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Many months ago I had to opportumity to buy thousands of science fiction books. 50% of which are hardcovers and about 95% of those are first editions. I am working through the piles to get them back into the hands of those who will appreciate them and away from the shredding blades of the recyclers.
I post new books weekly if not daily but still have thousands yet to go. No joke, there are thousands. If you have an author you like or know of a book you would like to read and it is science fiction I probably have (or had) it. Feel free to email me or drop a PM to see if I have it. I also take Windstones in trade :). I have worked through almost all of my N’s and Z’s and about half my M’s but most of the other authors are untouched as yet.
Here are my Ebay auctions but I have tons as yet un-listed.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/robinsbooksandotherstuff/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1
Here is the story of how I got those books…
These books came from the personal collection of a local librarian. She took very good care of her books. Most of her books are in wonderful shape and many are first editions. She must have loved Science Fiction and Fantasy stories (especially those by female authors) as they accounted for the vast majority of her collection. I do not know what happened to her. I wish I did. I do know that her books had been packed up, rather haphazardly, and stored away in dozens of large moving boxes at a local storage facility. A few books suffered page damage due to being stored on edge with other books piled on top. Some were “bent” due to being only half supported and then more piled on. I can’t believe that the person who took such loving care of her books would pack them away in this manner, stuffed into every corner and crevice of a cardboard box then tossed without care upon other such boxes. I can not imagine the cause of such obviously hurried packing. Whatever the case, the contents of the unit were then later auctioned off. I’m sure most of you have seen the storage auction programs on TV. It was something like that.
This is where I come in. I am friends of the person who won that auction and was then faced with the task of finding homes for literally thousands of books. It was not something he looked forward to. Many of the first boxes of books he liquidated went to buyers who then turned around and sold them to local thrift stores or went to recycle because the books were “too old” to sell at such establishments. Hundreds of rare hard covers and paperbacks from the early 50’s, 60’s and 70’s were lost to the paper shredder by this process.
I was able to acquire many of the first round of books but sadly could not get them all. I was distressed that so many old classics and out of print books were being lost and approached my friend about a possible purchase of the rest of them. Arrangements were made, huge sums were spent, and I cleaned out our guest room to house the vast collection, which still numbered over ten thousand. It cost me dearly to save these books but I am a lover of such things and feel it is worth the many hours and long nights spent sorting, cataloging and listing.
So here I am , trying to get these books back into the hands of people who will truly enjoy, and even cherish, them. I have thousands more to list so check back often. If you don’t see a certain author or series you are looking for in my current listings, chances are, if I haven’t already listed it, I have it and haven’t gotten to it yet. Keep checking I put up new listings weekly and sometimes daily.
The link doesn’t work for me, it brings me to MY ebay sales. Very excited to see what you are selling though, I am a sci-fi/fantasy aficionado AND in school to be a librarian. Too bad the books got all packed up and mixed up, I would be curious to know how a librarian organizes her personal collection. I’m having a terrible time with my personal library, but I want my own classification, I don’t wanna just usurp a commonly used one.
Anyway, it’s amazing what you are doing. Especially in this day and age when the misinformed as proclaiming the paper book format “dead”.
Ah, I bet you have many treasures in there! Can’t wait to see your auctions once the link behaves itself!
Lupus, I feel the same way. I like the idea of a portable reader in theory but nothing beats feeling a book in your hands and smelling the pages! Maybe I’m just weird 😛 That’s all part of the experience to me!I have a friend who is a big book lover, and our last big local place to buy books is shutting down.. I’ll find out if she’s into sci-fi books, if she is then I’ll point her in the direction of your ebay 🙂
Oh how sad. I have over 1000+ physical books and I’d be horrified if my collection was just shoved into a locker like this. Hubby has very strict instructions on what to do with my books if I go first. I have a lot of first editions as well as signed books. This just breaks my heart.
Your ebay link just takes me to the sign in page.
I do have a rather large wish list, a lot of books which are out of print that I’m hoping to find for a good deal. Is it alright if I email it to you??
Sorry about the link trouble. I think I fixed it. Let me know if it still doesn’t work and thanks for checking it out.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/robinsbooksandotherstuff/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1
I am working on scanning all the books into a simple database so I know what I have. Problem is, many of these books are pre-ISBN or even bar code. And, some are so rare or obscure that the ISBN they have is not recognized by most programs.
Also doesn’t say if you’re willing to ship internationally. I live in Canada, so that would be good to know. Thanks Hun.
Also doesn’t say if you’re willing to ship internationally. I live in Canada, so that would be good to know. Thanks Hun.
I have never shipped a book to Canada but if you are willing to hold my hand through the process I am more than willing to give it a go. Feel free to send me a list of any books you might be looking for.
Also, for those of you who ask for books (Thanks bunches everyone!) it helps if you let me know if you want hardcover or paperback. That way I know which pile to start looking in.
And with the paperbacks, I try hard not to break up a series if I have it. So if you are looking for just one, unless I happen to have it loose, i.e. not with the rest of the series, I would rather not break up a set.
Thanks everyone who has sent requests. I’m happy I could help some of you find the books you were looking for. Keep them coming. 🙂
Thanks, yes it is a very large amount of books. I have been listing more and more each day and can’t see that I have made a dent in my “population”. It is going to take me longer than I thought to find new homes for these treasures. At the rate I’m going it is going to take years! And it’s not like I’m slacking in the listing department.
I think the listing would go faster if I didn’t take actual pictures of each and every book (sometime two pictures) and just use Ebays stock photos. I just can’t do that though. I think it is important for the buyer to see the actual book they are bidding on. Especially with the same book having different covers.
I got my book from Robin today. It is in perfect condition! I asked her if she had this title and she looked for it among all the piles, found it, packed it VERY CAREFULLY, shipped it and now I have it – all in less than a week. Thanks!
Thank you guys and thanks for giving these books great homes. Now I just need 6,000 more homes and I will be done. lol 🙂
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