The surest way to find out the value and likely cost of an old book is to contact a second-hand bookseller, who can share his knowledge for free or for a very nominal fee. Some conclusions, however, can be drawn independently, knowing several general and most correct rules that allow us to assess the importance of a book in the eyes of collectors and bibliophiles.
Instructions
Step 1
Examine the book and tell yourself to begin with, without exaggeration and without exaggerating anything, what the state of this book is, how well it has survived after many decades. The condition of the old book is almost of primary importance - there are very few such rarities that would remain a welcome find for second-hand booksellers in the absence of a dozen pages. If the “native” binding of the book is well preserved, all the pages are available (illustrations, inserts, etc.), the book block does not fall apart, then the probability that the book is of any value is already quite high.
Step 2
Find out if your book is an independent publication or is included in a multivolume collection, with two or three more, or maybe a couple of dozen brothers under different numbers. Connoisseurs of antique books prefer to purchase complete series, as it can be extremely difficult to find the missing volumes for one book published more than a hundred years ago. Hence the conclusion - scattered volumes of multivolume editions are valued and in demand much less than individual books.
Step 3
Determine the subject of the book and the nationality of its author - this will help to some extent to draw conclusions about the value of the publication, or, at least, about the availability of demand for it on the second-hand book market. The first editions of the works of Russian authors are much more interesting than the numerous translations of foreign writers and scholarly works. In turn, among Russian-language books, fiction literature, which does not have a term of practical "suitability," is more appreciated, while many natural science works have long been outdated and are not interesting even for a narrow circle of specialists.
Step 4
Finally, try to find out, using all available sources of information, whether the book you are interested in has been republished recently. If so, then the interest in it remains almost exclusively aesthetic - few people want to read in pre-revolutionary spelling what can be read in their usual form. Among several editions of the same book, published a very long time ago (before the war or even before the revolution), the first edition, or at least the lifetime edition, which was carried out before the physical death of the author of this book, is more valued than others.
