or scarce your book might be and its possible value.
Type "rare book valuations" into your search engine. Many of the specialist book-trading and auctioning sites mentioned earlier also offer free valuation services. All you need do is take some digital images of your book and send them in, with a note asking for more information about your edition.