Secondhand Books

… Secondhand books

Yesterday I went to Barter Books in Alnwick, a superb secondhand bookshop where you can not only buy books but exchange books. I took a pile along and came back with some more and am still in credit for more books for my next visit. It’s a great way to recycle books.

I have written about Barter Books before, but not posted any photos of what it’s like inside. It is in a huge old railway station, built in 1887 and closed to passengers in 1968.

(Click on the photos to see more detail)

There is a cafe in what used to be the station waiting room where we refreshed ourselves with coffee and toasted teacakes in front of a roaring fire. The painting on the wall above the fireplace shows the station as it was in 1908 when the future King George V and Queen Mary visited Alnwick.

We then browsed the shelves. There are all sorts of books, fiction, non fiction, first editions, valuable antiquarian books, signed copies, maps, dvds, pamphlets and so on.

In one section there is a miniature overhead railway line with trains passing every few minutes.

It’s a very special bookshop.

This is an an entry in ABC Wednesday for the letter S.

I now have a lot of old, and I mean old, secondhand books (they were my sister’s). I’m wondering what to do with them as I have no room at all for them. They’re a mixture of fiction and non-fiction, hardbacks and paperbacks, including many children’s books. So far I’ve only looked at the Enid Blyton books; some are first editions and some are later impressions of first editions, all in differing conditions. I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg – there are boxes and boxes of books. Not knowing the secondhand market I have very little idea of their value. I could see if the charity shops would like them, but my sister bought them intending to sell them. So I’m wondering if I should do that – but what would be the best way??

If anyone has any experience of selling secondhand books I’d be delighted to hear from you.