Many thanks to Melissa Tamura from Zen College (USA) for this invaluable guest posting. There is info here that is new to me. Craigslist has not taken off over here in the UK in the same way.The mighty Google is always useful for finding books listed by those determined individualists who put their books on their own sites and do not use virtual book malls. By the way, books can still also be found at bookshops -using the older style of browsing...
Book collecting, thanks to the internet has become a growing pastime open to all, even collectors without a great deal of money (or time.) The Internet has made searching for used or rare books more convenient than ever, and collectors now only have to look to the nearest computer to browse large selections of antique and out-of-print titles. Below are the Top 20 'Must-Use' websites for book collectors, designed to make searching and scoring rare books simple and easy.
1. BookFinder.com An aggregate search engine that searches over 150 million titles to help sort out new, used, old, and rare copies.
2. AbeBooks.comThis authoritative site features rare and collectible additions, many signed by the author themselves.
3. AddAll.com Add All offers a price comparison agent that allows users not only to search for and purchase books, but to compare prices among other rare-books sites.
4. Powells.com The largest new and used independent bookstore in the world, Powells offers a massive selection of both antique and collectible copies.
5. FadedGiant.net - This site, while not transactional itself, offers information and pricing on over 50,000 used and rare titles. Perfect for comparison shopping among different sites.
6. Amazon.com One of the largest online retailers, Amazon features an unparalleled selection of books of all sorts new, used, antique, and even dealer exclusives offered only to specific customers. [Pic at top is of an Amazon UK warehouse.]
7. Ebay.com This is a great site to check if the book you are looking for is truly un-findable. Users post their wares in an auction format, so check here to see if someone has recently cleaned out their attic and is selling a treasure trove of rare books.
8.Craigslist.com Similar to Ebay, Craigslist allows local users to post for-sale items along with descriptions and pictures. Users contact the seller directly to arrange a transaction.
9. ViaLibri A highly recommended mega-site with further facilities to get to WorldCat, COPAC, infinity and beyond...
10. Alibris.com Offering over 100 million titles, Alirbis pulls inventory from over 800 independent bookstores nationwide, allowing for supreme deep-shelf selection.
11. Biblio.com This site collaborates with literally thousands of independent booksellers online to bring over a million rare titles to the table.
12. ILAB.com Run by ILAB - International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, this site is an invaluable resource for antique book collectors.
13. Barnes and Noble.com Some collectors don't realize the large book chains often offer hard-to-find books, and Barnes and Noble leads the pack in customer experience and number of copies.
14. StrandBooks.com A New York City Icon, Strand has over 18 miles of books, new, used, and rare.
15. OldBooks.net Specializing in children's books, this site puts together a large offering of antiquarian and used titles.
16. BetterWorldBooks.com Over 2 million titles offered here, as well as free shipping. Some proceeds also go to world charities.
17. BookSpot.com More of an information site than a retailer, Book Spot has data about books, reading lists, and publisher information.
18. TomFolio.com A great collection of independent international dealers.
19. AntiqBook.com Popular in Europe, Antiq Book is a great place to search for editions just not found anywhere in the USA.
20. RareBooks.info Start here for information on print runs, edition locations, and popular searches concerning your favourite rare books.
Melissa Tamura is Editor of the Zen College Life directory of online degrees. She most recently ranked the top 10 psychology colleges in the USA.
53 comments:
At first glance glaring ommissions would be ioba and tomfolio.
Caveat emptor - keep away from the corporate jungle whenever possible !
Fear not brave independent!--viaLibri covers IOBA.
You should also check out www.hyraxia.com. It’s a fairly new site and a great resource for all things book related. Particularly the price guide section, which unlike FadedGiant the prices come directly from the Tartarus Guide which is heavily researched.
Uh, the JRBbooksonline seems to be a wonderful site if you're a white supremacist and Nazi fan. What's it doing on this list?
Wow, yeah, you need to rethink the JRBbooksonline link.
Besides the removal of the regrettable Nazi "bookstore," (do we know who Ms. Tamura is? Never heard of Zen College and I'm an American) I'd be more interested in sites--like this blog--dealing with collectible books. It's not too hard to find somewhere to *buy* books (or surf Nazi trash) these days. It is hard to find sites where book collectors chat and discuss the field, or where bloggers make interesting posts that illuminate book selling or collecting.
Hello Anonymous, have a look at my site at www.hyraxia.com it might be of interest. We focus on community and discussion with a few other things thrown in.
Bookride is still the number one book collecting blog though, I must say.
And thanks to the other anonymous commentator above for the plug!
the jrbooksonline.com link should be jrbooks.com.
Probably should change that soon-ish...
Extremelyt dubious JRB site removed! SNAFU, hors d'oeuvre which must be obeyed etc., Replaced with the great TomFolio site. Sorry about that, 1000 pardons--as for book chat Abebooks has the facility I believe. Mostly we are talking about collecting and dealing here... Nigel
I don't think Ms Tamura's inclusion of the Nazi bookseller was deliberate. Just sloppy work. The words "Rare Books" appeared in the heading and that was good enough for her.
Ms Tamura writes not from Zen College but from "Zen College Life" which claims to be “The #1 destination for college information online”. Pity that. I rather liked the thought of Zen College with its gardens of rocks and raked sand, the cheerleaders at football games chanting the college koan.
The quality of the information provided by ZCL may be judged from their list of Top Recommended Online Colleges, which includes such notable learned institutions as Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.
Presumably ZCL thinks that an appearance on Bookride, a very well-regarded blog that lots of other sites link to, will give ZCL apparent respectability.
But what I really want to know is: why use BookFinder or ILAB or similar sites when the same bookseller data is on Abebooks? Some booksellers who don't list their stock on AbeBooks sell through Amazon. But isn't everything on ViaLibri also on Abebooks? I should welcome a list of bookcollecting sites that made some informed comparisons.
Thanks. Point taken Notker. I'll have to be more guarded about guest contributions--we had one on book apps for Iphones a couple of months back that was perfectly fine. Youthful input and all that.
Abebooks, by the way, only has books from its own members whereas ViaLibri has books from 20 booksites inc Maremagnum PBFA Choosebooks Alibris Amazon UK Amazon USA France and Germany etc.,
If you want a broad choice and the best available copy for the lowest price ViaLibri, Bookfinder and Addall are the way to go. If you need speed and efficiency and a greater ability to narrow down information (only a UK dealer, after 1900, published by Mosher, must contain the word 'Balloon' etc.,) ABE is the best.
By the way if you got a degree at this putative college would you then be a Zen master?
notker wrote:
"why use BookFinder or ILAB or similar sites when the same bookseller data is on Abebooks? ... "
There are many book on Abe which are not present on ILAB and vice versa. It depends on where individual seller's choose to list. I look at ILAB more often because I want a site without all the print-on-demand garbage, relisters' non-existent books and low end crap cluttering up my search results.
[and] "isn't everything on ViaLibri also on Abebooks? "
No, it's not. ViaLibri, like bookfinder or addall, searches many sites at once. I use it because I like the search interface, it's put together by real book people, and it has many other handy features, such as the Library Search. For more rare material, Via Libri turns up books which I can't find on Abe or certainly not on the lower end sites like Amazon.
People use these sites in lots of different ways, and sometimes the differences appear minimal, but overall I look for sites that return results from real dealers with good descriptions.
I agree with the above point that ABE's utility value is rapidly being eroded by the hordes of print-on-demand stuff added daily. The search by most recently added function is now more or less useless.
This will bite them in the arse eventually but for now I guess they're raking in the listing fees.
Hmmm
What about www.raridade.com ???
What is raridade.com? I took a look but, alas, am no wiser.
You might want to check out my new site www.bookcollecting101.com. I try to post items of iterest to book collectors of all types. Comments are always welcomed. Regards, Debra
A new marketplace not mentioned in that list is the Scribblemonger Book Exchange at http://scribblemonger.com
With a low cost structure for selling on the site (no fees and the lowest commission in the industry), many booksellers are discounting the prices of their books on the site from what they charge at other marketplaces. There are currently well over one million books listed from almost 200 independent booksellers worldwide. PODs can be eliminated from searches, along with quite a few other search options.
It is also attracting booksellers with less inventory that can't afford the fees at places like Abebooks and Alibris. So, there is a unique set of listings developing there.
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For Brazilian books www.raridade.com
Great article.Its really informative ,Thanks for sharing this great stuff.
Yes indeed and a hearty concurrence--keep taking the Viagra you illiterate twerp!
Great blog and post, keep it up i will be subscribing to your feed!
These are a great list,I love reading and collecting books.Especially for kids,if i find a very useful for kids.I print it out for my kids to obtain benefits of good content of books.
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Thanks for share with me. You can learn online study material and all query.
Thanks for taking time for sharing this article, it was excellent and very informative it’s my first time that I visit here i found a lot of informative stuff in your article keep it up thank you.
Thanks for taking time for sharing this article, it was excellent and very informative it’s my first time that I visit here i found a lot of informative stuff in your article keep it up thank you.
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I wish you continued success and a very nice page
I wish you continued success and a very nice page
This is a work of unequalled genius, it bestrides the world like a colossus. Well done! WW
This is a great long established site with lots of useful info. You might also like to check my new blog at http://secondhandbooksonline.org.
I try to keep it as non-commercial as possible (difficult to do when you trade in books!).
I think you said right about the books listed by those determined individualists, might be this fact can matters!
Very useful information. I was very pleased. Thanks
This is a very informative post! Now I know where to get my favorite books.
I have MANY vintage and antique books that I'm looking to sell. Anyone interested, please reply and we can possibly make some sort of arrangement. I am from the Tampa area, and have almost any kind of book that anyone may be into.
I was not able to bargain anything on the internet. Now, I am able to do it at MyDeals247.com - its cool.
I don't think Ms Tamura's inclusion of the Nazi bookseller was deliberate. Just sloppy work. The words "Rare Books" appeared in the heading and that was good enough for her
Rashmi
i absolutely liked reading everything that is posted on your blog keep the posts coming. I enjoyed it.
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Nice information
Check out this book collectors forum.
http://bookzcollectorz.freeforums.net/
The above site is closed...
Instead check out this new site:
http://bookcollector.forumotion.com/
It full of great book collecting information.
According to me the best books sites if rated
1) shopeyard.com
2)amazon
3) flipkart
This is also a great site for old books, bound volumes, antiquarian collectibles and more.
www.oldmagazinecompany.com
Thanks Melissa an interesting list ! For what I wanted (tracking down an old chemistry university book) Bookfinder won hands down.
I generally find the best search strategy is the sequence Bookfinder, UsedBookSearch, Ebay.(UBS uses abe, amazon, biblio, alibris and some US sites like B&N not much use for us in europe so I can't comment on them).
Cheers John
Just thought you may like to know there's now a brand new app for First Edition enthusiasts called Klein's Price Guide.
You can find more details about it here: www.kleinspriceguide.com
KPG
Grate list thanks for sharing shimply is India Book Store there are 1.3 crore all tip books like novel, storey books, NCERT BooksNCERT Books ETC
Great book collectors resource.... I will follow all time. Bookfinder is the best in your resource.
I would suggest VJ Books for great service for signed first and limited editions from non-corporate true mom/pop enterprise. The owners have personal relationships with many of the authors and post interesting profiles. https://www.vjbooks.com/
I personally find this list to be the best list of websites for people who like to collect books. I can say this with so confidence because I am a book collector myself and I don't collect books because I have to, I collect them because I love to.
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