- FAQ
Q: Are all your books online?
A: No, we have tens of thousands of good books at friendly prices on our shelves here, in addition to the 7000+ listed online, which are also here in the store. Inquiries welcome.
Q: Do you buy books?
A: Yes, we buy books! We buy and sell good quality used and old books.
We do not buy or sell textbooks.
Please call or email with a description of what you want to sell before bringing books in. Thank you.
We are constantly deluged by people wanting to sell books-- there are in general more sellers than buyers. I can't condense my 30 years of bookselling experience into a nutshell, but here are some of the highlights.
1. A picture is worth a thousand words. Please don't put effort into a list on our account. Those lists don't include the most pertinent information.
2. Most printed texts in the world are now available in a market flooded with cheap copies, or scot free at sites like Google Books or archive.org. There has to be a reason for an old book to be worth more than a dollar or free. Most of those reasons are in these categories: literary value (i.e., great book or author that people still love, like Poe or Austen); historical significance; especially nice binding, illustrations, or maps.
3. One cannot overstate the importance of good condition. Most old books are in poor condition not because of age, but because they were made to be affordable rather than to outlast their readers.
Dollar values are not the only kind of worth. Most booklovers' collections (including ours at home) include books that have been read and reread and lived out their useful lives. They still have worth if anyone is willing to give them a home. As a retail business, we are obliged to deal with the ones that are sellable.
If you send photos or queries, we will be happy to give you feedback when we have time.
Good luck to you and your books.
sincerely,
Kim Steinsiek, owner
Duttenhofer's Books
