The short version
- Typical range: £20 – £300 — see the full rare books value guide
- What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
- Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
- Category: Books
Before you photograph it
Ten minutes here is worth more than anything else you will do. Buyers are deciding between your listing and someone else’s, and preparation is what visibly separates the two.
- Photograph the title page, copyright page and any number line before anything else.
- Do not clean, tape, re-glue or press anything. Amateur repair is the fastest way to destroy the value of a scarce book.
- Record the binding, edition, publisher, date, and any provenance such as bookplates or inscriptions.
The photographs that sell rare books
Four photographs do almost all the work. Shoot in daylight, near a window, with the item against something plain — and do not use the flash, which flattens texture and hides exactly what buyers are trying to see.
- The book closed, front board, straight on
- The title page and copyright page, fully legible
- The spine, hinges and board edges
- Any inscription, bookplate, foxing, tear or previous repair
Photograph the flaws too. It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover. Buyers who can see the damage stop imagining something worse.
Writing the title and description
Title, author, edition, year and binding: “[Title], [Author], First Edition, 1926, Original Cloth”. Precision is what attracts serious buyers here. Never state first edition without photographing the evidence, because this is the market where a wrong claim is spotted immediately.
Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:
- Title, author, publisher, place and year
- Edition and printing, with photographic evidence
- Binding type and whether the jacket or slipcase is present
- Full condition report including hinges, foxing, inscriptions and any restoration
What buyers will actually ask
You will receive the same three messages about rare books. Answering them in the listing itself removes the back-and-forth, and answering them well when they do arrive is what turns an enquiry into a sale.
Show the copyright page rather than explaining. Serious book buyers read the evidence themselves and prefer it that way.
Disclose everything you know about, including previous owners’ repairs. Undisclosed restoration is the most damaging discovery in this market.
Open it gently at the middle and check the hinges. A cracked hinge is a real condition point and buyers grade on it.
Pricing it so it actually sells
Start from the honest condition grade rather than the price you hope for. WishThrift listings use five grades — New with Tags, Like New, Good, Fair and For Parts — and what each grade means is worth reading before you choose, because grading up is the most expensive mistake sellers make. It does not raise the price; it produces a buyer who arrives expecting something else.
The rare books value guide prices all five grades for this item. Pick your grade, take the figure, and if you sit between two grades price toward the lower one. Items priced honestly sell faster than items priced hopefully, and on a free platform there is no fee eating the difference anyway.
What you keep, compared
On a £160 sale — roughly the middle of the range for rare books — here is what the commission-charging platforms would take, and what you would keep on each:
| Where you sell it | Fee | You keep |
|---|---|---|
| WishThrift | £0 | £160 |
| Poshmark | −£32 | £128 |
| eBay | −£22 | £138 |
| Mercari | −£16 | £144 |
| Etsy | −£10 | £150 |
Seller-side rates verified 26 Jul 2026 — Poshmark: 20% commission on sales of $15 and above; eBay: 13.6% final value fee, plus a per-order fee; Mercari: flat 10% selling fee; Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee, plus a listing fee and payment processing. Percentages are applied to the sterling figure above; the fixed per-order and processing charges those platforms add are quoted in their own currency and are not included here, so the real deductions are slightly larger. Full breakdown: marketplace selling fees compared.
Timing and getting it to the buyer
Sells to a specialist audience whenever the right buyer appears, which can take weeks or months. Patience is worth more than discounting here — the pool is small but motivated.
Pack in a rigid book box with the book wrapped and immobilised, and use a tracked, signed and insured service. This is one of the few categories where the packaging is a material part of the sale.
WishThrift does not process payments or arrange delivery — you and the buyer agree both directly — so confirm payment has cleared before the item leaves your hands, and keep the conversation on the site so there is a record of what was agreed.
Ready to list it? It takes about two minutes, costs nothing, and there is no commission when it sells — create a free account or see how selling works.
Frequently asked questions
What are rare books worth?
Anything from £20 to £300 and far beyond, depending entirely on title, edition and condition. See the rare books value guide for how condition changes it.
Should I clean or repair a rare book before selling?
No. Cleaning, taping and re-gluing all reduce value, often dramatically, and cannot be undone. Sell it as it is and let the buyer commission proper conservation if they want it.
How do I find out what my old book is worth?
Identify the exact edition and printing first, then compare against completed sales of that same edition in similar condition. Age alone does not make a book valuable — edition, scarcity and condition do.
See also: what a used rare books is worth · browse live books listings · condition grades explained.