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Searching for OOPs: Rare and Out of Print Books

© Karen James

I have never before been a collector of rare or out of print books, and I'm not sure that I am one now; however, recently I embarked on a search of the web for such an item. I was overwhelmed by the facilities I discovered to assist me in my search. There were some services that wanted to charge me to carry out the search, these I did not use. There were also free services that would hunt for my title and return information immediately, or in a few days by e-mail.

I began my search for sites at Books-Rare by Glenn. This is a terrific resource site created by Glenn Larsen, for book collectors who want tools and information about rare and collectible books. From this site you can search for books, get values for the books you own, read the collectibles news, and basically increase your knowledge about collecting rare books.

From there I travelled to several other sites. Advanced Book Exchange searches the web and comes back with a listing of bookstores across the web that have your book in stock. I keep all my books in a MS Access database, but for real professionals ABE offers Homebase a free bookstore management program. Advanced Book Exchange has an extensive booksellers member list which you can search geographically or by specialty, and keep in mind that all these services are FREE.

Another site that searches immediately is Booksearch Online . Booksearch is a service of The Spoon River Press, which, for over twenty years, has been providing reference information to antiquarian book dealers, book collectors, and librarians. Subscribing to Booksearch Online gives you access to all kinds of features to help you buy or sell your books.

Yet another site that searches on-line through it's inventory is Powell's, the bookstore in Portland, Oregon. I have had very little luck at Powell's, they don't seem to have the titles I'm searching for in their inventory even though they do have an extensive list of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror titles.

There are also a few sites that must get back to you through e-mail with the results of their searches. Although I haven't used them, the sites are The Avid Reader and Abracadabra Booksearch International . The Avid Reader charges $5.00 US for each title they search for in their network of 1,200 used and rare book stores around the world. The Abracadabra Booksearch International search service is free. If you are looking to sell your treasures, they offer a weekly want list of books they might be willing to buy. Just send them a quote.

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