Thursday 14 July 2016

Suggestions needed

For a number of reasons, not least the real possibility of a major downsize in living accommodation in the near future, I have to reduce my library by some 50% or more. Quite a bit of it is military/naval related and much of it has not been looked at for a long time. I can put the books on that auction site and let the cards fall as they will, donating unsolds to the ubiquitous charity shops; I could offer them to the local second-hand dealer accepting whatever he's prepared to offer, knowing he's in the business for profit; or I could post them on my blog over the next few months, knowing that the information would at least reach interested parties.

The question is whether that would be reasonable, and should I ask a price or for offers? ( in effect, an auction). Would you be interested in seeing what I have to offer in that way?

For example. I have a set (5 volumes) of C.C.P.Lawson's "A History of The Uniforms Of The British Army", published between 1940 and 1967, covering the 1660s through to the early 19th century. I show volume 1 below as an example.

volume 1

Originally published in 1940, this is a 1962 reprint. 202 pages of text. The only one of the set without its original dust jacket, I photocopied one of the others to keep the set looking uniform. Mylar book cover fitted. Some straining and opening of the stitching in one place. Detailed coverage of cavalry, infantry, marine regiments, Scottish regiments, artillery, militia, etc. Many illustrations, mainly black and white sketches. Someone has made occasional pencil notes on certain pages.

I won't quote a price at this time, as I'd rather sell them as a set, but I would appreciate your opinions.

Thank you in advance.


 . volume 4

4 comments:

  1. Joppy,

    I would be interested in seeing what you have to offer. Abebooks.co.uk will give you a reasonable idea of what the going rate for any given book is. Bookfinder also worth a look.

    I have a wants list that I am very, very slowly filling out - I could send it to you if that would be of assistance. Drop me a line at Conrad dot Kinch at gmail dot com if you're interested.

    Regards,

    Conrad

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  2. Joppy.. CK's idea is valid.. Google the titles and see what comes up in terms of selling price.. then I would chuck them on eBay with a starting price of 10 or 20% less than the prices you're seeing, and see how it goes... having just done the same for a mini clear out recently, it's fairly painless... :o)

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