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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT BOOKS

Do you search for specific titles?

Yes.  We maintain an active want list for our customers and will be happy to add your wants to our search list. There's no charge or obligation for this service. Simply e-mail us with the title and author of the book(s) you want. When we've located a copy, we'll let you know.

Do you buy books?

We are active purchasers of books and pamphlets in our field and of unusual titles in very good or better condition in many other subject areas. If you have books you want to sell, please contact us by e-mail, with a brief description of the items.   Please do not ship books to us until we instruct you to do so.

Note: We do not buy textbooks, Reader's Digest condensed books, paperback or popular fiction or bound runs of periodicals published after 1920.

I saw a book on one of your lists that I want. I'd also like to get another copy of the title for a friend. What's the chance you have more than one?

In most cases, we have only one copy of a title in stock. There are exceptions, however, and it's always a good idea to inquire. Even if we don't have another copy today, we may get one tomorrow. It makes sense to have your name and book title on our search/want list.

Do you rent books? 

We do not rent books nor send books "on approval".

I need a couple of pages from a book that's listed on your website.  Can you photocopy the pages I need and just charge me for the copies?

We do not offer  "page copying"  as one of our services.

What do all those abbreviations mean in you book descriptions?

For a complete explanation of the abbreviations used in our book descriptions, please check out or Terms and Conditions page.

Could look through a few of your books for me to see if they contain anything about my family?

We regret that we do not have the staff to perform original research. We recommend you contact a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists to locate a genealogist who conducts record searches and is near a major reference library that may have a copy of the title you are interested in.

My mother left me a small collection of old books. How can I find out what they're worth?

This can be a complex question to answer. The answer depends on the precise definition of the word "worth". If you want to know what book dealers are asking for similar items, a quick check of one of the bookdealer databases such as Bibliofind or ABE, can provide useful information. Bear in mind that a bookseller's asking price for a particular titles reflects a number of unique conditions, and does not necessarily indicate the true "worth" of that title - it only represents the amount the dealer would like to receive in return for the book.

If you need to determine value for insurance purposes, you're talking about "replacement value", or what it would cost you to acquire reasonably identical copies in today's market. If you're planning to donate the books to a charity or a library, you're question relates to "fair market value", or the amount that a willing buyer and seller would most likely agree upon in the open market. If you plan to sell the items and you want to know what you can expect, you need to determine the "current retail market value" and adjust for dealer expenses, dealer profit and market demand in order to come up with a price.

In short, "worth" is a very elastic term. If you would like more information about our appraisal services, please contact us with a short description of the item(s) you're considering having appraised.