I like abe.com

Some are available newly reprinted in trade paperback size-I just bought a bunch of them, as some of my copies are in less than good shape and I wanted to be able to reread without the book disintegrating in my hand. I bought them through Amazon or Barnes and Noble-depended on where the gift card worked!
For used, I agree-abe.com connects you to thousands of booksellers. You can also go through the used book section of Amazon, or bookfinder.com, or even ebay...my county library sells used books on ebay.
Also-watch for library book sales...and take a box!

ABE and Albiris are my favs. I have frequently been pleasantly surprised by how many obscure and out of print books turn up, let alone the new editions of old favorites. Also be sure to check the used bookstores in your area, they often do free searches for books (ours does here, tho its most successful with more well known books)

Caveat to buying on the net - if you want new, make sure it says new. If you are getting used, take a good look at the description. Esp check if there are any markings or highlighting on the pages. I bought a Pynchon book that had every page with some yellow highlighting.

The most comprehensive used/rare/out of print website is bookfinders.com. It includes all the of websites others have mentioned above, and many, many more. Very easy to use and reliable.

Wow, I just took a look at that - you aren't kidding about comprehensive. I'll start with that one for now on

BTW another site that I love is Daedulus. You can't always find a title you are looking for, but browsing the site is great fun, and really not that dangerous because the prices are very very good.

It wouldn't hurt to do a search for the books at PaperBackSwap.com, either. When they don't have a copy you can order, you can put a book on your Wish List, and then if some other member posts it, they let you know. Sometimes someone will see that a book they have is on someone's wish list and they will post it to get credits. Over the past year, I have gotten quite a few books that I had put on my Wish List there.

While "shopping" on PBS this morning, I looked up Thirkell and there are two Barsetshire novels posted right now.

I believe the site you want will be bookfinder.com without the plural. I just looked at bookfinders and found their home page lists books I wouldn't want to know about.

I am mortified. I have had bookfinder.com saved in "My Favorites" for years and never realized my mistake. It sounds as if my typo was a doozy. I didn't dare check after reading Carolyn's post. I apologize to all.

Remember--bookfinder.com without the plural.

I am having computer problems and added to this thread this a.m. and it disappeared.....I have ordered a new computer this afternoon!

I thought buying used books was the best way to go, but I have changed my mind after recent experiences.
I bought a couple of used books on Amazon, they were less than $2.00 each- but- the postage was $3.49 each with no break for buying more than one book from the same seller.
When the books arrived last week the actual postage was only $2.07 Media Mail compared to the $6.98 that I paid.

I ordered NEW books from Amazon (thanks Carolyn lol!) in the Morland series, and buying New with the 4 for 3 plan I not only got one free, but since the order was over $25.00 the postage/mailing was actually free and ended up costing me less than buying used-which turned out to be tatty books that were supposed to be in good condition, so for the cost comparison I prefer to buy new, especially if they are books that I want to keep.

Pat

b&n has the same $25 and up free shipping deal...I have found that sometimes Amazon is cheaper, sometimes B&N...it pays to check both sites before ordering.not sure if Borders does.

I probably shouldn't mention this, but my Paul Gallico and Stan Barstow sites are affiliated to ABE.

That means that if you click through from those sites and buy a book, then I get a small percentage which I use to pay the site hosting fees....

Hope that's not considered to be advertising...

Well, rats! Now you tell me about getting the shipping free from Amazon.

I just ordered the rest of the series through abe yesterday. Several were available from the same stores and most of them reduce the shipping accordingly, although I have just received separate e-mails from one shop, from which I ordered three books, that they have shipped two and are processing the third, all with their own shipping charges. I have sent them an e-mail requesting an adjustment. We'll see.

At any rate, I suspect my house will be very dusty by the time I finish reading books 17 through 28. I can't seem to put them down and figured I had just as well get the ordering over with.

Martin,

I do not consider it advertising... I consider it simply sharing info with friends. I do purchase from ABE and shall try to remember to go through your site first.

Thanks for the info. I had no idea.
PAM

I LOVE bookfinder.com! It sent me straight to Alibris and I ordered the book I needed. I'll always use that site from now on.

I am glad you like it. I collect rare and out-of-print books in two different areas of study and I used bookfinder.com a lot. It's also good for assembling lists of books by authors you like, which I was just doing this morning.

Martin, I just went to the Stan Barstow site to look for the ABE Books link and while I saw the ebay, alibris and bibliofind links, I did not see a link for ABE - just to let you know.

PAM

??

It's on the links page - it's a flippin' great banner! Click on that.

(It's actually abebooks.co.uk from the Barstow site and abebooks.com from the Gallico site, but either can be used.)

Sorry Martin...there is no ABE books banner on my computer. I just looked again and again. Can different computers view sites in different ways? I didn't see the link on the Gallico site, either. I have no clue why this is happening, or rather, not happening.

PAM

!!

This is bizarre...

Do you see the reference to ABE, at least? It says

probably the best source of second-hand books on the Internet - my personal favourite. I have added a link to ABE to all the book pages to allow a single-click search. (This site is affiliated to abebooks.com, and I earn a small percentage if you buy books via these links.)

Directly above that is a banner for ABE books. It's huge! Is there a little red cross (for a missing image?) If you hover in the space above that writing, does the cursor turn into a little hand?

What O/S and browser are you using? and what version?

It OUGHT to work, and if you can't see it, there are almost certainly others who can't. Which is a worry.

I found it, but I had to click on "links" first, which is on the left side of the screen. Then the banner comes up for ABE.

Martin, we don't get your ABE link either

What I see is the sub title

'second hand books'

A gap

'probably the best scource . . . '

Bibliofind
. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Our O/S is Windows XP and the browser is Firefox.
Tried it on IE7 with the same lack of result.

Martin, I am also using Win XP on IE version 7.

I see the italicized "second hand books" then a space, then written portion for ABE which begins as veer quoted above, "probably the best source". Incidentally, I do have the links working to bibliofind, alibris and ebay.

The result is exactly the same on the Gallico site for me. Sorry to give you a headache Martin.

Sidenote: my apologies for hijacking this thread and chatting about the ABE banner instead of other sources of used books. I have heard that books a million has a good site, but I've never used them. Have any of you?

PAM

I looked at both sites, and I can see the banner just fine. I'm using IE6 and WinXP. Nicely set-up sites by the way. Visually interesting without being too busy.

OK - I think I know what the problem is. (A famous punchline of an old joke!)

I have a similar problem at work. The issue here is that the link goes via www.qksrv.com which is considered (to my mind a little unfairly) to be spyware so it gets blocked by some software. I can at least see a border and a little "x" where the link should be, mind.

Does that fit in? Are people using spyware checkers?

(And thanks for the kind words, disputantum!)

I also apologise for hijacking this thread to debug my websites!

I get lots of books at Goodwill. Hard-covers are $1.89 and paperbacks including trade paperbacks are 79 cents.

I found a leather copy of Plato's Republic, and tons and tons of fairly recent releases. Also, about 3 shelves of cookbooks from Goodwill. I visit once a week and check out the new arrivals.

I get most of my used books from PaperBackSwap.com now, but when neither the local library nor PBS has a book I want, I always try http://www.addall.com/, which searches for books from a number of places, including ABE and Alibris, all at once. Just click on "Used and out-of-print books" in the grey oblong to the right near the top of the first page, underneath the AddAll logo. Most searches there come up with a list of books in 20 seconds or less.

Martin,

I get the banner clearly on this: Mac OSX Safari.

D.