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The Internet is a great information tool for collectors and researchers, but it's hardly a definitive source -- you'll find an abundance of contradictory advice and information. We hoped that a search on "rare book appraisal" would lead to some promising resources, and it did, in a rather roundabout way. We skipped around the search results till the following comment from a site about Mark Twain caught our eye: Book Appraisal Find the current market... Used Rare Books This clue led us down a trail of links, but we eventually arrived at the Book Price
Finder, a nifty tool from 123pix.com. Enter the author's name, the title of the book, and additional information into an online form, and the tool does a quick search of several major used, rare, and out-of-print book catalogs on the Web, including abebooks.com, Alibris, and Bibliofind. By returning high, low, and average prices from booksellers around the Net (and around the world), you get a quick, free snapshot of the current market value for your item. But remember, this is neither a recommendation nor a professional appraisal. Think of it as an aid to decision-making. With the rise of e-commerce and online auctions,
many professional appraisers have taken their expertise to the Web. The Yahoo! Directory provides listings of antiques and collectibles appraisers, offering fee-based professional services. Finally, we decided to visit Yahoo!'s non-commercial rare and antique books category. We discovered several handy guides from reputable sources. The International Book Collector's Association provides a glossary of terms used in the antiquarian book trade to grade and describe book condition, and, lo and behold,
a step-by-step guide to appraising your own books.
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