The short version
- Typical range: £30 – £500 — see the full first edition 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.
- Check the copyright page for the number line and the words First Edition or First Printing. A full number line ending in 1 usually indicates a first printing.
- Assess the dust jacket separately from the book, including whether it is price-clipped.
- Check for foxing, previous owner inscriptions and the tightness of the binding.
The photographs that sell first edition 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 front cover with the dust jacket on, straight on
- The copyright page showing the number line, legible
- The dust jacket spine and flaps, including the price corner
- The page edges and binding, plus any foxing, tear or inscription
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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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
Author, title, edition and jacket: “Ian Fleming, Casino Royale, First Edition First Printing with Dust Jacket”. Whether the dust jacket is present and unclipped belongs in the title because on many books the jacket carries most of the value.
Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:
- Author, title, publisher, year, and the number line as printed
- Whether it is a first edition first printing, or a later printing
- Dust jacket presence and condition, including whether price-clipped
- Binding tightness, foxing, inscriptions and page condition
What buyers will actually ask
You will receive the same three messages about first edition 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.
Photograph the copyright page and the number line and let the buyer verify. Publishers differ in how they mark firsts, so show the evidence rather than asserting a conclusion.
Check the price corner of the front flap. A clipped or facsimile jacket substantially changes the value and collectors check first.
If so, photograph the signature and say what you know about its provenance. WishThrift does not authenticate items, so be careful to describe rather than certify.
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 first edition 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 £265 sale — roughly the middle of the range for first edition 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 | £265 |
| Poshmark | −£53 | £212 |
| eBay | −£36 | £229 |
| Mercari | −£26 | £239 |
| Etsy | −£17 | £248 |
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
Steady collector demand year round, with spikes on author anniversaries and adaptations. Correctly identified firsts sell quickly; misidentified ones sit.
Wrap the jacket separately in a protective sleeve, then box the book rigidly. Dust jackets are damaged in transit more than books are, and that is where the value sits.
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
How do I know if a book is a first edition?
Check the copyright page for a number line — a sequence ending in 1 usually indicates a first printing — and for the words First Edition or First Published. Conventions vary by publisher, so photograph the page and let buyers verify rather than asserting it.
Does the dust jacket really matter?
Enormously. On many collectable twentieth-century books the jacket accounts for most of the value, and a price-clipped or missing jacket can reduce the price by a large multiple.
What are first edition books worth?
Typically £30 to £500, with notable firsts far above. Edition, jacket and condition drive it. See the first edition books value guide.
See also: what a used first edition books is worth · browse live books listings · condition grades explained.