Selling a rare book (only one on the market) Hospital Management by Charlotte A. Aikens 1915 1st/2nd

Jesus Christ. Here's the thing. In principle I'm sure everyone here wishes you well. But for anyone with any experience with used and rare books it's evident you don't know what you're talking about and you're talking out your ass. [It's like one of those situations where a little kid lies to their parents and they think they're so clever, but to the parent their lies are transparently obvious]. Most people here are just too polite to say so straight up.

One of the reasons people are hostile is because for those of who have spent a lifetime building our collections and selling off our extras you're just insulting our intelligence. (I say this as someone with a museum quality collection and as an ebay powerseller). I've sold more books in the last ten years than you've owned in your life. I don't doubt that a clever marketing plan and good business practices can convince some rube to overpay for a worthless edition. What's good for you can be harmful for the hobby. There is no reason to buy a second edition or a second printing ever, unless we're talking second folio or if it's for the illustrations or something similar. Sure there may be suckers willing to pay your price, but that's more like a pyramid scheme than a solid investment. Maybe I can convince some perverts to buy my excrement at $10 a bag, but I sure couldn't live with myself. Based on the photo your Tarzan books are trash. They're not first editions. The first editions came from Burroughs in Tarzana in the 1930s. What you've proudly reproduced are 1950s reprints. The true firsts will never be worth the nostalgia prices that people were paying for them in the 80s and 90s. That generation is dead and their remainders are what's “flooding” your market. Your Victor Hugos are 20th century reprints and they have nothing to recommend them, except perhaps an introduction by Ayn Rand which may attract the unwashed, the unintelligent, and the general sociopath.

Books aren't valuable because they're old. And they're not valuable because of their content. They are valuable largely because of their edition (first edition, first printing) and their condition (fine in a fine dust jacket). You tell me you want to blaze a new trail selling mid-century reprint editions to buyers who don't know better. God bless, but I feel compassion for the buyers and their heirs too. Your 1950s Tarzan and the City of Gold is never going to be a rare or valuable book. Tell me who you think wants to buy the books that you're selling. Where's the demand? There isn't any. It sounds like its your plan to generate demand for books that no one in the market right now wants, and that's why I'd compare what you're doing to selling shit in a bag.

All of this said, I'm not saying there aren't deals out there. I don't know of any small used bookstore in the country that I can't walk into and turn a nice quick profit. There are a lot of people here who would probably love to chat and give useful advice if you have specific questions. It's just your attitude that has to take a hike. It doesn't matter how successful you are in life (I'm a consultant too), when it comes to books you're a newbie and that's what you are until you're aren't. And until you aren't everyone can tell. Right now you're buying up books that aren't worth the paper they're printed on and you're convincing yourself that it's a gold mine if you can find the right buyer, but you have +1 ebay feedback and that's as a buyer and not a seller.

That's all man. That's all. Best of luck and I hope you become a book millionaire. Good luck. And don't listen to everyone here. Obviously we're just ignorant and naive and lost. We don't know how to distinguish a first edition. We don't have any idea of the market. We all started collecting books the day after you did. Only you have the answers and the truth because you're so much smarter and no one like you has ever come along before. Right? Everyone bow down before bodywithoutorgans. He has come to bring light to our benighted corner of the universe where we have wallowed in ignorance and pain praying for his arrival and salvation. It's late and I'm going to bed.

/r/BookCollecting Thread